House owners international, part 1

Sorry for the delay in blog posts.  At the end of May, we finally became home owners in Dublin.

I'd show you all a picture of the house, but I discovered to my amazement that I did not take a picture of the front.  So you will have to wait.  Instead, here are a few pics of the inside.

view out the back

As you can see, it has a nice view (this is from the master bedroom).  Although it is in the city (with a suburban feel, I admit, perhaps like Rogers Park in Chicago without the crime), we can only see a couple of house out the back (excluding our neighbors, that is).

Back of the house

We have dreams of removing the pebble dash, but that's expensive.  Plus, no one on the block has done that, so our house would stick out.  A few years from now, we have dreams of installing external installation and talking the neighbors into doing likewise.  That way, the house would be more energy efficient and less ugly from the outside.

future TV room

The room above faces the back of the house (more or less south facing), whereas the room below faces the back.  They are connected with pocket doors that are pretty good shape.  For both of these rooms, the plan is to get new curtains, fix up the fireplaces (cheaply), and put in new hardwood floors (with some insulation underneath).

current living room

The main renovation downstairs is to knock out the wall between the kitchen and dining room to combine the spaces.  We also hope to convert the tiny bathroom under the stairs, while putting in a new bathroom in what is currently the garage.  Part of the garage will also be converted into a walk-in pantry.  A small portion at the front of the garage will remain, as storage for our bikes and a few other things.

Cutie and Patootie in the master bedroom

Less work is planned for the second floor (called the first floor in Europe - the ground floor doesn't get a number) - mainly new closets and an enlarged utility room with washer / dryer.

More pictures and information in the next posting...