Acceptance and the chimney.

Here we have the fireplace which is NOT IN THE CORNER...yes, I am still a bit pissed off about that (and other things). The workers came in and made a frame, and insulated it very well, with some kind of a product that is not supposed to smell...apparently this is a problem when creating a chimney after the fact. One has to ask the question, why was the chimney not part of the plan from the very beginning? Well, we are in Greece, so go with it.

Like a good friend of mine recently pointed out, acceptance is one the hardest things to achieve in life, but once you do you will not be carrying such a heavy load. I really gotta dump some of my load and just accept that this house will end up being what it ends up being. The control freak in me has a hard time with this idea,but if I look at it in the realm of art I can almost get there. When throwing a pot on the wheel, often I would let whatever shape emerge organically from the clay. Perhaps the house is more like that, something that just has to be left alone to be what it will be. Difference is, I have to live in this!

The Girls' Bath-finished off tile work.

While we wait for more things that are taking MONTHS, rather then the quoted 1 month to arrive, some other work is getting done. The extra tiles that we needed for the girls tub finally came in, and the tile guy came back and finished the space off. He did a great job, and the lip of the tub is perfectly flush with the front tiled wall, so it has a great clean edge to it. If you can not tell, I really like our tile guy. He is a bit of an artist, and the only thing that saddens me, is that we were not able to get some really funky tiles (do to cost, or availability) to let him really show off his talent. But, his work clearly speaks for itself. He is a total professional, timely and efficient. If I walk away cussing about every other worker involved in this project, I will only have good things to say about him and his crew.

They will soon start cleaning off more of the old tiles we saved from the original house and we will use them for the small courtyard that is in between the guest room and the side door. At about 15 euro a square meter, it is a great price for the work too. Now, we are collecting quotes for installation of the wood floor upstairs and were quoted 15 euro a square meter by our carpenter. Well, this is a click system wood floor. Not like tiling at all! Alex and I though, maybe we would do it ourselves and use that money to buy some cool tools for the job, allowing us to do other work later on, say on the barn space... But, as luck would have it, Alex has now caught Olivia's cold, and doubts we would get the floor installed before we want to move in (say March). So, we found another guy, 10 euro a square meter, but will have to wait until we get the heating system up and running for a few days to insure all the moisture is out of the cement. This is great, as we will be able to see if there are any problems before the wood goes in. But, as with everything, the area where the heat pump needs to be installed is waiting to be insulated and sealed. Let it sit and cure for a day( praying for no rain) and then the heat pump will go in, get running and 3 days later the wood floors will start to be installed. give or take a few delays and screw up...

Kitchen in progress

Here it is, the kitchen in progress. The counter tops are not done yet, but we are going with a butcher block. Would have loved a solid surface, but with all our "hidden" costs, we are being more conservative...in the hopes of getting that SMEG 5 burner range. Below is the island/bar.

This is the pantry, with pull out shelving, it sits next to the fridge.

There is the view from the opposite side of the room, you can tell that the island is not in exactly the place it will be in, but you get the idea. The back splash is a tile that has an old mediteranean look to it, and the pulls are oil rubbed bronze. Well, at least we think they will be. Manos will hopefully get them from Restoration Hardware before he leaves to see us later this month. Stay tuned.

Deliveries??

When it happens, it all happens at once! We were really lucky, in this case procrastination worked to our benefit and we found some great wood flooring at a reasonable price--wait for it--LOCALLY!

But, and there is always a but, we now are on the hunt for the "special" liner that we need to place on the floor before installing the wood. It has to be specific for the underfloor heating. Prices are varying from 2 euro to 8 euro. I think I will let Alex tell you more about that, whenever he gets a chance.

Above you see the delivery van in the totally walled in driveway....any bets on how much I ding the car up? Oh, I say --- quite a bit. Below you see the view of the kitchen cabinets and wood from on the stairs to the loft.

So here it all is, waiting in the main room. I think the dust that shows in the shots tell you just how dirty it is in the place.

New Facade

Alex will be writing this entry, and Jenn's comments will be in purple.

WOW! That's a whole lotta...brown! (Huh?)

Like my better half pointed out, with the new exterior wall up and plastered we are now the owners of a huge brown block! (No, I said Orange. Now, I see the problem we have been having, you are apparently color blind.)

One thought was to make the wall in a different color in order to break up the space and to create a more playful village like structure. The other thought was to use the same colors and materials in order to make one cohesive unit, and to draw together the house/wall/entrance-way.

The Architect then went into long discourse as to why they need to be one unit and how a pergola will tie it all together to create a blah, blah, blah...

In the end he convinced me, and the work had already been done, so we went with it. I think the fact that it was already done is really the point here. When we began discussing the wall, or as I like to call it- the great wall of Sternes- our beloved architect made a quick rendering on the equivalent of a napkin to let me know the foot print of it. Did he mention the height? NO.

I actually think the wall and the entrance doesn't look so bad from the inside courtyard, and since this is the view we will be seeing more often, why not? I personally like to be able to see a little out onto the street, to wave at passing neighbors. Ask Sianna, it is too tall.

Here the workers made a wall separating our yard from our neighbor's. There was an existing wall here but it wasn't as tall, so that the neighbors could peak into the back yard, or so that our neighbors mom could come over and yell at them through our yard (yes, this DID happen, I witnessed it first hand!). Obviously we needed some kind of barrier here to stop that, and I am sure our neighbors are happy that the mom has been blocked. But, had I been more informed, I would not have redone this section at all, and used greenery, a vine to separate the space. So much concrete.

Does this make us anti-social, not sure? Do I care, hmmm.........

This is the view from the other neighbor's yard (the MOM). The large balcony window looks into the bedroom. Note to self: get curtains ASAP. So they can't see in, and so I can't see out...I don't know which is uglier, her corrugated roof on her shed, or ours on the barn space...

and bees...

Here are more assorted photos. Now that we are with out a camera, I doubt I will get many photos up ...I will have to go through what is on the computer to see what I have not updated. But, no worries, the new camera with PANORAMIC abilities will be here soon enough.

Above is the master bath's faucet for the shower, sans the water can that will be above, and has a nice arm that swivels so you can sit on the bench and take a lazy shower.

Above it the chimney...yes, even though we had said we would have a fireplace all along, they never built a real chimney...something to do with the underfloor heating and no one ever speaking to one another. Communication is not a highpoint here. So, this ugly metal tube will be cover with a "chimney" that has to be framed out. Seems like extra work to me.

Above is the courtyard, with the supports for the cement in place. This is a bit late, as the cement is now poured and our exterior wall is also up.

Below is a bee keeper we happened upon while driving the back roads though the Akrotiri. Stupidly, I got out of the car to take the photo and two bees got in.

This and that

Strange, I thought we had underfloor heating/ cooling. So what is that big this sticking out of the wall? Oh, a dehumidifier. OK...I think...

Odd view of the loft stairs from underneath. With them being done, we can now get onto the loft to view and assess the space. The color of the wood is off in the photo, it has not been stained yet, and hopefully won't be until the wood floors are installed upstairs...but who am I to say that that would be the smart way to do it. I have already resigned myself to the fact that the stairs will probably not match up with the flooring. Below is the main stairwell, now with wood...and covered with cardboard to "protect" it...that is a relative term.

And here is the view from upstairs on the loft.

bath progress

Above is the shower stall for the guest bath, and below are the faucets for that bath...they are in Italian--so there is a F and a C....I for see some confusion here.

Below is a shot of the girls bath, with the tub installed. We are still waiting for the extra tiles to finish off the front of it. Someone did not do their math correctly...

out and about

quick notes, prep work for the neighbors new entrance from the side street. and below, the frame work for the cement in the front of our house.

That is not the corner...

Wow, look at that dust! How long will it take to clean before we can actually move in...I am scared to even think about it. Above and below are some photos of the loft space now that it has a floor. The steps are still not in, so the workers go up and down on ladders. The floor will end up being Ash, along with the rest of the upstairs. For some reason, I can not get a link to work on this at all, but not that it matters, as the samples that came in the mail are not even close to what you see in the photos on the internet. We are ordering the wood for the floor from England, and it ends up being a lot less then buying it from the lumber yard here! Problem is that the Ash planks we like are on back order. They should be in by the beginning of December, so we will place the order and get them as soon as we can. Fine by me, since we leave for Vienna on the 9th, and I am not moving between the 21st and the 25th... we will aim for January. Maybe for my birthday... now I have jinxed it!

Now on to the fireplace. I am a bit angry about this most recent mess up, but am not so angry as to spend an additional 200-300 euro to get them to fix it. When Alex and I discussed the placement of the fireplace we both agreed that it should go in the corner. The reasons were that the fireplace itself is a corner unit with two glass panes, so it looks quite nice placed in a corner. Also, the only wall it can go on is the short wall with no windows at the far end of the room. This wall must also accommodate the television, and any shelves or artwork that we might want to place there. This room is one big space with the kitchen at one end, windows and doors to the garden on one wall, and doors and stairs to other parts of the house on the other wall. The actual sitting area is not that big.

Does this fireplace look like it is placed in the corner? No, it is moved out towards the center of the wall. When talking about the placement with the architect, he convinced Alex that centralizing the unit is visually better for when you are entertaining. Everyone will get a nice view of the fireplace and the heat will disperse better. Why wasn't I there, you might ask. They met on a Saturday morning, again, and Jeny had to be at the shop and I had to watch the girls. No one called me, nor did Alex mention the change. Not until I got there and the damage had been done did I find out about it. And don't even get me started on the chimney.

Ok...I can see his point, but he created more problems this way. The first problem is that visually it shortens that already stubby wall. The second problem is that there is just enough space for the T.V. at the end of the wall, right next to the steps leading outside, to the guest room. The T.V. has to be a meter away from the heat if it is on the same line as the fire itself, which it will be. We are planning to build a bench for sitting and storage that is the same hight as the top step and the glass panels of the fireplace. If the fireplace was in the corner, like we had decided, then the T.V. would have plenty of space and not need to be pushed all the way over to one side. Of course, the architect said, "Just get a new T.V. and hang it on the wall." My response was, and no offense to those of you with T.V.s on your walls, " A T.V. is not art, I have limited wall space for art to begin with. Besides the point, with the built out chimney, a T.V. hanging on the wall is going to look unbalanced and lopsided." What I wanted to say was, " Hey, great idea, I will use your fee to buy one!" I would gladly get rid of the T.V., but hey, I need to cook and get things done, and sometimes that is the only way.

Ok, I am a creative gal, and I know I can make this work. It may take some time, but for now all I have to say is- That Is Not The Corner!

Master bath

Here are some shots of the Master bath in progress. The top view is taken from the closet area just outside the bathroom. You can see that Nektarios, the tile guy, has built a little wall on the side of the room where the toilette is. The rest of the enclosure will be in glass. He also built a small bench by that wall, which will be nice if we ever install Alex's dream Hamam (steam bath).

The wall tiles are in an ecru and a chocolate brown, with a whitish over glaze. They have different textures to them, which really don't come across in the photos. Hopefully, once they are complete and a light is installed, I can get a better picture. Below you can see the floor tiles. Inside the shower stall they are the chocolate brown, and outside they are ecru, but smooth, without the texture of the wall tile. In the shop they were part of the series, and looked really good together. We went with the smooth tiles in the main bath area since they would be easier to clean. But, the color is actually a little more yellow looking in the space then the ecru tiles that are on the wall. Makes me wish I had gone over to the house to look at the tile before they were installed, since apparently everyone is a little color blind. I hope that once the vanity is installed that it changes the tone a bit. I think we decided on a walnut, but we shall see what we get.

The ceiling in the shower area is arched, and gives a nice affect, making the space seem even bigger. But, considering that Alex, Sianna, Olivia and myself were all standing in there at the same time, I think the shower is plenty big.