Christmas is upon us

... And I still don't have a finished kitchen....! Haven't written in ages since I didn't think that there was much to say about what has been going on with the renovation works. But actually we've done so much since the last time I posted:

All the house was finally plasterboarded and plastered. What a difference that makes! The curve of the upstairs hallway and the pyramid ceiling of the stair well look superb.

Bathroom - painted, tiled (New Years Eve last year was spent tiling the bathroom floor!) and shower installed. That was a funny incident - my parents were staying for a few days so I took my mum shopping to Cork since it was little Christmas. We returned to find my Dad and husband had tiled the shower section of the bathroom but had used the wrong spacers between the tile. I made them take all the tiles down and start again... I do feel incredibly guilt about it but it had to be done. even Daithi said so. The bath looks fabulous I have to say!

Bedrooms - All have new floors. They are made solid ash wood. David Conway from Smaointe Woodwork did a great job fitting them. And the underfloor heating hasn't caused a problem with them at all so far. The boys especially are absolutely made up with their new bedroom. Still needs some storage and other furnishings but they finally have their own space. I'm really pleased with the guest room. We chose quite an expensive wallpaper for the wall behind the bed and it was really worth it and everyone has commented on it when they've seen it. The ensuite off the guest room isn't quite done but the tiles are in at least and it's painted.

Living room - has a fireplace but no hearth. It's going to have an oak floor as is the other reception room. The oak boards are stacked in the hallway at the moment and the floors could be done before this Christmas but I doubt it somehow.

The kitchen hasn't changed a bit. We have decided to buy some bog standard kitchen unit carcasses and then make the doors for them since we cannot find anywhere what we really want. When we get round to doing that is another matter altogether!

Other than the home improvements I've been busy working on web stuff. Made some interesting and diverse range of contacts over the past few months from Agricultural consultants like BMJ Consultants, interim management firms like Ocean Executives and even a country estate (Gurteen Organic Farm Estate) that wanted to advertise their property as a place to hunt and shoot pheasant and fish for salmon and trout. I like the fact that most of the work I have been getting is through referrals and I haven't had to advertise my services. I must be doing something right!

Warm and cosy

The solar panel was finally replaced and the heating has been connected and I have to say it is so nice to be warm!!!!! Not that we have had to have it on much. The weather turned unseasonably warm after we had it all connected up and we didn't need it on at all but now it is definitely started to cool in the evenings.

There are a few niggles because it is underfloor heating - we have to determine what the lag time between turning on the heating and the point where the temperature is reached and try and manage it better. I find that the actual temperature over-shoots the desired temperature because of the heat still radiating through the concrete floor after the heating is switched off in the room. There is still air in the system also so occasionally there is some manual help needed to get the flow of the water going through the pipes. I don't care though... I am warm and my feet are warm so the winter can come now! I have to say that once a room is warm the enormous amount of insulation (120mm!) means that the room stays lovely and warm. That should mean that tank of oil outside should last a while! At the time of buying all the insulation we went with the bog standard Kingspan but in hindsight I would have liked to have explored more eco-friendly options. One of the local insulation companies, www.corkinsulation.ie, now offer sheepswool and recycled newspaper as alternatives. Their bonded bead cavity wall insulation looks good too for houses that need that extra bit of insulation. The other thing we could have done of course was fitted external insulation. We were recommended MCB Wall Insulation by Level5, who did a lot of our concrete work (floors, staircase) but we already had the insulation ordered.

October Rain

The weather has definitely changed to autumnal! The wet and windy weather has replaced the warm sunshine of the summer but I suppose that has to be expected - it is October after all.

I am still waiting for the heating to be connected up so I am hoping that it doesn't turn cold in the coming week or so. I am waiting on the plumbers to return and pressure test the underfloor heating before turning it on. We have a full tank of oil ready and waiting! The plumbers have been waiting for a replacement solar panel to fit so that they could and do all the outstanding jobs in one day. The panel arrived on Thursday so it should be some time next week. They had fitted the solar panels over a month ago now to provide energy for hot water and they had been fantastic. But one Sunday, Daithi had been outside and heard a cracking sound. On closer inspection he saw the thrid solar panel had started to crack and the crack propagated through the entire panel. He could see an obvious reason for it happening. Fortunately, the solar panel manufacturer are replacing it for free and will pay for the plumber's time to do it too. Now we have to hope that the wet weather will hold off for a few days to allow them to do the work.

I have been working flat out recently. www.irishholidayhomes.ie is going well. I had an interesting meeting with a representative from Failte Ireland regarding increasing traffic to the site. I have to say that online marketing is a completely new thing for me and it is a vast subject. I have lots of reading and catching up to do to inform myself further! Obviously there is a lull in holiday rentals at this time of year but we are getting good feedback for the site anyway. I have also started to host my own websites at last... This will make things a lot easier for me from a management and also adds to the service I can offer to people when they ask me to do work for them. Lots going on but not enough hours in the day!

Winter coming fast

The whole summer seems to have flown by and I haven't made a single post on the progress we have made in the house. My last post mentioned that we had finished the tiling in the kitchen which was a relief to get done. We installed the range as soon as we could afterwards and what a difference a good cooker makes! We bought the range (made by Stoves) before we even moved to Ireland and it was being stored in Kinsale for a while. Fortunately it lasted well and it is a dream to use and makes fantastic brown bread. The kitchen is still unfinished otherwise.

Daithi is going to make the cabinets because we are just too fussy and aren't willing to pay out the 20,000 euro for the kitchen we really want! Instead we have a reclaimed lab sink, a reclaimed stainless steel catering unit which came from a liquidation and some office tables as well as our old dining table and chairs. It's great for now and I find myself in that room most of the time. It is bright, spacious and peaceful (when the boys aren't in it).

The boys and myself went over to England for about a month in the summer. Daithi came over for a week for our annual trip to Butlins at Bognor Regis and again for my cousin's wedding. The Butlins at Bognor now has a fabulous spa so I treated myself to 3 hour of relaxation, facial and manicure and let Daithi send some quality time with the boys! Daithi came back and took a couple of weeks off work to clean up the area around the house and prepare the upstairs for plastering etc. I don't think he realised how much time things would take and he didn't do as much as he would have hoped for. Luckily he managed to get an excavator for a day and cleared the entire site of rubble. Well, actually there is a 20ft high pile of it at the back of the house but it is well away from us. The house looks amazing now that the area has been cleared of rubble, scaffolding etc. And it is a lot safer for the boys of course. Liam is made up that he can now cycle the whole way around the house.

The summer just flew past and before I knew it they were back at school. But we are still without plastered upstairs rooms and heating but we have hot water from new solar panels which were installed a couple of weeks back and the central vacuum cleaner is working. I have to say that everyone told me that central vacuum cleaners are far too noisy and that I should think twice about having one but my DuoVac is quieter than my old Dyson by a long shot and it has brilliant suction. I love it!!!!! I would recommend it to anyone anyone!

School run beckons so I will have to post more shortly.

Tiling done!

At last I feel like some progress is being made.

The kitchen floor has now been tiled and I can't believe that we did it ourselves! I finished grouting the 160 tiles this morning and am really proud of our effort. There is one section of the room still to do (near the external door which still has to be fitted) but that won't take long. The room looks great now and I can't wait to put the kitchen in. The range made its way to the house, after 4 years of storage in a friend's shed, but is still in the wrapper until it can be wired and the gas connected. Hopefully this weekend will mean the end of me cooking in the mobile home!

Another milestone was reached at the weekend too. Daithi finished fitting the ridge tiles on the roof. It took a lot longer than he anticipated but the wait was well worth it. They look fabulous and frame the house perfectly. Guttering next and then Cian can have the scaffolding for his own project....

Spring is here at last

At last... the weather has improved and we are getting nice warm sunshine. It is really nice to be able to get the washing dry outside in the fresh air.

Daithi has been hard at work trying to finish the roof off. I am determined to get the scaffolding down as soon as possible so that we can get a digger in and clear the site. Before that can be done we need to put up the ridge tiles and fit the guttering. I spent a whole week chipping away at old concrete and muck from some reclaimed ridge tiles which Daithi had sourced from www.donedeal.ie and had driven down from Donegal. They match our ones exactly and now we have enough for all the ridge. It is such a relief! Unfortunately my thumb was hit many times too and is still feeling a bit bruised and stiff.

With the fine weather my attention has turned more to outside. The daffodils have flowered and are now dying back. Before they disappear altogether I want to dig them up and put them in planters so that we can clear the land behind the mobile home. I am planning this area to be my growing patch: greenhouse, raised beds, hens, bees. It won't be ready for this year unfortunately but maybe next year....

The 'magic' field, as the boys call it was sprayed by the local farmer a couple of weeks back and now has died back. We now need to plough the field, rotavate it and sow the grass seed. Hopefully we will end up with a gorgeous lawn are for the boys to play on. Our elderly neighbour, who has been a great help filling us in on the historical details of the house as he remembers them, kindly gave us his very old Ford 200o tractor. I think he feels a bit indebted to Daithi who has kept him in kindling throughout the winter and has done a few odd jobs for him too. It was a lovely gift and I hope we will be able to fix it up and make good use of it. I was amazed to see it driving up the lane, masses of black smoke coming from the exhaust! Daithi is delighted and can't wait to be able to restore it.

Easter!

We are back in windy Cork after a trip to England for the Easter break. Unfortunately it coincided with my dear Nanny Elsie's funeral. She sadly passed away on St Patrick's Day. A very sad time for all the family but she was such a lovely person that I can only think of wonderful memories and thoughts of the times we had together which will be everlasting. She was a beautiful person and will be sadly missed by all the family. Our family is close and the only good thing to come out of this situation was that I managed to catch up with everyone. They are all complete nutcases but I love them dearly!

I was told off for not having more photos/reports on the house so I will endeavour to put some on as soon as I can. Conor got a decent camera for his birthday so hopefully I will put it to goo use when he isn't looking!