Floors, that was a surprise

I thought the floors were coming later, so this was quite a shock. Also posting a better picture of the door, pre paint. It looks very cute actually. Seeing it reminded me of the whole thing with our friends here in Turkey, and their door. She (English) wanted a wooden door, he (Turkish boyfriend) and the local contractor insisted it was impossible, the only door to be had was steel, factory made (they are quite horrible). She almost got away with having one made, but in the end it turned out "her" door would delay the entire project, so that was the end of the wooden door, and she had to choose the least offensive of the metal doors. The argument brandished against the wooden door was that it wouldn't stand the "sea air."


Pancho is putting in a lot of hours at the site, pretty soon we'll have him on payroll. The one on the way is getting an even earlier start (Victoria, seen here sitting inside the fireplace, is pregnant).

The door

It looks a bit narrow, but I guess it's a visual effect, because the door + side window = the stairway width, and the door is slightly wider than the the window. Also, counting tiles, it would seem to be about 110cm wide, which is nice. But in the picture it looks like it's 70cm wide, not 110.

It will be painted white, of course.

Ah, the wooden beams seen above the door are the basis for the deck off the living room, i guess that's still to come. Now that all the house is "closed" they can definitely start the walls and flooring for living-room and kitchen, and the kitchen cabinets which need to be measured against the finished walls/floors.

And we already can install the alarm system because we have a phone line! As an example of the sheer stupidity of Uruguayan telephone monopoly, although there has been fiber optic laid next to our house for 5 years (I saw them laying it) we still don't have landline phone service in the area. So we make do with satellite, "fixed cell" or something like that technology, which of course is more costly to install, and whose Internet service is also slower and/or more costly.

living-room windows views

More pictures with windows...

Windows everywhere! Flurry of activity! Even Pancho on site!

Well, we are about six months behind schedule, and even the much heralded May 25 date for installing the windows got pushed back by about 10 days, but no matter, we can't wipe the grins off our faces as we look at the pictures we got today. Now we are seriously thinking about the pool, the landscaping...

All inside views of the livingroom, including a slice of Luis (architect).




Livingroom, kitchen and stairs windows!


These are the stairs windows seen from inside. We will have to plant some fast growing trees to block from our view the ugly house we can see in the distance, but we're thrilled about the winter sunset light streaming in all sliced up...




Natalia (architect) admires the view from the kitchen window.


Even Victoria and Pancho (Fabian's wife and son, downstairs directly below the window) are on hand to celebrate the windows being installed. Prestigiando, as Brazilians would say...

Cabinets, doors

The indoor doors are all in place. The bedroom closets are almost ready. I really like the look. White, with the horizontal groove, it's just what I wanted, and the overall effect is great. The central portion of the closet is all shelves, the ends are for hanging and some shelves. We will have only two sliding doors, covering the hanging clothes (the ones that scare me at night, not so the folded stuff on the shelves.) All this "open" cabinetry (same in the kitchen, miles of open shelves) makes me wonder if I will get tired and order a bunch of doors. But in Turkey, in our very "raw" bedroom we have a bunch of kitchen shelves, everything on display like in a store, including the Ikea ceiling & floor supported bars for hanging stuff, and we quite like it.

Other angles

We told our architects that as long as they send us weekly photos, everything is OK. So even if there is scant progress, all they have to do is send a picture from a different angle than the week before, and we will be thrilled.

On a note of real progress, we have the cabinetry and doors for bedrooms and bathrooms almost done, in the house pending assembly. All the external wood-clading is done, and windows should be installed by next week, after which they can start with living-room and kitchen flooring/wall insulation/drywall, and kitchen cabinetry.