Photo Shoot

Today we had a photo shoot in our house for a UK Interiors Magazine.  It started this morning at about 10am when the photographer, Barbara Egan, and stylist, Penny Crawford-Collins, arrived.  The stylist was very happy with the house and said she would need to add very few props as we had a very "strong look".  The shoot only took about 5 hours - again the stylist said this was very speedy as normally most houses need serious decluttering but ours thankfully didn't. 

Here's a few photos from the shoot.

A little rearrangement of a shelf by Penny the Stylist

Lamp being set up in the hallway (our habitat rug was removed from the hall as the stylist felt it didn't match the fabulous rugs that were loaned by RugArt

The stylist added accents of orange to the kitchen.  Oranges were arranged on a platter and my orange Le Creuset pot was set up on the induction hob.

Here's Barbara the photographer taking a picture of the conversation pit

Not a whole lot was changed in the master bedroom.  The stylist added these cushions and brought a few items from the guest room in to this bedroom

Here is the back of the house being photographed.  Isn't the Calligaris chair amazing?!!

Here is my own attempt at staging!!  I set up this little tray of cocktails (Cosmo's) and nibblies - it was used in the picture of the hot tub.

Look to the left of the picture - it's my cocktail tray!
The stylist added the lovely bright cushions which make you nearly forget that it is November and that there was frost this morning!  Shadowlight gave us the lamp to the right of the picture for the shoot.

Ciaran and I were photographed along with the dog once the house was all done. Due to the fact that it will be possibly Summer before the photos are featured in the magazine I was advised that I should not wear winter clothes i.e no woolly jumpers or boots.  I was told to wear pale colours - no black, navy or brown.  I wore a cream floaty blouse with tan trousers and a pair of ballet pumps while Ciaran wore a pink shirt with dark chinos.  We were photographed in various poses such as relaxing watching TV, chatting on the couch and then Ciaran coming in the door with the dog and me greeting them from the couch.    

We enjoyed the whole experience and are looking forward to seeing the photos in the magazine! 

As far as we know the photos won't be published until the middle of 2013 but I will keep you updated!!

Here's a few more pictures to give you a taste of the day.  Enjoy!

You can checkout more pictures here!

Mutt Ugly

I brought Bones to the groomers today.  I had got him booked in with his usual groomer but I had to cancel as it was too inconvenient to get across the city to him.  

I booked him in with Mutt Ugly which is in the village where we live.  When he came out he was wearing a smart blue bandana that they give to all the dogs on their first visit!  Too cute!!

RugArt

As you know we have a photo shoot for a UK interiors magazine taking place in our house this weekend.  RugArt very kindly agreed to lend us some rugs for the photo session.  They delivered 3 rugs to us this afternoon and I have to say I think they are just amazing!!

What do you think?!

The two pictured rugs are from the Jan Kath Collection.

Five Lamps, Dublin Craft Beer

New to the market is a craft beer brewed in Dublin called the "Five Lamps".  Ciaran and the ODKM crew (www.odkmarchitects.com)were given samples by Nolan's Food Fare in Terenure. They all agreed it is fairly delicious and will be looking out for it on draft in select pubs and nightclubs.

 The Five Lamps in Dublin are on the Northside of Dublin.  It is quite near the large GAA stadium, Croke Park.  When people come up from the country to watch a Gaelic Football game they sometimes meet at this point.  

However, tourists should be warned that if they ask a true Dubliner do they know where the Five Lamps are, they will get a witty and quite rude answer back.  Have a look at the side of the beer bottle - this is what they are alluding to!!

 What do you think the answer to the question might be?!!

Uniquely CMC!

Tonight I was considering what design point are what I call "uniquely Ciaran".  When looking at plans and designs from ODKM's office there are certain items that identify Ciaran as being the lead designer as he tends to include certain things.  They are little things but I think they are becoming signature items of his! 

He is a big fan of both bench seats and pocket doors.  He likes bench seats so much that we ended up with two large bench seats in our house - both can seat 10 people.

In just about every house that he has designed recently he has put in a pocket sliding door.  When remodelling our last house he put a pocket door in to our utility room.  My twin sister and I developed a fascination with this room - we reckoned that one day I would open it and find the Stasi Secret Police sitting in there listening to all of our conversations - it just had a very East German feel to it!!

Another thing that Ciaran always does when designing kitchens is that he specifies that the cabinets are built to the ceiling.  Generally kitchen cabinets in Ireland only have two shelves and then have a dust catcher at the top of them.  CMC insists that there is three shelves in the kitchen cabinets - I guess it is just a clever use of space to build them all of the way to the ceiling.  I don't know why all designers don't do it!

When we were 5....

My twin sister and I had our birthday the other day.  Amy sent me a birthday wishes text along with this cute pic of the two of us when we were 5.  I love it!

Would you believe we dressed the same for a few years after this picture was taken?!! (I won't embarrass myself by saying for exactly how many years!)

New vet!

Bones was due his yearly shots so I signed him up with a new vet to get them done.  This is the Animal Welfare Veterinary Clinic.  It's only a short walk away from our house along the canal.  Very convenient to get to and really friendly staff.  We were very pleased with the new vet and Bones was declared in perfect shape!

 In other news, the Christmas Mince Pies are now in Superquinn! ;-)