The Eternal House Project - Carraig Ard

Back in July 2014, we bought a run-down old bungalow in a really beautiful part of Barna called Forramoyle East, and embarked on a renovation project to turn it into a warm, modern, energy efficient home....we completed phase 1 of the project in March 2015, when I was 8 months pregnant, and haven't done an awful lot since...we'll get back to it in 2016! Check out our project blog for more info on the renovation project, and here are some photos of where we had got to by the end of Phase 1:

At 2300 ft sq, it's just the right size for our little family and has low running costs which will hopefully allow us to continue to invest in the evolution of the house as we grow and change as a family.

The style is contemporary and over time, we'll add scandinavian furnishings to it - for now, we've got all our old furniture so it's a bit of a mish mash.

As well as updating the interior, we also need to invest in the garden, driveway and the wall surrounding the property - all of which are surprisingly expensive! And a nice side project which David has taken on is to convert part of the garage into a home gym. I'll add blog posts on each of these as and when we make progress.

Morton

Way back in March this year, when I was 7 months pregnant, I bought a beautiful new pair of very expensive flat boots. I thought i was doing my body a favour buying flat shoes - while carrying the baby weight my feet were swollen and I just couldn't hack high heels. However, after a day or so of wearing them, I felt as if I had something stuck under my right foot, around the fourth toe. I found nothing in there and, as it really wasn't too painful in comparison with the rest of the pregnancy-related health issues I was dealing with, I did nothing about it. When I increased my activity levels after Joseph was born however, it got worse and I felt pain in the joint and numbness in the toe so I went to see a physio.

8 months on and many physio sessions later, my foot is much worse (pain and numbness pretty much constantly) and I still have no clear diagnosis. I went through several supports and eventually proper orthotics, none of which helped. I recently tried a new physio, Tricia Strelioff. Tricia checked me over and said that she thinks I have developed Morton's Neuroma. She thinks the best treatment is going to be a corticosteroid injection. I've now had an MRI and next step is to go and see a radiologist called Dr. Derek Lohan, who can perform the injection assuming the MRI confirms the MN.

Anyway, all of this means no running for me at the moment, which on the upside has allowed me to develop a real love of swimming and cycling - more on those in the next couple of posts! Still...I do miss taking off on a fresh early morning run....bloody Morton...

A bit about me

Name: Claire Farrell
Age: 38
Family: Daughter of Margaret and Gabriel McLoughlin; wife of David Farrell; mother to Heidi (4) and Joseph (8 months)
Height: 168cm
Weight: 58kg
Home: Barna, Co. Galway, Ireland
Occupation: IT Product Manager for IBM (mainly working from home)

Interests

Nutrition
I love food and learning about how we can use food to prevent/heal disease and fuel our bodies for exercise. My eating philosophy is simply to eat more veg and my current favourite book is The Happy Pear, a book with healthy, simple and delicious veggie recipes. 

Health and Fitness
Now that my family is complete, and I am nearing forty, I have decided to focus on being fitter and stronger than I have ever been in my life (yes, it is possible after having babies!) and my chosen sport is triathlon. My aim is to do sprint and olympic distances in 2016 and at least one half-ironman in 2017 (the year i turn 40).

Interior Design
Both David and I have always wanted to have something non-standard about our homes and we love clever design, efficient use of space, and colour. However, I am not naturally creative and not very good at interior design! So I spend a lot of time looking for inspiration from others, using tools such as Pinterest, Houzz, interior design blogs ( e.g. Apartment Therapy, Design Milk, My Scandinavian Home) and sometimes plain old 'word of mouth'.