The blueprints!

Plans! Plans! Plans!

On to discussions about the good stuff - what we are going to do with the house!

We intend to completely renovate the main two-storey element of the building.  This involves completely removing any architectural features and repairing them.  We also have to demolish the two-storey projection at the back and we are rebuilding a three-storey  and single-storey structure in its place. Because garden space is so limited we are going to have two little courtyards.  The larger courtyard will be enclosed by bi-folding doors.  When open they will make the garden become part of the house.  Hopefully we will get some sunny days to enjoy this space!!!

And oh yes, there will be glass!!!  Lots of glass and light!!!

Ciaran tells me that he is building in a bench seat in an area of the kitchen/dining room that will have angled glass looking up to the 5 metre stone rear boundary wall.  He describes it as being very "Lautner-esque" and says it is the one part of the design that he is doing what he refers to as "fancy show-boating"!

We made a decision to go high-spec with under floor heating, combi boilers, sound systems, etc.    You'll get to read more about this as we continue to blog about the building process.

                                   Front entrance hallway

Back Room - Wow! Look at the size of this window!!!

Current state of the dwelling

The house is Victorian c.1840 but you will notice from the above pic that the window is Georgian which indicates that the it is a cheap build in which the builders used a mix of materials - basically anything that they could get their hands on.

It is currently laid out as a 2 bed terraced dwelling with a 2 story projection to the rear (falling down!).  The existing accommodation comprises of a reception room to the front, a room to the back and a scullery with a small back garden which has a 5 metre high rear boundary wall.  The rooms and garden are at a lower level to the entry hall way.  Up a half landing there is teeny tiny makeshift room which I can only assume is the bathroom.  Up another flight of stairs are the 2 bedrooms.  The master bedroom spans the entire front of the house and has 2 nice windows with shutters on them.

Background

This property came available for purchase a year ago.  It had to go through some legal stuff before a sale could go through.  The sellers (Ciaran's Dad & Uncle) were kind enough to let us to apply for planning permissions to totally renovate and develop this property into a bespoke dwelling that hit our brief and the way we live.  Luckily for me, my husband Ciaran is a partner in ODKM Architects and Designers, and has been listening to my thoughts and views on design for the last 15 years so the brief was already known to him!!!! Obviously he has also got a strong philosophy on how we live and how his designs for this house can have an impact on our lifestyle.

Acquiring Planning Permission in Ireland can be an arduous process especially with a Victorian Property located in an area of architectural interest.  After spending months designing what he thought was the perfect solution for the house Ciaran decided, after doing 3D model walk throughs of the initial design, to bin this plan and go back to the drawing board.  When I asked him why, he said that when he saw the design in 3D form he realized that his design interfered with the fabric of the building and it was not the correct thing to do.  He needed to go back to the sketch pad and pay more respect to the history of the building.

After another couple of months and many late nights in the Studio, Ciaran lodged pre-planning drawings with the planners and discussed with same and from there he lodged full planning permission application.  Planning decisions normally take 8 weeks and an early decisions is very unusual and virtually unheard of.  Amazingly the planners came back 2 weeks early with a positive answer!

Success!!!  We had notification of a grant of permission.

Luckily enough there were no observations (no issues raised by 3rd parties) on the application so it was a waiting game for the final legal planning documents to be issued which we received last week.

And so it begins!

On Friday, my husband Ciaran and I signed to buy a derelict house in Dublin 6.  We don't officially own it until the sellers sign the contract which will hopefully happen in the next few weeks.  In the meanwhile we popped over to stroll around the area and went to visit the house.  We found this cool little coffee shop - it's just a small place that you can order coffee from a hatch facing out on to the road or call in to the counter.  Here I am in the coffee shop holding on to Bones the dog out through the hatch!