Welcome to Delgany Diaries – The Brief Edit

We are delighted to share with you our memorable journey on a recent standout project in this stunning family home in picturesque Delgany, Co Wicklow.

While we really enjoy working on all of our renovation projects, this refurbishment and reconfiguration project sparked joy from start to finish.  This project was not without its challenges, however, the dedication and effort from our team, sub-contractors and specialists paid off with the exceptional end results of this transformation.

As my role as project manager and creative director, when our lovely Delgany clients reached out to us, they shared how they had moved into this home a few years prior. They inherited the style, layout and finishes of the previous homeowner and although this was far from their taste and overall worn and jaded, they decided to live with it for a while.

THE BRIEF

The brief was to change the look and feel of each room by altering the layout.  To create a better flow throughout and to make better use of space where allows and to include such much needed storage.  They wanted to give their home a contemporary, modern but homely feel and to ensure that each room had a purpose and would be used and enjoyed by the family. 

As with every project, the brief is of the upmost importance. Not only are you listening to your clients wish list, you are also listening to what is not working for them in their home. You try and get a really good understanding of how they live or hope to live in their home, their lifestyle, hobbies, pets and whether they entertain etc. Here is a link to a recent blog on how to create your house renovation brief https://www.placelift.ie/blog/how-to-create-your-house-renovation-brief

To give you some insight into this home pre-demo day, we have a few photographs to share with you. The main living room was dull and unwelcoming and as a result, the family gravitated towards the kitchen and the games room off this.

The dining room was completely disjointed from the main kitchen area and as a result was unused.  It had become a storage room and a work from home spaced, tucked away from the rest of the house. 

Along with the internal door from the hall this room had double doors from it to the living room, a further two external double doors and an internal door from it to the utility/kitchen.

The entry hall was separated by an indoor porch area which ultimatey blocked light into the main hall area.  This, along with the mass of knotted pine provided anything but the wow factor!
For the scale of this home, it seriously lacked storage space throughout.  There was a small unpractical storage area under the stairs and a standard hot press upstairs and that was it!

The master bedroom was out of proportion for the scale of this stunning home. The master ensuite was excessive with a large corner bath, small shower and double sink and then a less than generous walk-in-wardrobe. This resulted in the main bedroom feeling subdued and understated.

The layout of the existing main bathroom was awful.  The shower cubicle was sitting in the centre of the room with the sink and vanity hidden behind.

Although the five bedrooms were exhausted and dated, their layouts made sense, however, back to the brief - to change the look and layout of every room.  Most of the bedrooms including the bathroom had non-structural dated beams which were obviously trending at the time of build, but needed to go.

The upstairs bathroom and the two ensuites of this home were the most challenging to re-imagine as they all had existing underfloor heating - which we had to avoid damaging at all costs.  It took a fair few layout attempts and exploratory works on site prior to finding out what would actually work on the ground in terms of soil and waste outlets etc.

Following a number of meetings with our clients, we put together a comprehensive scope of works and set about planning this wonderful project. To find out more about the scope of works, check out blog https://www.placelift.ie/blog/understanding-a-renovation-scope-of-works.

We really hope that you enjoyed the first edit of our Delgany Diaries.  The next edit will be released soon.  If you think that any of your friends or family might enjoy this content, please free to share this first edit with them.