Half a kitchen

In November we made another successful trip to the west coast to see how things are progressing.

We arrived on the early ferry meaning that we arrived over in the village late morning. Of course we drove straight upto the house to see what if any changes we could spot.
The first thing was the garage door! Yes sad but true but every little thing means progress. Kevin the builder had arranged it and we are very happy with it.

Newly rendered garage with a new door. 

We had picked up the key for it from our neighbour so we opened it up and set about decanting stuff from the car into the garage. I have to admit this included a quirky selection of our belongings including our open Canadian canoe, dog agility equipment  and a rotary washing line. Completely random.
Within half an hour of our arrival we got a call to say that the lorry  carrying our delivery of kitchen appliances from the UK was arriving in the village. We gave the last few directions to the driver and marvelled at how organised we were.
The lorry arrived bearing a logo very close to our home in UK 
which was strange as it is now an Irish registered vehicle. Anyway as if on cue, the heavens opened and assisted in a swift and soggy transfer of goods from lorry to garage.

We were also pleased to see that all the plastering inside was now complete and does make such a difference to the inside. The new hallway looks vast.....perhaps it could double as a skittle alley.

We were also pleased to see the first of our two multi fuel stoves installed. This one is in the dining area.  We will also have a free standing one in the lounge.

Overall we had a lovely few days which also involved choosing carpets and measuring up for bedroom furniture and we even had a sunny enough day that we could enjoy our 'garden'. I use the term loosely as it is currently more like a field. 

Getting plastered!

We had another lovely few days over in Ireland and would you believe it, beginning of October and it didn't rain once!!

This trip we stayed in a little cottage about two miles from our house. The cottage belongs to a German couple who only visit once or twice a year and offered their cottage  as a place for us to stay.

The cottage where we stayed.

The view from the cottage gate.

We had a lovely surprise when we went to visit our house. Apart from three sections which need to be stone clad with local stone the rest of the house has been rendered beautifully. At last we can see our house coming to life,

Before

After

The back before

The back after - no sign of the door that used to go to the boiler room.

Work will now commence on plastering inside.

We  finally ordered our bathroom furniture / sanitary ware. We will have four bathrooms of various shapes and sizes so there was a lot to think about.
We have found a brilliant furniture store locally which has a great selection of furniture and it seems that every time we visit we manage to do so whilst they have a sale on. Last time we were over we ordered a mattress and sofa and so this time we decided that a bed frame and some bedside cabinets and drawers would be a good idea.

Lots of progress

Hubby and I have just returned from a few more days in Ireland.
The main reason was to check how the house was going but also enjoy Irish hospitality.

We arrived on the Monday and as we were a little early to check into our accommodation we found a place for breakfast. There is something about Irish bacon and sausage, it is yummy, add a little bit of black pudding,egg  and toast and you have a perfect Irish breakfast plus of course the obligatory pot of tea.
We went to introduce ourselves to our host for the week. Have you ever tried Airbnb? It's a great way to stay in places where people rent out a spare room for not very much money. Our stay in Westport was with Sabina, a lovely lady in her early 40's, who had a spare room in her apartment. She had recently decided to take a year long career break from her job and had decided to be an airbnb host for a couple of months. She was so friendly and welcoming and very passionate about her country.
She also provided a great breakfast every morning. We were happy with tea, cereals and homemade soda bread, the best he had ever tasted according to hubby. 
Once we had introduced ourselves and offloaded our bags we set off for a local town, we had visited a home store there on our last visit and purchased two dining chairs to add to our set and we had noticed they were having a bank holiday sale so we popped in for a look around. We ended up buying a lovely sofa set plus a new mattress. They were a very good price and we have been able to order them for delivery in November. 
We then went out to our house to see how work was getting on. We had some friends from back home in Birmingham,UK who were over in Ireland at the same time doing a road trip and we had arranged to meet up with them. The weather was totally awful, horizontal rain!! Ok so we always go to Ireland expecting rain but this was torrential. Sadly it did mean that most of the beautiful views around our house which had tempted us there in the first place were somewhat obscured by cloud. We were keen to show our friends around inside and out but we scampered inside and viewed the rest from the dry indoors. It was a shame because all we could see was low cloud. I'm sure they think we are mad, not the only ones I'm sure, but came again on another day and they would appreciate it a lot more I'm sure.
The rest of our 4 day stay was spent deciding on the final layout and design of the kitchen,  looking at bathroom furniture, having the rooms measured for flooring quotes, looking at stoves/fireplaces, looking at doors and of course enjoying a pint of Guinness or two.
The most impressive part was seeing the transformation of the upper floor from one big space to three separate rooms.

Also we had asked our builder to do a bit of adaptation with the fireplace in the dining room. We didn't want a floored based fire but one a bit further up the wall which wouldn't impinge on the room so much.

Light switches and insulation.

It has come to something when my life revolves about light switches and insulation but there we go. Life can't always be exciting.

Having said that though it was very exciting when the light switches arrived this week. These light switches have been the objects of my desires for many months now after I spied them at the Grand Designs exhibition last year. I thought they were wonderful, sleek and very stylish and different from your  common white boring box. Hubby on the other wasn't really fussed, although the price was a major factor. These lovely things would cost double what a normal light switch or socket would cost.  

My argument was that I would only be fitting out this house once so I wanted the nicest things rather than feeling I had settled for second best. OK so they are a bit more expensive but I'm only going to be buying them once! 

I recently took a second job so I said that for each shift I did that would mean I had bought a couple more light switches. 

Robbie the Spark, spoke sense when he told hubby to let me have my way, because otherwise he would never hear the end of it and if light switches were my 'only demand' he was getting off lightly (no pun intended).

So I ordered them and they arrived and how excited I was, i know I'm building them up now, and i expect when you see the photo of them, you'll think, 'mmm its a light switch so what' but I love them and I'm happy so thats that.

My dream switches.

Of course the next thing we have to decide on will be things like taps or door handles and no doubt I'll get a little excited about those too.

Hubby has just returned from another short trip over to see how things are progressing in the house and has come back armed with new photos. It looks like things are moving along nicely.

Upstairs has been insulated, so again it looks different from the past photos.

My craft room, insulated.

Insulation on the external walls downstairs is also in progress,

The sun room before

The sun room now

We even have windowsills too!! Does the excitement never end?

Also during this visit:
 - The electricity board visited site to plan where electricity will enter our property.
 - The plumber and plumbers merchant visited to count how many radiators we need.
 - We have ordered the two fuel stoves for in the lounge and dining room.
 - The stairs are now on order.
 - Because we will not be using oil to heat our house the tiny boiler room which is at the back of the hot press(airing cupboard) is no longer needed so Kevin the builder is going to brick up the external doorway and knock through from the hot press to make a much larger space. This will house the new heating system but also provide a much bigger walk in hot press which will be very handy for drying clothes especially during the wet months when drying clothes outside is not an option.(to be fair this is most of the year)

After the insulation has been completed the plasterers will be in to start work on the internal and external walls. I expect by the time we visit again August we will see another huge difference.

We have progress.

Hubby's trip to Ireland went well.  It was a quick dash across really but achieved a lot.

He impressed to see how much Robbie the spark had done, all the first fix electrics are in! So he said there were cables everywhere. Glad the electrician knows what leads where because it does look quite complicated.

This is going to be our sitting room.

We have had an engineer go out to the property and measure up for a staircase which will take us up to the first floor.

When we first viewed the property there was a temporary staircase there and we were blown away when we walked up to the first floor. It is built as a bungalow with all the living rooms and bedrooms located on the one floor. However the people who originally designed and built it, allowed space in the roof for future development.

We decided that we would go ahead and develop it at the same time as the rest of the house. I was particularly excited as I could picture

 a rather lovely craft room for myself.

This is what the space looked like when we first viewed it. It measures about 10m wide by 20m length.

So we have plans which do indeed allow me a craft room but also gives hubby a room too. This will be a typical lads room with TV, and gaming consoles as well as comfy sofas.I suspect there may also be a little bar area too! Both of these rooms will also double as extra bedrooms should we ever have a huge crowd of family/friends staying, which we sincerely hope to happen. There will also be a small bathroom too.

So this is what it now looks like. Kevin the builder has been busy.

The next things to be done will be installation of the insulation throughout the property. We have also chosen the stoves/fires which will be in the sitting room and dining area.

Hubby is going back over in about three weeks time. Sadly due to work commitments I can't visit site again until August when I expect I will notice just how much has been done.