The ICF & Self Build Journey

Written by: Bríd Richardson

@ahousenhome

This new build is Insulated Concrete Formwork (ICF), a modern construction method that speeds up the construction process and creates a healthier home & environment.

We moved into our L-shaped new build in Co. Limerick in April 2021. Our home has 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms and a number of spaces and rooms that will hopefully adapt and change as we establish ourselves in the house (and also as we save up a few more euro!!!!).

In the design stages of the house, the key features that we wanted to include in the build were a limestone cladded single storey, two flat roof sections connecting the single storey with the two storey and lots of corner windows. One of these principal corner windows is the 3m window on the stairs. This huge piece of glazing allow so much light into the house and because of the wooden window frames, the panes didn’t have to broken or divided up. The physical heart of our home lies around this corner window and white oak stairs. The windows here combined with the L-shape design make the house feel quite modern and contemporary.

One of my favourite rooms in the house would have to be the kitchen. We are so delighted we went with a kitchen designer as we really got to maximise the smaller space and create a very functional kitchen. The single storey which houses the K/L/D is 10m in length. We wanted to really optimise this space as we knew this is where we would spend the majority of our time.

However, we didn’t have a huge amount of space to play around with, trying to fit in our kitchen as well as the snug and dining area. We decided to break up the open plan space with a half wall that holds our dual-sided stove as well as a fire seat which doubles as a bench for dining. We have a wall of oak units on the back wall, that conceal a hidden door into our pantry. We then added a navy/grey peninsula to this area with a quartz waterfall counter top. Even though the walls are all painted white in here, the oak adds a lovely touch of warmth to this space. Fortunately, the clever kitchen design and high ceiling makes this space feel really spacious and bright.

We actually went with this very simple white colour palette throughout the house, painting both the interior and exterior white. I really feel that the white background has allowed us to add pops of colour throughout the house, in particular our yellow side door. The white background allows our paintings and personal pieces to take ownership on the walls. Down the line we may change up the colour schemes in certain rooms but for the moment we love the continuity of the white.

Colour does plays a key role in bringing our own personalities into the house. We went with a different colour theme in each bathroom, going for monochrome, pink, grey and blue. I think these rooms really show off a piece of our individual style. We decided to tile half way up the walls in all the bathrooms. As well as being a money saver, functionally the tiles create a natural splashback in each space. We continued the majority of our floor tiles up the walls to create this effect. We will definitely add colour to the untiled sections of the walls in here and step away from the white.

Another important design feature in the house for us was adding a little bit of the old to the new. We inherited a beautiful mid century dining table and chairs from my parents as well as an old record player and radio. These are focal features for us and we wanted to build the rooms around these pieces. I love mixing the old with the new and adding pieces we have collected over the years.

We hope as we become more settled into the house, our home will evolve with us and with a bit of luck we will also get to add many more old and new objects, as well as pops of colour, in the coming years.