Monday, 3rd January 2011

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2011

I’d like to thank all of our readers for following and contributing to this blog over the past year and wish everyone a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year for 2011! I’m really looking forward to the year ahead, it’s going to be a very busy and exciting year, both personally and professionally…

Wedding planning season is upon us and I’m anticipating a busy Spring at Farrell & Chase, with lots of exciting new plans to be announced throughout the year, the first being our return to The bride of The Year Show in the RDS January 29th and 30th where we will be showcasing some new designs and exciting new products.

As most of you know myself and Alan are planning our wedding in Rome, we have set a date, July 15th, and have also booked our venue and church. So now that we are into 2011 the real excitement begins! I’ll be blogging throughout the next six months about our plans and progress.

Myself and Alan are also currently self building our house. We have had big delays due to the snow and frost but hopefully we’ll get things in motion now again and get a real push ahead in the next few months. The plan is, fingers crossed, that we’ll be moving in before our wedding.

Although a bit daunting, it is a very exciting time and I can’t wait to share our ups and downs, hopefully mostly ups, over the coming year with you all.

2011, the year that will be…

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Labels: Happy Days, Our House, Our Wedding

Saturday, 7th August 2010

IKEA IDEAS

I’m loving these IKEA images… lots of inspiration for our wedding party and our house!

I am a big IKEA fan, I will be so dangerous when our house is built and I am let loose in there, so you can imagine my delight when I cam across some of these images on Bride & Joy. The really stunning styling, by Lo Bjurulf of Agent Bauer, shows IKEA in a whole new light…

I especially love IKEA decor mixed with vintage or antique pieces for a more personal, eclectic look, swoon!

Author: pamela | 2 Comments »

Labels: Design + Interiors, Farrell & Chase Loves..., Our House, Our Wedding, Wedding, Wedding Style + Trends

Friday, 6th August 2010

BARCELONA TILES

I fell in love with these tiles in Barcelona, the colours and the patterns are so beautiful. I’d love to have them in our kitchen and hall, but which ones, the choice and pattern possibilities are endless?

Barcelona tiles also called cement or Mexican tiles have seen an increase in popularity in the US and have never been out of favour in mainland Europe. They are considered “green” as they don’t require firing like ceramic tiles, and are not quarried like natural stones. They are low-maintenance and hard wearing, and can be used indoors and on patios outdoors, but sunlight can fad the colours. You can keep them matt, which I prefer, or you can wax them, if you want a more formal, shiny look.

I love the geometric patterns, possibly the graphic designer coming out in me. Maybe it’s best to keep to more neutral colours for the kitchen and hall, or a more classic combination like black and white, although I’m really drawn to the greys, taupe’s, pale greens and blues. I love the mixture of the vibrant coloured, pattern tiles randomly laid too, maybe an idea for our balcony.

Swoon… I’ll have to get my thinking cap on, and cost them, and convince Alan too.

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Labels: Design + Interiors, Farrell & Chase Loves..., Our House

Friday, 8th January 2010

RECYCLED HOME

I wanted to share my discovery of  ”recycled home” by Mark & Sally Bailey… a very thoughtful Christmas gift from Alan. I have always loved old and vintage furniture and architectural pieces and really want to introduce these elements into our new build house when we move in. Recycled Home has given me a huge amount of inspiration, so much so, my new years resolution… to visit auctions, salvage yards and flea markets throughout the year. My aim, to discover pieces that I can give some TLC and customise adding character, interest and life to our house!

If you fancy a bit of their style yourself, the book explains their “guiding principles” are “rescue, repair, reuse and rethink.” They also point out that these principals can be applied anywhere, even in a modern house! Recycled Home’ by Sally & Mark Bailey

Their website www.baileyshome.com is chocker block full of beautiful design pieces for home and garden available to purchase by mail order including my dream Belfast sink and my absolute favourite Xavier Pauchard steel chairs and stools. 

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Labels: Design + Interiors, Farrell & Chase Loves..., Our House

Thursday, 1st October 2009

OUR HOUSE - PROGRESS REPORT

For those of you that don’t know myself and Alan are in the process of building a self build country house. We bought a beautiful sight at the top of a hill with amazing views over Co. Meath.

Sunsets are truly spectacular. I’ll have to get Alan’s camera and post some of the pics from last few months.

We had a huge amount of groundwork to do over the Summer, Alan doing most of it himself. It has been allot of sweat and effort on his part but we couldn’t have gotten this far without the help and support of a very generous neighbour who has unoffically become our go to concering the build. 

Anyway Alan took the week off work to get a push on things and it’s so exciting to see things moving on. We now have foundations in, radon barrier in and insulation in. So next step is underfloor heating and plumbing (some of which is completed already) and then we can pour our finished floor. Hopefully all of this will be completed next week and we can start building walls! I can’t wait until the walls start going up and the house begins to really take shape.

I’ll have to take some new pics when I’m up there this evening.

Anyway I’ll keep you updated with progress reports and photos over the next year.

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Labels: Our House

Monday, 18th May 2009

TOLIX STEEL DESIGN

For those of you that don’t know myself and my boyfriend are at the very first stages of building a house in the Irish countryside. The build won’t be complete for at least another year and a half but that doesn’t stop me dreaming of interiors…

These chairs and stools were originally designed by Xavier Pauchard in 1934 for French company Tolix who still produce them. It is believed that they were originally designed for use in battleships. I think I’ll start saving now for three of the tall stools in the natural metal finish, love, love love!

They’ll go perfectly with my dream shaker style kitchen, sitting at the island, which will have a polished concrete work top. A girl can dream!

Author: pamela | 1 Comment »

Labels: Design + Interiors, Farrell & Chase Loves..., Our House