When you meet with us, whether on site or in our offices, we discuss at first an overview of your vision for your premises.  Your home or business is unique to you and we want to ensure that your personality (or your businesses personality) is stamped into the end cabinetry.

Once we have listened and understood your needs we move onto the detailed design phase followed by the manufacturing phase.   We start with planks of wood which the foreman will have personally picked for you, from the most appropriate tree.  (You can see an image here.)  This is what your bar, restaurant, castle furniture etc looks like before our craftsmen put their hands to it.  He decides how many planks are needed, which grade, type and length.

And now the magic starts. The wood is sanded, placed together in the relevant design and fixed into place.  This forms the necessary width to create the item, a bathroom for example.  We then shape the various sides, add any moldings, sand again.  Following this we stain or spray the appropriate colour and let this prove.  After proving it is sanded once again before finally being assembled by the crafts team.

Our pieces are built with care to last.

Thanks so much to everyone who voted for us.  The short list is due out on the 8th of September next, exciting times ahead.

Pay a visit to the list of nominees as there are some really fantastic blogs there, old favourites, newbies and something to interest everyone.

You can access the list here:

www.blogawardsireland.com

Please vote for us

We are very excited indeed as the Irish Blog Awards 2012 have just been launched.   The founders of the Blog Awards are of very high calibre and include Amanda Webb of Spiderworking.com, Beatrice Whelan of Sage and Lorna Sixsmith of Write on Track so the competition will be extremely stiff.  If you enjoy our blogs we would be most obliged if you could please kindly vote for us by simply clicking the logo to your left.  It should bring you straight to the www.blogawardsireland.com nominations page.  The blog post we wish to enter is “The Great Fire” and is located here:  http://www.teamwoodcraft.com/2012/05/great-fire/#more-577

If you would like to enter the competition yourself, the entries are open until the 16th of July with the list being published on the 4th of August next.  Thank you for voting and the very best of luck to you too if you enter.

1. What can be recycled?
2. How can we modify what we have to improve it?
3. What can Teamwoodcraft do for my budget whilst still producing a good quality fitout?

This leads to a very important and fundamental question for the Teamwoodcraft team:

1. What is the most practical and economical way of manufacturing and installing the fitout for this client?

Every project causes much discussion and debate to ensure we get the client the uniquely finished fitout for them whilst ensuring they get the best value for money.  Luckily for us necessity is the mother of invention so some concepts have been born of this.  We have come up with ways to clad bar counters (as opposed to an entirely new counter) etc.

One of the best cost saving ideas is the fitting of bi-fold doors across an area.  They will divide up separate areas for mid week trading thereby avoiding the (totally unfashionable!) barn look,with only a few customers in a wide open space.  The beauty of the bi-fold doors is that they allow for business improvement by allowing a function one side and normal trading the other.  They can then be opened up for bank holidays or large functions.  A perfect example of this is the bi-fold door system we manufactured and installed at the Brosna Lodge, Banagher, Co. Offaly (as seen on the At your Service tv programme recently).  The doors save costs on heating, staffing and improve turnover by allowing two separate functions to happen simultaneously.

Another interesting idea is to build a glass roof smoking area.  A super example of this can be seen at our project in McDonnells of Newbridge (also known as Neesons).  In this beautiful weather people are more inclined to sit about for longer (thereby an increase in spending) and the smoking room has now doubled up as a funky outdoor drinking area.

The word back from our commercial clients is that they have to do refurbishments of some kind frequently as the clientele nowadays expect top class facilities with top class food and drink as the norm.  One publican in particular put it to us “The only way we can survive is to keep improving our premises as time goes on.  It’s vital to change the premises and don’t let it get tired”.

Whilst undertaking a refurbishment in the current climate can be daunting our clients report an uptake in turn over of between 25% and 50% and one client had his refurbishment paid for within the first year of change!

The work to your left was inspired by “Jive Talking”.  The song perfectly encompasses the excitement, flirtation and buzz of a dinner party.

The image below is a result of playing ”Massachusetts”at full blast, not to mention singing into the microphone at the top of our voices hoping no-one was around!

This photo sends a rush of happy memories as we play “You Should Be Dancing” quite frequently, especially when we need a boost.  That song just oozes happiness and joy and was used to get the team going every morning.  By the way this American poplar hallway is perfect for dancing down along (trust us).

In our quieter moments we used to play “Spirits Having Flown” at the top of this hallway and look out over the spectacular sea views.  It was just impossible not to feel closer to nature.  This was one of the happiest times at Teamwoodcraft.  Thank you Robin for the inspiration, the happy memories and the music.  Your music lives on and continues to inspire us daily.  R.I.P.

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks.   I have been chastised by a journalist who said to me “imagine if they only published the Irish Times whenever they felt like it” so I have humbly retreated back to the keyboard. In our defence,  as most of you know, we have had a lot going on here, not least of which was our house

going on fire!

The Great Fire (as we have christened it) occured a month ago now when I was home alone, working on the laptop.  I heard a sort of scratching noise which I actually thought was the dog and so (of course, as you do) I ignored it for a while.  After a few moments it seemed to get louder so I wandered into the hall to see if he was locked in the sittingroom.  Approaching the  door of the room the scratching grew louder and seemed more like a crackling noise now.  (Thankfully) I barely opened the door to find the back of the door and the entire room engulfed in flames.  I dont mind telling you that I totally panicked and couldnt even remember how to dial 999 on my mobile.  I have been in scary situations before but this was incredible.  Within a minute or so of discovering the fire the windows blew out of the room so it was all incredibly dramatic.

To cut a long story short 3 fire brigades attended to put the fire out, I had to go to hospital for smoke inhalation, and the dogs, chickens, sheep and horses were all a bit traumatised for a few days.  The firemen were absolutely amazing, they also stressed to us that only for the concrete ceilings and fire doors that we had put in we would have no house left.  It has really brought home to me (and anyone who has seen the damage) the importance of having fire doors.

When forensics called (it was all a bit CSI Miami!) they showed me the door amongst the rubble and the front side was still perfectly intact with a perfect porceline door knob (a couple of blisters on the paint work but nothing major), whilst the other side was burnt black into the middle section of the door.  Without doubt the firedoors saved our house – and my life – so I have been telling all who’ll listen to ensure they put fire doors into their house. Our fire doors were/are F60 grade which means that they will hold back a fire for 60 minutes.  You can also get an F30 grade that will hold the fire back for 30 minutes.

As to the cause of The Great Fire?  We were informed by forensics only this past Saturday that the tv went on fire and was the start of it all.  So turn off the tv, sky box, lights, plug out chargers and keep your doors fully closed etc because you just never know when or where the next Great Fire will occur.

We wanted to sell the usual tourism items, unusual toys, pieces of Teamwoodcraft furniture, specialised hand made soaps (which we sliced and wrapped), unique covetable books and items.  As we take great care with our product finishes and customer service in our workshop, we wanted to ensure that we also recreated that in the Little Acorns Shop.  Every item purchased – no matter how small – was hand wrapped with old fashioned brown paper which was pulled from a specially recreated hand roller and cutter.  The staff cut the paper, wrapped neatly and tied with a choice of several ribbons (hung on a specially designed and constructed ribbon holder) and then the official Teamwoodcraft Little Acorns label was loving attached.  They even wore Teamwoodcraft Little Acorns old fashioned brown haberdashery aprons.

As the shop was planted firmly in the middle of Castlecomer Discovery Park (a mining heritage park) we wanted to give our customers an experience which started the minute they walked through our door but yet have the Teamwoodcraft mark of quirkyness.  This retail space revolved around a unique piece designed to show the level of expertise in the workshop.  It is a display unit which houses plenty of storage underneath, accessible via lead crystal handles.  The shape is unusual, as is the combination of mouldings.  Its made from solid mahogany.  To keep the quirky and young feel, we created scaled down wardrobes to display goods, old fashioned display presses and a gothic library piece to display our rare books.

The piece de resistance was the front of the counter which we had painted in our signature colour and the panels then inserted with images of victoriana.  The real test was the day Nana came to visit.  She was my first customer and I waited with baited breath to see her reaction.  I wanted her to understand the level of research, the lenghts we went to accurately create the period and the atmosphere.  She walked slowly around, touching the wood, running her fingers along the grain.  At last she stood before me and said “I feel as if i have gone back in time, it’s amazing!” and I knew then we had done our job.  As I wrapped her purchase she was still absorbing everything, taking in every detail, we had bewitched her and I understood that this was a moment I would remember forever.

that God gives you 12 months of happiness, 52 weeks of fun, 366 days of success, 8784 hours of good health, 527,040 minutes of good luck, 31,642,400 seconds of great joy.

We have had a lovely quiet Christmas  with our family this Christmas, lots of open fires, Bing Crosby, board games, long hacks and walks.  We are looking forward to getting back with our team who are working on some exciting new projects. 

2011 saw many changes, not least of which was 2 of our team getting married.  Congratulations to Derek and Paul (take a bow guys!).   We launched our new limited edition dolls houses (available all year on special commission).  Thank you  Katie and Amy for road testing them. We made it into Irelands most stylish woman of the year book 2012 – on sale for breast cancer awareness.   We welcomed Maura to our team.  We saw Elizabeth (a mere child of the 50s!)blossom in her new social media role.  We watched as Ballyfin Demesne glowed with pride and became the destination of choice for a superior break away.  We made new friends, created partnerships and saw our clients at The Brown Bear, 2mile house, Naas, and Lennons Visual at Carlow Arts Centre earn rave reviews from Paulo Tullio.  We advised the At Your Service tv programme. We were featured in Life magazine, Irelands Homes and Interiors magazine, Beautiful Kitchens magazine, phew!

To our new clients, we look forward to working with you all over the coming year.  To our existing clients, thank you for your continued support and it is a pleasure doing business with you.   To our suppliers, we look forward to working with you again in 2012.   

ALL PHOTOS IN THIS BLOG ARE THE PROPERTY OF AND COPYRIGHT OF AISLING HURLEY (C) 2011, 2012

The house has been furnished with a collection of Irish art and antiques from around the world, fine mahogany, French chandeliers and mirrors by Thomas Chippendale.  The most challenging aspect of the design for our craftsmen was the intricate detailing required on the door architraves.  We had to build up layer upon layer to get the depth required to re-create the house as it would have been. 

The house is now a luxury hotel. You wont find a more welcoming Irish house anywhere else in the world.  If you would like to stay in Ballyfin you can book here: www.ballyfin.com/Home.aspx.

For all theatre lovers, Breffni and Yvonne at The Promenade Café have come up with an exciting new project whereby you can have dinner and watch a theatre show all in the one venue, how cool is that? The Promenade itself is a beautiful café located on DunLaoghaire pier, County Dublin, with the most amazing sea views. The café is in the style of a fashionable French coffee house. The food and service is superb. It’s an up and coming theatre hotspot and is frequented by extremely interesting people (writers, tv and film actors etc) so you never know who you might meet!

Coming up on December 3rd and 17th, Christmas evening with the Bugle Babes. This trio of pencil-skirted, stocking’d, vintage-coiffed ladies, Perform a magical blend of vintage nostalgia with modern tunes, wrapped up in exquisite 1940′s harmonies.

Then, if you are still in partying mood, you have Pat Coldrick, as described by Paulo Tullio, A Maestro of the Classical Guitar”.

Supper & Performance, Ticket €30.00 starts at 7.00pm

Booking €10.00 p.p.

01-214 8710 for reservations