Renovation inspiration: How to avoid delays and mistakes
Ciara O'Brien at home in Barnahown, Mitchlestown, Co Cork. PIcture: David Creedon
After delays and sleepless nights, you’ve secured planning permission, and your loan is approved to build or renovate, but how do you, as a novice, never having measured up for tiles before, let alone read technical drawings, make the best use of your money on what can be a white-knuckle ride crashing into the dead end of a depleted budget?
Ciara O'Brien had no renovation experience when she bought an old 1880s farmhouse in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, but she has brought it back to life as Barnahown House B&B with a contemporary addition for her personal accommodation.
Taking the knowledge she’s acquired she’s designed a course for newbies to building projects.
Taking the course and visiting Ciara at Barnahown to discuss what she's done, I feel like she's given an A-Z guide to interior design and renovation.
Here are some insights.
Thinking I was pretty savvy about buildings in general and interiors more specifically, I took myself off to the February edition of what Ciara has called the Interiors Immersion Experience and picked up new vocabulary, tips and insights on everything from construction grunt work to the finer finishes.
First up, a "completion sequence", I discovered, is the schedule of various trades and services coming in, focusing you on where you want everything to go. “If you haven’t decided where your lights are going, they’ll put them in the middle of the ceiling,” says Ciara.
“It’s the same thing if you haven’t picked out your bathroom fittings. They’ll pick up the cheapest toilet and put it in.”
This was just one piece of practical advice she dispensed during the three-hour session which included a tour of the house to study the intricacies of build and interior design, with ample time for asking questions before sitting down for a presentation.
Order your materials, fixtures and fittings, Ciara tells us so everything is on-site before the trades arrive. Nothing, it seems, wastes time and money more than a contractor waiting on a fixture that when you went to buy it found there was an eight-week wait.
“Don’t let your builder leave,” says Ciara to our group of 10 which included a couple renovating an old rectory, the owner of a converted school house, and a new build in progress.
“This is why it’s so important to have everything ordered and ready before you start. Pick out your fittings early. If the builder goes because you’re not organised, it will delay the other trades. Pick out your fittings early.”
While on the house tour, Ciara went into detail about the stone and render to the polished concrete floors downstairs, wooden floors upstairs and finishes and furnishings before settling in for Ciara’s talk and presentation with questions and discussions — and tea and treats.
“Finalise the house spec before you start,” she says. “Houses are so complicated nowadays, so everything has to hang together.
"It’s easy and cheap to chase a wire to where you want your wall lights during the build but not later when you’ve finished and you have to bring the electrician back. It’s easy to change cushions and paint but not lighting.”
That loan seeps away quicker than you could anticipate, so Ciara advises sourcing pre-loved furniture and thinking about making workable compromises to save money.
As an example, she picked up some bargain mid-century pieces in excellent condition, and also made some clever compromises you’d never know about.
“I bought basic divan bases with expensive mattresses,” she says.
“My biggest money saver was buying a second-hand kitchen for the B&B and having it spray painted. Another was having all my concrete poured in one go inside and outside. Grouping purchases and deliveries together saves money.”
The scourge of trends and endless choices can easily throw you off your plan as anyone simply decorating a room knows. Changes eat into a carefully allocated budget.
“Stop looking at Instagram and Pinterest once you decide your vision for the house,” says Ciara.
“I thought originally that I wanted my rooms different colours, but Catherine Flynn, the interior designer encouraged me to pick a colour palette and use it throughout.
"It means I have colour but I also have flow through the house.”
At the same time, she also stresses the importance of not paying attention to everyone giving you advice.
“Not all advice is good advice,” she says, which is a reminder to stay true to your vision of what you want your home to be.
- Barnahown House Interiors Immersion Experience, March, May, June; barnahown.com; €100 for up to two people;
- Instagram: @barnahown
