Yank’s House – The Web

I love the Web – looking at other peoples houses, checking out crafts people, looking up different products, searching for a bargain or just chatting with like-minded people. Whatever I am at I can spend hours browsing.

So when Pat and I started restoring the Yank’s house I turned to the web for ideas, information, knowledge and just old-fashioned support. And guess what? I found everything I was looking for. So this week I decided to share some of my favourite web site with you. Who knows you might find what you are looking for too.

Early on in the restoration I needed to learn about Lime. Web sites like The Traditional Lime Company http://www.traditionallime.com/ where we found our trusted adviser Ed Byrne and St Astier http://www.stastier.co.uk/ web site were we found some great guides and information are just two of many.

For an Irish perspective on restoring old buildings I love the Former Glory web site http://www.formerglory.ie/ . The Advice and Info section has some good reading and for inspiration have a look at some of the stories of other restorations or even go and stay in one that offers guest accommodation. 

For guest accommodation in a restored property in Ireland also have a look at the Irish Landmark Trust web site http://www.irishlandmark.com/ . I really enjoy being able to view the interiors of these beautifully resorted properties from the comfort of my own armchair.

The Old Builders web site http://www.oldbuilders.com/indexmainpage.htm shows lots of lovely examples of work they have completed. Another chance to have an inside view and again Irish buildings, many of which are  of very modest proportion.

I also like to drop in on The Irish Georgian Society http://www.igs.ie/  web site every now and then to catch up on anything new there and also the Irish Heritage web site http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/

Period property UK is another site I love to visit http://www.periodproperty.co.uk/ and I especially like reading about the Period Property of the Month section. There are also lots of articles to read on all kinds of topics.

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage site is of personal interest http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/ especially as we were featured under Co Longford http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?county=LF&name=&town=&townland=0681&type=quick&page=1

When it comes to shopping and searching for special things for the Yank’s house I love ebay http://www.ebay.com/ . We have found everything here from our vibrating table to make our floor tiles to the little Bakelite brown dolly switches for our lights.

   

When it comes to sharing and chatting to friend I have my blogs and all you lovely followers, twitter and facebook.

I hope you found some of this interesting. I could go on and on as I have visited thousands of sites over the years but this is just a few that spring to mind and that might interest my readers.

Why not leave a comment this week with your favourite restoration/building web site and I will check them out.

Yank’s House – 2013

My God – where has the time gone? It seems no length at all since we were all excited about the new millennium and now in a blink of an eye it is 2013. Why is it that as one gets older – each year appears shorter? For me it is a double whammy because I was a New Year baby. So on the turning of each year I am also reminded that I am a year older. 

I just spoke to my mother on the phone before I started to write this week’s blog and she reminded me that 2012 didn’t end too badly even if it wasn’t a great year for us. Personally 2012 brought a major challenge to our door. And while I know Pat won’t want me to blog about it – it was the year we fought cancer – fought and won. So yes we are glad to leave 2012 behind us.  I guess my mam is right and so this gives me more reason to make 2013 the first year in the rest of my life.  Forget about age – it is only a number.

Right – so what is the plan for 2013 then? Well at Yank’s house work continues. Excitingly, maybe this will be the year we finish the restoration and can start to enjoy the house and share it with our friends. Pat and I are 30 years married this May and I have set us a deadline to have the house ready for a big party to celebrate this event.  So watch this space and see how our plans progress.

One of my plans for 2013 is to preserve the footprint of the old yard. There are bits of old stone walls and broken down buildings from times past. I do not intend to rebuild these as full buildings again but rather to restore and point the old walls to create some outdoor rooms/spaces and at the same time preserve the history of the site.

Inside the house there is a lot of finishing off jobs to tackle. So as soon as we start back I will keep you informed with photos and chat.

So no photos from Yank’s house this week but here are photos of two painting I did this Christmas. Both commissions so gone to their new homes at this stage but just to prove I haven’t been idle. I will talk again next week and welcome back friends and followers.