Halo Tiles Showroom – Progress
 

Halo Tiles Showroom – Progress from the beginning till now.

Our love for tiles led us to visit one of the biggest tile showrooms in Wexford: Halo tiles. We have not only discovered a source of some incredibly beautiful tiles, but the visit has transformed into an exciting opportunity and challenge to redesign the entire showroom.

In a very short time frame, we were asked to redesign the space for one of our largest projects to date; an entire open plan showroom about 1100 m2. The space has offered a fantastic potential and scope to unleash our creative spark. So exciting!

The showroom can be divided into three main zones.

The front entrance and the central area give you a glimpse into a potential bathroom set design. We haven’t had too much involvement here- only a few cosmetic improvements involving a change of colour and styling.

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Bare partitions offer a great potential to display some of the tile collections on a larger scale. We had so much fun coming up with some creative tiling layouts.

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New cage-like displays being delivered to the site. The contract of the powder coated metal against the white background is quite striking!

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We have designed three box-like structures that are randomly dispersed in space. One of these will be tiled internally and externally and the other two will be displaying timber finishes. We can not wait to see the progress and the final result. Watch this space as it’s going to be quite a treat.

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Partition walls for the box structures are being plastered and getting ready for the make-over.

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The focal points of the third zone are the two large tunnels. Both tunnels will evoke a gallery-like space. Black background will serve greatly to showcase the colours and the textures of the exhibited tiles.

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Tunnels are being plastered and painted to a dramatic black colour.

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Stay tuned on the development of the showroom and any further progress.

 
 
DRIMNAGH RESIDENCE BEFORE + WEEK 1 & 2
 

Construction works have started on Drimnagh Residence and we are very excited!!

The brief for this project was to design a house for a young expanding family with a separate apartment with its own side entrance.

The challenge was to connect two living spaces that could also work well as one unit. It was a tricky task as we had to incorporate two functional living spaces into a relatively small house. The new design needs to be multifunctional and also fully adaptable in the future.

The idea behind the concept for this project was to create a space within space.

The proposed design consists of a living space for a young family and a separate apartment.  We have designed a double sided kitchen that would serve as a central focal point of the design. Two separate living areas are interconnected by series of entrances that can be opened or closed based on the need.

BEFORE:

Front facade of the Drimnagh residence waiting for her makeover to begin.

 

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Front entrance to Drimnagh Residence before the construction started

 

Below image shows the side entrance to an old extension that served as a utility room. We are rebuilding the boundary wall and renovating the entrance into a side entrance for the apartment.

 

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Existing side entrance before construction

 

The kitchen is the focal point of the proposed design. The existing kitchen below had a limited natural light coming in and a small window with a view into the corridor.

 

The original kitchen
The original kitchen

 

The garage area will be completely transformed into an apartment bedroom area.

 

Existing garage to be transformed into a bedroom
Existing garage to be transformed into a bedroom

 

The original shed adjacent to the house had to go in order to provide a space needed for the new extension. Bye-bye shed, we will not miss you.

 

View from the side entrance onto the existing garden shed
View from the side entrance onto the existing garden shed

 

WEEK 1 –  DEMOLITION

Finally!! The demolition plans are being carefully reviewed and inspected. Oh, a lot of red colour is popping up and, therefore, some walls will need to be demolished. New exciting changes are on the horizon.

 

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Demolition plans are ready

 

Neighbours boundary wall demolished

 

Demolition works in progress
Interior demolition works in progress

 

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1st Floor Bathroom being stripped out

 

WEEK 2 – AND THE CONSTRUCTION BEGINS…

Demolition is moving quickly and the changes are more and more prevalent. The new boundary wall is up, the construction of the extension begun and the exterior shell of the house was completed.

 

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New boundary wall

 

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The construction of the new extension begun

 

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New external walls are up

 

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Walls for the new extension are completed

 

We will keep you posted on a further progress as the time goes on.

 

 

 
 
IDEAL HOME – WEEK 3

Ideal Home – Week 3 and it’s only hours until show time!

With the shell of our showhouse now complete, the final touches (the fun part!) have begun: decorating and styling. We have so many fun accessories and furniture pieces  for everyone to feast their eyes upon.

We are obsessed with the funky, beautiful, and eclectic pieces from April and the Bear. These items truly add both a funny and captivating element to our rooms.

Our rope corridor installation was quite the challenge! There was the mounting tension as the expected delivery time for the rope came and went, which was in no way eased on hearing it was because no courier wanted the job of lifting and delivering the immense weight of 150meters of thick rope…! A brave soul finally took on the task and our tonne sack of rope was delivered. Then the fun part of figuring out how to fix it to the walls…the whole team was drafted in to brainstorm the issue, partners were called to bring power tools, many curses at nails refusing to go through the rope until, finally, it worked! We’d like to think the end result was worth the pain. You can see for yourself and let us know!

 


All part of the ‘fun’! Claire sawing the entire 150 meters of rope into 4m lengths as per the design of the installation. Definitely felt some pirate vibes in the atmosphere during this process.

Our other tasks included table tiling, plastering, and hanging many stunning paintings and photographs by artists including Daniel Henson and Lola Donoghue; as well as styling some incredible antiques from Michael Duffy

All the family were drafted in to help out. Roisin’s brother Aaron, and partner Conor, working away to hang our stunning bespoke 1.6meter diameter mirror, no small task!

Roisin and Olyviane getting their creative hats on putting the finishing touches to our custom made ‘dining pod’, the quintessential room-within-a-room feature!

Our serene imagery supplied and fitted by Russell from Wallart.ie, helps carry you away to dreamland in our kid’s bedroom nook.

What a journey it has been. It is crazy to think the job is complete and opens to the public today! We promise the Ideal Home Show is something you do not want to miss. Come and see what we’re all about, explore our Showhouse rooms in all their finished glory, and be inspired. It has already been such a rewarding experience. We cannot thank everyone who contributed enough!

 
 
London Restaurant Design Progress – Tootoomoo

Construction in our London restaurant design – Tootoomoo is coming along well. Opening date is the 19th of May so busy weekends ahead for the contractors on site! We have been over and back on site visits quite a bit recently to check on everything and we are delighted with the progress.

Shopfront design being fit on site
London Restaurant Tootoomoo new shop front being fitted on site

A lot of inspiration was  taken from the Singapore shop house style with reference to the panelling and shutter details that they are known for. We especially noted this style with the design of the shop front. Whetstone is a busy area and we wanted to entice people into the restaurant as much as possible with a clean view in from the street.

A lot of the joinery, caging and banquet seating was constructed in our Irish workshop and shipped over in the last week so the whole restaurant space is now taking shape!

Caging and bespoke bar detailing
Main bar and overhead caging being fit on site

As Tootoomoo is an existing restaurant brand, our main design challenge has been to refine the existing branding and overall brand message and create a restaurant design that still reflects their existing style but also brings something new and provides an enjoyable restaurant to their new and growing client base.  Tootoomoo is a lighthearted, colourful and playful brand with a strong emphasis on authentic Pan Asian street food. We took this on board with our colour palette, choice of materials and finishes and overall design style. Authentic ethnicity was a key concept of ours; we wanted to reference Asia and the Pan Asian culture but also take on board the London location. The main thing was to merge the two ideas well. Tootoomoo was first conceptualised and created by Jennings Design Studio, who went on to design the first restaurant in Crouch End.

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Patterned tiles but against angled monochrome tiles at restaurant entrance

 

Distressed printed panelling
Distressed printed panelling adds colour and texture to the walls.
Patterned tiled walkway
Ribboning tiled walkway lead you from entrance into main dining area
 
 
Ballsbridge Progress – Residential project

Our Ballsbridge Residence interior architecture construction has been coming along really well over the last few weeks. The large windows and doors at the rear of the property have finally been fit so overall the space is now well defined. The main objective with this spatial design was to create a good flow between all of the ground floor rooms.

Dividing wall between kitchen and dining room
View from dining space into kitchen with partition separating wall

Having previously been two separate properties, it was our intention to merge them well together so as to appear that they had always been one house. We have opted to retain the character of the original house at the front of the property with reference to the cornicing, ceiling roses and panelling. The rear however is much more contemporary, airy and modern.

Bench seating area at garden window
Nook banquette seating area

Natural light floods the space and furniture, flooring and lighting help to define the different areas in the open plan space. The living room, reading nook, dining area and kitchen are all located within the rear open plan space.

Joinery is a huge part of this project, with bespoke joinery in almost every room of the house. This is now underway, beginning in the walk in wardrobe and the library room. We are very excited to see this underway… along with tiling and finishes, joinery plays the most visual part in the finished design. More updates coming soon!

 

Pocket doors are great at saving space
Sliding pocket doors provide access to wardrobe and master en-suite
Walk in wardrobe as part of joinery package
Bespoke master walk in wardrobe
 
 
New London restaurant design …

Say helloo to TooTooMoo…
Tootoomoo is one of our latest restaurant design jobs in London. Tootoomoo is a London based super healthy Pan Asian restaurant which is currently expanding their take away’s and restaurants around London. It is an exciting one for us. Tootoomoo was first conceptualised and created by Jennings Design Studio, who went on to design the first restaurant in Crouch End. We are developing the existing identity and interior style to adapt to the new location and brand development. Currently on site, we recently took a short trip to Whetstone, London to have a look and see how progress is getting on. It’s still very early days but changes are happening which is always exciting.

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The site has been stripped out and first fix electrical is underway. We had our big strong men at hand to put the kitchen extraction system up and with deliveries arriving on site everyday things are moving along nicely.

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Elsewhere off site, we made time to take a road trip to visit the workshop, where our design for the London restaurant design is taking shape! We love to see where all the magic happens and were not disappointed by seeing the busy workshop in action. We were fascinated by everything around us especially the large scale printing onto different materials. We also couldn’t keep our hands off the printed tiles or the louvered doors… We really cannot wait to see these beautiful items arrive on site.

 Steel Caging

Metal caging

 Distressed Wooden Paneling

printed panels

The Cocktail Bar is taking shape!

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Our patterns coming to life on mirror..

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Inspiration, new methods of construction and design possibilities ran away with us on the drive home!  Keep your eyes peeled, the trucks are being loaded up to move it all over to London… Next stage installation..