First Look

I always think I'll have loads of time to do 'stuff' while on mat leave because babies just 'eat and sleep', right?  This is my 2nd child as well and for some reason I was still disillusioned.  Perhaps also as having a c-section this time around, I figured I'd have loads of time to be in front of a computer to post updates, Skype friends & family, etc.  Admittedly, I have had loads of opportunities (as I've spent atleast 2 weeks stuck on the couch feeding this babe) but I've lacked the focus (in retrospect, ok I should have anticipated that) which has just started to right itself recently.

So our official moving day was July 20th but we still had the other house so there was on-going bits & pieces getting moved over the next week.  I was seriously skeptical about settling in on that Friday as I still felt there was so much to be done but all fears were for nought.  We had all the necessities and things have just gotten put away or moved around in drips and drabs since.

We still need to do loads to settle in but it's early days really.  I have no idea how people can have everything in turn-key condition right from the get go.  So here we go, 'bienvenue chez nous'.

Well, it doesn't look so inviting yet but hey, the door's open, come on in!

The entry hall has a double height ceiling so it gets lots of light from the skylight.

Turn left and it takes you into the living areas of the house.

Remember, this is what it originally looked like:

And then after walls came down and loads of work under way ...

Walls plastered, painted, radiators in & floors poured ...

And NOW!!!

The funny square above the window is where the old electricity meter used to be.  It was only moved last week so a bit of fill and paint will touch that up fine.  There are shades to go on the chandeliers.  Decisions about blinds.  What sort of storage/shelving to get.  What to put over the stove.  The list is endless.  And I would love a new set of sofas that would suit the space better but everything's money now isn't it?!

The old main door was replaced with a single pane window.  It lets in loads of light and on a good day I can't help but stare out it and think what fabulous scenery surrounds us (minus the building site rubble of course!).

 You walk immediately into the kitchen from the entry hall and here's how it turned out:

I love it!!!!!!  Colin, at Abbey Kitchens did a fantastic job on the units.  The colour is a sort of khaki grey instead of a blue grey (which I initially thought I wanted).  And without even planning it, it goes perfectly with the feature stone.  So as you can see, I went with grey and decided on this pewter-kind-of bar type handle after the handle dilemma I 'faced' a few weeks back.  And while I still like cream kitchens (which we had in our other house),  after a few weeks of living here I can already see that the grey will hold up far better against the tornado that is our 19 month old toddler.  I'll try to do a separate post on the kitchen features I like best when I get the time to take a few more pics.

I'm still on a look out for light pendants above the sink & counter.  I'm undecided about what sort of backsplash should go behind the cooker (glass, tile, stone?).  Eventually, I'll decide about blinds too.  And of course there's the little bits that bring the kitchen together both for the pretty factor and functionality.

As for the living room, here's the best before & after extreme:

A shout out to the many people who gave us a hand, with moving, storage, cleaning, baby-sitting, etc ...  This just a small group of the gang taking a break with a fry up.  Thanks so much!

And Tommy, this one's for you!

So hopefully I'll start posting again more frequently, if not for you, then to keep the ball rolling on further projects and finishing touches!

Getting a Handle of the Situation

Sorry for the cheesy title.  I feel like I'm working at The Mirror or The Sun and it's my job to try to find terrible titles that work off puns and plays on words.  That drives me nuts about those papers (well, just one of several things) but it's actually a lot harder to make up the ridiculous titles than it looks.  I know a lot of very witty people: if you come up w/ a catchy title, I will change this title just for you.

So this post is about HANDLES. heh heh heh

Remember how all over the place I was about floors.  Well, I didn't fare any better with kitchen handles and knobs.  Such a small part of the kitchen but seriously, it really makes a big difference to the look of the whole kitchen, no?  Now, I'm very lucky in that Stephen doesn't really care what I choose.  He'll be honest and say, 'No, I really don't like those' or 'Those are kinda old-fashioned' but as long as the doors open and close, the rest is up to me.

So my idea of kitchen love is a painted wood look, country style but classic too.  Not too country bumpkin like.  You've seen some of my favourite kitchens when I've talked about floors.  But here's a re-visit to my favourite kitchen:

Actually, I have another absolute favourite but I can't actually find a copy on-line that allows me to reproduce it (and I will be super respectful of that copyright and NOT scan the picture) but if you somehow have access to The Best of Irish Kitchens magazine, Issue 24, Oct/Nov 2011 -- It's on the cover!  Solid wood tops.  Light grey painted wood.  Cup and knob handles.  Belfast sink.  Really simple clean lines.  DROOL!

So getting back to handles, I really like the brushed nickel type of finish and a cup-handle style fitting for drawers, simple knobs for cupboards.  Like this:

These are the kind of handles that Stephen doesn't like.  But hey, we've already gotten over that.  So thinking that this should be a fairly easy decision, I went to my kitchen guy only to find that he doesn't have any cup handles in stock.  To stay open minded, I bring 3 different handle options home just to mull them over and they still don't really take my fancy and I figure I'll look around.  Stephen's comment, 'How can you go to a kitchen place and not find a single handle that you like the look of'.  If you can hear his tone, this is not a judgement on the kitchen place but rather yours truly of course.

Let me tell you.  Ireland is not a big fan of cup handles.  Woodies has one option, that looks a little small as it doesn't have the pretend screws incorporated into the face.  Homebase had another option that looked ... alright.  So I was holding out for Ikea ... which fell flat and seriously disappointed as the Fagleboda cup handle only came in a flat black or shiny chrome and had a much more semi-circular shape than crescent moon.  (ok, yes I see I am starting to sound a little crazy).  They also had a Fintorp handle, that looked really lovely on a kitchen in last month's House and Home magazine ... but those were much larger than I expected and I came home last weekend with still no solution to my handle search.  And in frustration I went back to the handle options that are in the same catalogue as our kitchen doors and do you want to see the only cup handle they offer?

Ugh!  It's a little too medieval and reminds me of a knight's armour or something.

So feeling 'ok' about the DIY store options, I picked up a sample from Woodies and Homebase and went out to the kitchen place to have a look at how the handles would actually look like on the model kitchen.  And after about 20 minutes of humming and hawing, and Colin (kitchen guy) looking through 4 different catalogue for similar cup handles, we made a decision on a lovely satin nickel cup handle, with a slim edge that doesn't have pretend screw features.  Very similar to the Woodies one.

Job done .... you'd think.

Guess what presented an even bigger problem?  Finding a simple oval or round knob, with just the right nubbiness (or is that knubbiness) in the same finish!!!!!!  I'm serious.  NONE of the cup handle options in ANY of the catalogues had a corresponding simple round or oval knob in the same finish.  Finally, there was a compromise of a knob in silver nickel finish from the same catalogue.  It was a bit too flat for my tastes, as opposed to 'knubby', but atleast it was a match (though it didn't look exactly like the same finish in the catalogue, it was described as the same ... and apparently we're not meant to trust picture reproductions.  So job done .... you'd think.

Colin had a sample of the flat knob in stock so I put it up to a door painted in the same colour 'Stone' as our kitchen will be.  And after all of the decision making, would you believe that it looked absolutely terrible!  Seriously.  The colours were just  too similar so it did nothing to 'lift the door' or make the handle or knob stand out as a feature.  I was gutted.  And perplexed.  And confused.  It worked on my dream Best of Irish Kitchens kitchen.  It works on the cream and beige kitchens on the pictures in this post.  Does the search for the handle continue or ....

Should I change the kitchen colour?

It did cross my mind.  I put the handle up to some more sample colours.  I put it on the model kitchen 'Country White' doors.  I ignored the 'What are you doing?' look that Colin was giving me.  And I internally was VERY grateful that Stephen was not there.  But then I realized I had to choose ... do I want my grey kitchen or do I want my brushed nickel cup handles?

I could tell you.  But wouldn't it be more fun to wait until everything is in place?

A Taste of Progress II

Following on from yesterday's post, here's the kitchen again.

In the corner, the previous owners located the water heater/boiler.  We toyed with the idea of moving it, or atleast changing the access to it from the other direction (from the living room instead of the kitchen) but that would have involved moving a lot of plumbing.  A LOT OF PLUMBING.  Which was far more trouble than it was worth.  So leaving it as is, it initially created a bit of an obstacle in the kitchen design but in the end, it actually doesn't really impact on the kitchen too much.  We hope that once the door goes on it, it'll just look like another cupboard or pantry type door.

As you can see in the original picture, there's another chimney breast to be knocked out behind that wall.  And the sofa is just odd.  We couldn't move it out of the kitchen until the walls/door were knocked out to make enough room for it to fit through.  How they got it in there to begin with is beyond me!  Speculation is that it came in through the windows when they got replaced ... but why into the kitchen????

Central opening knocked through and steel joist and concrete in place for support

Wall knocked and chimney out.  See all the plumbing off the boiler.  That was going nowhere!

A bit of stonework going up on one side of the central opening.  All the stone
came from the thick walls that were knocked down!

And again ... TA DA!

Let's talk Floors

This week has been nuts and I've needed to be in Dublin the last 2 weekends so I haven't been out to the house to take new pictures.  So as I don't have any photos to back up anymore wall demolition and construction updates, I might as well move on to other fun stuff .... FLOORS!

So, as most of our living space is going to be open plan, we decided to go with the same type of flooring throughout.  I think it will be more streamlined (and it cuts down on me having to search for and make a separate decision about tiles too!).  Trolling through the internet, drooling over different flooring is akin to the time spent looking for the 'ideal kitchen' and the excitement while searching for the 'perfect wedding dress'.  Unfortunately, when you enter the showrooms, the dreaming becomes shortlived as Practicality and Budget begin to rear their necessary but clearly less indulgent personalities.  I've been into Bruce (our floor guy) a number of times, humming and hawing over real wood vs laminate flooring (I'll do a separate post on that point!) and getting samples.  He has been incredibly patient with all my questions and probably thinks I have NO IDEA what I'm looking for as I've borrowed samples that couldn't be more different from each other.  This is sort of how my flooring desires evolved ....

In the beginning, I loved the look of glossy and dark hardwood.  It is rich and classic and would marry beautifully with the classic creamy kitchens that I had been looking at.  Kinda like these:

And then I began to worry about long-term care, scratches, wearability.  So I switched gears and fell in love with older looking oak or pine, reclaimed wood boards, anything that lends itself to a cottagey or farmhouse feel:

And then one day I was in a kitchen showroom where a part of their floor was laid with a very light wood laminate, think white ash or Scandinavia.  And that very same day I came across 2 pictures of kitchens with a similar type of floor AND kitchen features that are similar styles to what I'm looking at:

And armed with this last love of light wood flooring, we went to the floor guy a few weeks ago to narrow things down in terms of what I could get within our budget (actually, Stephen went with me and gave me the ultimatum that I could leave with no more than 2 samples from which our floor must be chosen from).  So I am still undecided but atleast I'm down to 2 options, DARK or LIGHT.  Here are my last 2 model images, and sorry, the darker floor is mostly covered by an area carpet (!) but it's the best pic I could find that also incorporated the look and feel of the kitchen that I'm thinking about!

 ..... or ......      What do you think?

(and btw ... all these pics are from my Pinterest boards so if you want to find original sources, find me there!  I couldn't figure out how to embed pics from Pinterest or the source directly into the blog!)