Tracy Kirkpatrick - Case Study

Meet Tracy Kirkpatrick from Northern Ireland. Tracey is in the middle of renovating her new property in Armoy. Mum of twin boys and keen renovation enthusiast is here to share her project with us so far.

Introduce yourself:
I started off as a travel agent in Ballymoney before a few years living in England, Germany, Scotland and back to NI, my BSC honours degree is in travel and tourism and for the past 7 years, I’ve worked in banking. Now I am a cheerleader to an 18 year old who is finishing her A levels and twin boys aged 8 years old (Wills & Oliver). The boys play the lead role of Pablo in CBebbies/Netflix/RTE junior and in fact all over the world it’s aired (102episodes) born and bred in Ballycastle.

I have been interested in renovations and projects for 18 years. I bought my first house in England and then again ten years later when pregnant with the twins in Newtownabbey. Now I and my partner are back up the road to outside Ballycastle near Armoy and the iconic dark hedges on the Armoy road race circuit. We have always wanted to live in the country. Having young boys, a pack of Siberian huskies and buying three acres gives me plenty of scope.

Tell us a little about the project:
I had my eye on this property for a long time. I was interested in buying the house 7 years ago, but it wasn’t the right time for me. However, years later I was in the middle of renovating another property and it got me thinking about the property again so I thought why not purchase this and make it my home.

What is the project completion time frame?
We estimate that the project will take approx. 6-8months to complete.

Is this a Renovation or build?:
Both... the house was basically only bricks, roof, and windows. There was no plumbing, electric, insulation floors, nothing. It was basically stripped back for engineers and had knocked down walls and a turret that had no visible front door. This excited me about the house as it became my own little project, I could get stuck into.

How many bathrooms will be fitted?
The house has 5 bathrooms and we have picked everything from Bathshack. Tiles, flooring, heating bathroom ware everything!

What style have you gone for the bathrooms, traditional, modern, etc?
We have gone for a more modern design in the bathrooms. We have incorporated white marble effect porcelain floors with lovely wall hung vanity units with taps gorgeous black showers and led mirrors with a Bluetooth function.

Where did your inspiration for the design come from?
There are so many options out there these days I found it was easy to find inspiration everywhere. But I mainly took my inspiration from Magazines, KK house, Nicole Scherzinger house, and Laura Ashley styling and incorporated those with my vision of how I want to live. 

What type of bathroom tiles did you go for and why?
We went for White porcelain marble effect high gloss tiles throughout the whole downstairs and floors for the ensuites. We also have this for part of the floor in the bedroom as we are adding a freestanding bath in there as well (yes you heard that right, a bath in the bedroom). I am so excited to see it all come together.

What advice would you give others starting their renovation project?
My advice to others starting a renovation project would be to follow your gut instinct with everything.

If you see something you LOVE to buy it right away if you can because otherwise when you go back to look it could be gone and you will be kicking yourself.

Tracey will be sharing the full renovation once completed. You can follow her directly over on Instagram for updates of the project throughout.