White and blue

The whiter it is inside, the more the landscape stands out. Love it.

Kitchen cabinets are all white already. The new sturdy industrial stove is in place already, but I forgot to take a picture yesterday. It looks quite Frankensteinish, but super cute. They promised to replace the oven handle, which in stark contrast with the very squarish boxy appliance, they decided to make in turned wood, with curlicue shape. We laughed when we saw it, the guy did not see the joke, said it was like that because it was for "domestic" not commercial use. His "homey" touch.

Against the black granite counter top, the white wooden cabinets look very sharp. It will all be softened with some nice hardwood dining table (probably teak, I have a beautiful, huge one in mind) and with some leather (a couple of Barcelona chairs upholstered in distressed, light-brown leather, comfy and classy) and some rustic-looking linen upholstery for the two sofas. I think all the furniture will stand out nicely, but for the same reason everything has to be very carefully chosen, no so-so anything because it will stick out like a sore thumb...


The pool covered in the blue glass mini tiles.

We are now entering the final part, for good. The pool is almost finished, pending the landscape engineer´s drainage works. Because the plot is on a slight slope, with the land falling off in two different directions, we have to be careful with the drainage so as not to end up with a flooded pool, a clogged pool filter or dampness in the downstairs area of the house.

Therefore, the landscapers (Punta Ballena Jardines I think they´re called) will take care of all major structural re-arranging of the land, smoothing out the entire area, that now looks like a lunar surface, installing underground drainage channels in order to avoid water/dampness problems, and also adding layers of sand, good soil and lawn on some portions of the plot.

Last, and and very importantly, they will install the sprinkler system wherever there is a lawn (immediately around the house and between the house and the pool) and also on the perimeter of the 3 plots, so as to be able to start planting trees and shrubs to create a green barrier closing off the main road and hiding some of the neighboring houses from our direct view.

This is all quite costly for us. It may be peanuts compared to U.S. or European costs, I´m sure, but at this point it´s quite a financial effort, so that´s why we are so late in starting with it. Also, it´s the kind of thing that we failed to budget when planning the house (good thing, otherwise I may have ended with a smaller house) so at the end of the construction it feels like a big ticket item that we didn´t bargain for. Good to know for next time.

With regards to the actual gardening, I have decided to engage the services of my cousin and her partner, who, even at regular non-cousin rates are considerably cheaper than similar-quality landscaping firms or designers operating from Punta del Este.

I liked it when she told me that for each type of plant or shrub or tree she has a favorite supplier, rated in terms of value as quality of the specimen vs. price. "I have a palm-tree guy" she said by way of example, "that plants the palm trees himself." It sounds pretty obvious, but from what I know around here, landscape designers mostly work with a single purveyor, that is, with a single nursery per project. Maybe they alternate between two or three nurseries, but that´s about it, and locally, the good nurseries are pretty expensive, and so are the landscape designers´ services. I´m thrilled to finally be able to start thinking about trees and such. I have to temper my enthusiasm because of the natural constraints of the land (winds, soil) but I´m optimistic that I can grow quite the jungle out there eventually...