DIY - Edwardian restoration Dublin

Day 84 - what hit us in November?

19 December 2017

Photo by Philip Swinburn / Unsplash Well a load hit us...work, travel, DIY...but here's a quick summary: First week in November we were in London as a family to catch up with old friends and visit old haunts. That Saturday Mehdi said goodbye to us in Liverpool street station, and myself and the boys got the Stansted express for our flight to Dublin, while he flew on to San Francisco. I arrived in time to heat up the house a bit for our guests (my sister, her husband and 3 kids) who arrived Saturday evening for a flying - but really fun - visit. My

Day 49 - Approach to restoration - coming to agreement

12 November 2017

I feel it's important to note how Mehdi and I came to agreement on how we manage a huge slow project like this without going insane. We both grew up in big old houses in the country, with big gardens, where everything needed a tonne of work done, all the time - every time my parents ticked something off a to-do list, 3 other things had been added. In Mehdi's family, his father's approach was to do everything he could himself. While this approach can be cost efficient and means you're sure of your finish (for better or worse...), it has huge drawbacks, particularly if -

Day 9 - uncovering our last fireplace

04 October 2017

We are still bouncing between our apartment and the house. So after a day's work we raced off to get the boys, then arrived at the house with some hot food to eat. We still don't have a table or chairs so we are picnicking on the floor. No one has complained so far. After food, the boys zoned out on screens because they'd figured out we have Internet. It suited me though, as we'd only a short while in the house before having to shift everyone back over to the apartment for bedtime. Because the old non-compliant gas fire had been removed earlier in the