Look what I just bought!

The bedrooms are going to be kept quite traditional and classic. Features like the window shutter boxes, coving and ceiling roses give the rooms this feel.  Ciaran also decided that we would wallpaper these rooms!


Wallpaper!  I know!  
I think it must be 20 years since I have lived somewhere that has wallpaper. 

Ciaran reckons he will bring it back in to vogue!

Here is the box of wallpaper from Laura Ashley in the back of my Smart Car!

Batten down the hatches!!!!

There is some serious rain expected over Ireland for the next few days.  The builders spent most of yesterday getting the house ready - removing debris and boarding up the whole place to make it water tight.  Currently we have heavy wind, hailstones and some thunder thrown in too!  It is expected to get worse and there will be high water levels in Dublin and the West.  How and ever, there is progress on site.

The plasterwork for the arch has arrived.  This is the last piece of plasterwork and it will be fitted tomorrow.  The piece of glass in the photo is for the fanlight above the front door.

The studwork is being completed in preparation for the arrival of the kitchen on the 7th of May.  The studwork in the photo forms the downstairs bathroom.  There will be a hidden wall hung WC and a small vanity unit and sink with subway tiling in the bathroom.

The first piece of Cor-ten steel arrived on site yesterday.  It is for the back of the pocket door in the main bathroom. Today the plumber was doing his second fix in this room.  The bath was being installed along with the WC.  This room will also be tiled in Subway tiles and will have a colour hardened concrete floor with brass expansion joints.

Click on to ODKM Architects Facebook page for more great projects.

On another note, on Saturday night, I tasted the best Banoffee Pie EVER in Di Bella Restaurant in Lucan.  Well worth dropping in and sampling a slice if you are passing by!

Polished concrete floor

Concrete floor was poured yesterday. It now will be polished to bring up the shine and also the biscuit colour that was chosen by Ciaran.

There is now concrete floors in the whole of the downstairs, except for the hallway which will be timber.  The bathroom upstairs on the half landing will also have a polished concrete floor.

Look up!

                                               The glass floor of the studio

         And from the other side - the ceiling of the bathroom!

                Underfloor heating - all the way from Sweden!
                Will all be powered by a German boiler.

Worker man!

Here are some pictures of Ciaran getting his hands dirty!

The ceiling has been marked out where the rose is to be placed.

The rose is made up of lots of different plaster parts. They get bonded to the ceiling and then attached further by being screwed in to the ceiling.

This is Ciaran checking to see if it is fixed securely to the ceiling.  He needed to be careful when screwing it to the ceiling.  If it was screwed too hard it might split the plaster.

This is a nearly completed rose - it just needs the centre part to be filled. When you see them on the ground all mixed up in the box the plaster parts don't look that great.  When they are put up on the ceiling they look stunning and so big!!!  They really are a fabulous feature!

What's this?!

The ground floor has been cleared out.  The underfloor heating has been laid. The concrete floor will then be poured.  The finish on the floor will be a coloured power floated concrete finish.  


Ciaran received a call from a former client to let him know that "Saba" Restaurant in Dublin City had a polished concrete floor that she thought was amazing.  We went for lunch in Saba last Friday when I got back from Key West to check it out.  It indeed was a polished concrete and was very beautiful.  However, Ciaran wants our finish to be more matt and even coloured than the Saba one.  


By the way, the food in Saba was great and I thoroughly recommend it!

Glass! Glass! Glass!

Brick has been built up on the left hand side of the glass wall at the back of the house.  I can barely believe there is a large pane of glass here!!!  Anyone who has seen it has commented that they didn't even know there was glass until they got up close!

               The glass floor of the studio has been installed.

And here you can see the floor of the studio from the bathroom.  The glass is both the roof of the bathroom and the floor of the studio.  I love the aqua colour of the glass - it reminds me of the ocean!