By the time you read this the show will have aired and our fantastic winner of our heat will have been revealed....
But just in case you haven't had the chance to watch it just yet, I am saying nothing!! The link to the show is at the bottom of this blog so you have no excuse.
In this post I would like to share my journey on the GIDC. It was amazing and perhaps will open the doors to many more adventures.
Once I received my brief, I started researching what my clients wanted. Highlighting key words that they had asked for 'light airy, family friendly', amongst lots of others. Preferred colours were also mentioned by the clients so I designed around that. We also had to up cycle a hat stand and my clients had asked for a wallmounted TV unit to hide their flats screen.
I started my 3-dimensional mood board on my floor, walking past it, adding to, and taking away. Until I was ready to spray mount it finally onto mounting board.
The living room floor becomes a 3-D mood board. Magazine tear outs, tiles, fruit bowls, fabrics, ceramics.
My mood board showing one side of the room.
Mood board, not completed, for the fireplace wall.
My ideas for the up cycle. A feature light fitting was in my brief so I decided to make a feature chandelier from the hat stand. The centre pole I used as one of my curtain poles.
Working sketch to show how I planned to construct the light fitting.
Working sketch for TV unit. With fold back concertina doors on piano hinges.
My house was in a complete state of renovation. The living room was the only one that was plastered.
Some furniture pieces that I could use in the design.
My work space. Thankfully it was a very hot week in Welwyn Garden City.
Lots of colour and cloth.
Drying room at night and workspace during the day.
Finished room fireplace view.
Finished room, feature wall view. This is how it should have looked, but didn't, as I forgot to add the orange cushions back into the room! I need to let it go...
Feature cushion in my clients favourite textile designers print. Made from a tea towel into a cushion.
Wooden mantle and bright yellow flower freshly picked from the garden.
The workings of the TV unit and gold hinges coming through.
Finally I get to put my feet up for 5 minutes.
I extended my visit to London and got to hang with my best friend Heather, my cousin Lynne and my sister Pauline, my niece and nephew and brother in law. The week was 4 days of work, and 4 days of play!
On air!
My camera woman Zoe made me feel at ease in front of a camera. It was great learning about her side of the job. I think I look as though I have beaded pigtails here!
Inspirational colour and texture details in my living room. Old button cards with subtle chalky colours. Stripy pebbles and stones from Achill Island on the West Coast of Ireland. Wooden pencils and ceramics.
On the show I was dyeing fabrics with Camomile tea from Belfast's own tea company Suki Tea. The colour achieved was the softer yellow shades on the sofa cushions.
It was a very sunny June day when we filmed in Belfast. I love the light hitting all the textures in my room. I definitely feel very much at home in this room.
Bushmills Whiskey from the North Coast, hand rolled leather roses, candlelight, and an old wardrobe door with gorgeous bevelled oval mirror rests on top of the mantel. These are a few of my favourite things.
At work in my sewing room which used to be my spare bedroom. Dad made the shelf above the mirror and added the big light for me. Here I am making a wedding dress for my friend Claire.
Award winning Suki Tea. Business brewed in Belfast.
Here is the dress on the big day! I loved the happiness of the yellow and it influenced my room in the show. Claire is a very creative gal and her business is called Tee and Toast full of bright colours. She also sells in sunny Australia!
Image by Jay Doherty photography.
St Georges Market, Belfast. 2014 Winner of the UK Best Indoor Market. Open Fri, Sat and Sunday. Where you will find Tee and Toast and Suki Tea among many other creative. I used to also have a stand here on a Saturday selling my creations.
Image by Jude Malone Creative.
Natural dyed silk scarves with printed silk edging detail. And the N.I potato sack that I made into a cushion, this was seen on the show..
A lovely thank you card signed by Tom, Daniel and Sophie.
A wonderful experience, Thank you!!
Best of Irish luck to my fellow competitors Rich and to Luke for their futures ahead!
Tonight my wee house will be on TV, and its getting all excited!! My sister Linda is hosting a GIDC night in front of the telly...we will be glued to the box, and counting the times I say 'Like you know', 'Yer man the builder' and other Northern Irish phrases.
My wee house is not a stranger to fame as 9 years ago, when I bought it, the previous owner Lesley had it featured in HOUSE BEAUTIFUL magazine, back in October 2005.
I fell in love with the sleeper above the fire and the light that came in through the back window. Within 2 days it was sale agreed! Lesley had 'done the place up great' and I didn't think I would change a thing. But over time, every room has been changed, at least twice!!
Here are some photographs before I moved in. Lesley believed if there was a surface to paint, it had to be painted. I believe in the natural beauty of wood, stone, metal and so there was a lot of paint stripper bought! Quite often I would be as high as a kite on the fumes of Nitromors.
3 up, 3 down.
Open plan living room into dining room.
View of the dining room and living room, and wine in the kitchen!
Kitchen and view from dining room into the kitchen.
The main bedroom
The bathroom and spare bedroom.
My dad is brilliant at DIY and he was always lining the walls, wallpapering, matching up the wallpapers, and teaching me how to get a straight line with a plumline. He has been so amazing helping me out, building shelves for me, amongst many other things.
My mum is very creative, and her talents are in knitting, crocheting, sewing, flower arranging and all together a great homemaker. She has crocheted beautiful throws for the cold nights on the sofa. Its from mum that I learnt about sewing and knitting. I just haven't mastered the art of crochet yet!
I think mum and dad deserve their own blog post!
My house has evolved so much over the 9 years, as I have. At the start of 2014 I decided to do a lot of clearing out, selling 'things' and making space to breath. It was all becoming very cluttered. My spaces tend to change all the time, they all are 'living rooms'. Its an evolving process.
Next July I will be in my house 10 years. I like to work in decades. I had said in January to my friends and family that I couldn't do any more to this house, that I needed a new project. Then the call came for Great Interior Design Challenge. Then came Achill, then came other adventures. My friend Hilary then let me know that the number 9 is the number of completion and fulfilment.
I love the Beatles music, just maybe not this one.
Back in 1995, I wrote some ideas and dreams for my 'Ideal House'. I found this a few years ago and without realising it, a few of these ideas are what I had put in place. Albeit in a red brick terrace in East Belfast and not in the West Coast of Ireland!
My dream house, interior and exterior. That's the artist and textile studio to the right, which doubles as somewhere for my visiting friends and family to lay their heads.
Back to reality...
Here's some pictures of my house although it has changed again since these were taken!
A very cosy, if not slightly overcrowded living room, full of textures and cushions! It is now a little less cluttered.
Dining room curtain is a parachute from 1965
Retro sideboard £25 Belfast charity shop. The chairs have been removed from the wall and it now becomes a memory and inspiration wall.
The laminate flooring was ruined when I moved in as the stopcock hadn't been tightened when the previous washing machine was removed.
The quotes were painted on the wall way before the shelves were up. The kitchen has since changed again!
Sisal carpet and then 9 layers of paint and varnish came off the staircase!
A very small space to be on your hands and knees making a mosaic!
My room, I always wanted a white room. The last room to have the carpet lifted and I discovered painted white floorboards underneath which I sanded down.
The spare bedroom back in 2006. Still with sisal flooring.
The spare bedroom became by dedicated sewing room in January. The carpet was lifted and sanded and varnished.
I will post a detailed DIY and decoration for each room in a series of blog posts coming soon. It never stops changing!
Till next time, Enjoy the GIDC show!! And remember...I forgot to add the orange cushions!!
Today's the day! Back in May, I received a telephone call to be part of the Great Interior Design Challenge Series 2. I was 40 in April and had made a promise to myself to make 2014 a memorable and adventurous one. It hasn't failed to disappoint. I paused for a moment, phoned a few friends and family and said yes, absolutely! I'm always up for a challenge and new experiences.
Here's the preview for tonight's show. BBC2 7pm. I love what Sophie has said about my room...I think she was spot on! Click on the image for the link to the video clip.
Richard, me and Luke awaiting our fate.
The GIDC was featured in November 2014 Ideal Home magazine.
Sophie and Daniel the fabulous judges
Sophie and I smoothing out the creases in my wallpaper. Ideal Home called over to my building site on day 2 for a photoshoot.
Back in June my friend Martin Jordan, a freelance cameraman filmed my house and this was sent over to London as a selection process. Thank you Martin! I was in London that Friday to see the Italian Fashion exhibition at the V&A and couriered my SD card with precious footage to Holly of Studio Lambert, the production company. Within a few days, I had been given my selection process brief, I was chosen and it was all systems go!
Early July, Zoe my freelance camerawoman flew to Belfast to film my wee house and my street was all buzz and biz with the goings on. Zoe made me feel completely at ease and I was delighted to hear that she would be my camerawoman for the actual show.
I was the only contestant from Northern Ireland and flew over on the Tuesday evening from Aldergrove to Luton. The flight was delayed by 2 hours and I didn't get to bed in the hotel until 3.20am with a 8am start the next day. I could really have done with a hug at this stage! But, the show must go on and the adrenalin was kicking in!
Welwyn Garden City Centre
It was good to be back in WGC, I had worked for Adria Charnos Hosiery back in the late 90's as a children's hosiery and sock designer and one of our customers was Tesco. Their head office is in WGC so we flew over to present the new designs. It had been 15 years, this view was welcoming.
A quick check in at the hotel in Welwyn Garden City and it was off to meet the homeowners!
I can't say much more on the show in this post, but I will be posting after the show airs this evening.
Till tonight, little bit of Madness...its all a bit bonkers really!!
An eating space that always ended up being a workspace. It became a stressful room and meant that as my living space is open plan, I could never fully get away from work. It became less a place to eat, and more a space to sew. Something had to give.
In a small space you always need to think creatively. By hanging chairs on the wall this kept the floor area much clearer. However the length of the table blocked the feng shui flow out to the back yarden. It was time for a change...
In January I moved my big dining room table upstairs into the 'spare room' and it became my cutting table for sewing and making patterns. I asked the builders across the way to give me a hand up the stairs with a oak table.
This left me with a gap of where to eat in the dining room. Large scale dinner parties were out of the question unless they became 'TV dinner parties', but I don't have a TV.
I did manage to think around the lack of a 'big table' by throwing a party with 3 smaller tables, it ended up very Parisian, with white table cloths, roses and tea lights.
Margaret, Colin, Shan and Patrick enjoying an evening in Paris / Belfast in September.
Inspiration struck last week when I was clearing out cupboards and discovered the 2 end extensions to the already 'big table'. These have only been used about twice in the last 9 years, and I needed the space they were taking up inside the cupboard so I set to work taking them apart and remaking them.
A girls best friend, my trusty drill/screwdriver combo. Taking off all the wooden batons.
All off and thankfully clearly marked, if I am ever reversing the process.
Carrying down the cast iron base of the Singer machine that belonged to my Great Granny McFadden. Very heavy!!
Great Granny McFadden in her apple orchard in County Armagh.
Taking off the table top.
Fixing the batons in the opposite direction, joining the 2 extensions together to give support.
Measuring and marking out the drill holes to attach to the base.
Hey presto! One hour later and a new table to sit 4 (6 at a push).
Somewhere to hide if thunder and lightening strike!
Solid oak top and cast iron base means that this table will not be going anywhere...(maybe)
Its now 3 weeks since the end of Cabaret run at the Mac, and that means its well overdue for Part 2 of Cabaret costume blog. The tidy up is over, and all costumes have been returned to the hire company's or stored away for a possible revival.
This time its all about the Emcee, who was wonderfully played by Patrick J. O'Reilly. Patrick had shared a personal story of his during a photo shoot that he had always dreamed about playing the role. I believe the role was made for him.
Emcee had quite a few costumes, some consisting of more fabric and coverage than others. P.J was up for adventurous costumes and always gave his very welcomed thoughts on his costume.
Costume sketch for the opening number 'Wilkommen'
Photography by Neil Harrison Photography.
Perfect leather jacket find in Oxfam. Superbly lit by James McFetridge and set against Stuart Marshall's broken down set.
Costume sketch for Emcee
Turned into reality for the photoshoot.
Lit up stage.
A little less costuming required for this scene!
Sketch for 'Two ladies'
Lederhosen from The Rusty Zip. Hat from my collection, kilt socks from Edinburgh, Irish dancing shoes from the internet.
The final scene involved a new make. It was possible to buy striped pjamas on the High Street, but the stripes were too fine and the fabric too lightweight to have any substance and impact on stage.
Stencils and felt patches recreate the disturbing uniform of the concentration camps.
It was important that the striped pjamas looked used and this called for them to be 'broken down'. My sister Kathryn works in the Breakdown department at Game of Thrones so I employed her expertise. This gives the garment more effect and impact on stage. This costume in the final scene caused the audience to gasp, and consider the impact of the production.
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