by Helen | Aug 29, 2023 | Renovation
Ever since I saw this photo, I knew exactly what the garden at the rear of the house needed to look like. And, luckily, our builder was totally on board and could see the vision we had. Now, four months on, I couldn’t be happier with the way it has turned out. For six years, we’ve tinkered around the edges of the space at the back of the house, not really knowing what to do with it, because we weren’t entirely sure what we wanted to do with the little stone house we’d bought from a neighbour, to increase our footprint and to ensure that no-one else could buy so close to our property. It’s been through various stages of “renovation” but nothing we did ourselves, ever seemed right, as our attempts were pretty amateurish because we aren’t builders.
However, I think even our pretty unprofessional attempts did improve the area, from what it was like when we first moved in. The photos above show what sat behind our house – and it was in this state for a good three of four years, as we focused on other renovation priorities. But gradually we did start to tackle this tumbledown mess, and clear it, whilst still working out what we were going to do with it eventually. Would we renovate it? Would we demolish it? We kept coming back to these questions, as we tinkered around the edges, but we know that either option could be a potential money pit. So, the house walls were cleared of the years of accumulated vines – we couldn’t touch the roof, as this was too unstable and would need a specialist who knew what they were doing, and the area around was dug out and cleared, too. White stones were laid and conifer trees, in pots, were finally put in place, to create a “wall” for privacy and also to demarcate our boundaries.
But, even when cleared, this still seemed very makeshift and I think our minds were made up over Christmas 2022, when, in high winds, some of the roof tiles and stones were dislodged and fell into the house. It was becoming a potential danger and so we set about planning the demolition and creation of a private, walled garden. Demolition work started in February 2023, and we thought that by the start of spring, we’d have a beautiful walled garden. Wrong! It was in fact August, by the time it was all completed. partly due to a prolonged rainy spell in the spring and also due to me asking for lots of changes. I do probably need to stay off Instagram and Pinterest.
However, thanks to our two lovely builders, we do now have the garden of our dreams. We also took the decision to have the living room window (middle one in the photo above) replaced with French doors and with a small balcony leading out and steps down into the garden. During the initial stages of the build, a neighbour also insisted that everything stop and we have our boundaries double checked, causing a pretty costly delay. But hey, that’s all behind us now and we’ve been able to totally kick back and enjoy our Mediterranean inspired garden. The absolute garden of our dreams.
by Helen | Aug 16, 2023 | Renovation
It seems as if we have once again, shared our home and garden, with builders, for a considerable period of time. But we haven’t really – it’s only been four months – but we’ve been so keen and excited to get to the finishing line, that it just seems like we’ve lived in construction chaos for a long time. It’s now all done at the rear of the house – the last lick of paint has been applied, the last payment tranche has been made and the plants and sunbeds and accessories are all in place. And finally being used! I suppose we should be delighted that all work has finished, but it never really does, does it? And, so the builders are back – this time tackling the steps and small balcony at the front of the house. An area which should have been done way back, as the steps are horrible, the concrete has cracks in it and the balcony has no wall, so anyone could take a tumble. But anyway, back to the rear of the house and how our beautiful garden emerged…
Next up.
How we designed and filled our Mediterranean inspired garden…
by Helen | Jun 2, 2023 | Renovation
We’ve thought long and hard about how much current renovation we want to do in our Istrian stone house, as it is imminently going on the market, as we have plans for a whole new adventure. However, with the demolition and clearance of the small stone cottage behind the main house, and the construction of our beautiful new, white, rendered garden wall, we have to think about the practicalities of the access to the new rear garden.
Currently. to get to get to the rear of the house, you have to walk along the newly gravelled side access road. Not a huge problem, and this road is only used by us and one neighbour, but it still doesn’t feel quite right that there isn’t an access from the house. So, at the start of this week, we discussed with our builder the possibility of enlarging the living room window which overlooks the rear of the house, and installing French doors, and having a concrete platform and steps down, into the garden, built. Not much ever happens here very quickly – you have to have lots of patience – so we were expecting a good few weeks to pass before we even got a quote for the work. How wrong we were on this occasion!
Quote in the next day. Agreed. And, Wednesday evening spent moving furniture away from the window and re-configuring the living room, so that plastic sheeting could be put up, for the work to commence the next morning…
Very little happens quickly here. It’s just something you have to get used to. Days can often drift by between discussing a job and it actually starting. It all usually depends on availability of materials. Or what other jobs the builder may have committed to. Or the weather – sometimes too hot, sometimes too cold, sometimes too windy, sometimes there may be a threat of rain. Or it’s a public holiday – and if that falls on a Wednesday or a Thursday, definitely discount the next couple of days, as a long weekend will always be had. Or the builder just goes AWOL. They always return, just maybe not when you expect them. So this speedy turn of events has taken us by surprise. At the beginning of the week, we still had a wall and a window and only the start of a plan. Now we have a huge hole in the wall. Although, we have to say, it has been the neatest demolition job we’ve ever experienced, with not a speck of dust inside the house, although much Istrian stone once again, back in the garden…
Our job this weekend is to begin the sourcing of the French doors. We’ve been scouring the internet and know exactly what we want – the challenge now is to find somewhere that sells them, and help us to realise something like the beautiful image below…
by Helen | Oct 12, 2022 | Renovation
Coming up to three years ago, we were very excited when one of the tumble down, abandoned houses beyond our property was demolished and heavy machinery arrived in the village. We were even more excited at the prospect of the neighbour building a new house, in the style – we were assured – of his current two, which are very pretty. The Istrian stones were cleared, and foundations seemed to go in pretty quickly. A crane arrived, creating even more excitement, as no-one surely, in their right mind, installs a crane. And then does sod all with it. Or, so we thought…
Two years and a bit later, the crane is still there. Along with a cement mixer and lots of building materials, but not much else. Now, this isn’t unusual in Istria. As is commonplace in many Mediterranean countries, building work can take a long time. Builders are often working on multiple projects. In the height of summer it is way too hot to be doing long days of heavy construction work. Buildings may be being built as holiday homes, and so owners often arrange for work to be done when they are able to be on site. There’s also a real culture of mañana mañana here. So, we get it. We know that construction work takes times. And so we’ve been patient, as the project behind our home has crawled along, with periods of nothing in between slight flurries of mild activity. We’re in one of those periods of nothing happening now, as no-one has been on site for over three months.
However, our patience has now worn very, very thin. Written communication to the neighbour has proved fruitless as our requests for information re the progress of the work, and maybe a possible end date, have gone unanswered. Builders have from time to time, assured us (when they have been on site) that all is progressing and that when it is finished, and landscaped, it will be very beautiful. Of that we have no doubt. But it’s the WHEN – because until someone pulls their finger out, and “when” actually arrives, we are still looking out onto a building site, no matter what we do to hide it.
Our living room (pictured above) is on the first floor, and so even with the border of the potted conifers we have installed, you can still see the building site beyond. This is something which has been repeatedly brought up by viewers, asking about timescales for the construction work – and, as the neighbours have so far not deemed it important to discuss/share their plans with us, there’s been very little we’ve been able to say. So, we’ve decided that we’ll take things into our hands and do what we can do to improve our own outlook.
Within our boundaries, we also own the little stone house, above. This was purchased from a neighbour and is definitely in need of renovation. We thought that it would potentially be an amazing selling point, as once renovated it would provide additional accommodation. But most viewers seemed to see it only as additional work, and the potential didn’t have the appeal we expected it to have. Either that, or we just had a run of very un-curious and project-shy house viewers! So, a big decision has been made.
We’re exploring having the small house demolished and building a boundary wall, thereby creating an enclosed rear garden. We think if anyone comes along in the future and says they’d have bought our house, if only there had been a small building included in the sale, with scope to renovate, then we’ll take it on the chin. We’re still working out the best way to do this, but the eventual wall, will be rendered. It will also be a high wall – high enough to give us 100% privacy from the outside. And because of its height, we’ll hopefully have a panel (or panels) made up of glass bricks on the wall opposite the main house, meaning that light will still flood into the garden. Foliage will be planted to give extra depth and interest, along with lighting. I’m very much liking the examples below, and at least now I have a better idea of what to show to a builder to begin to explain our thinking.
Access to the rear garden is currently via the communal grassed area to the side of the main house. We intend to open up the living room window by installing French windows and creating a small balcony with external steps leading down into the garden, meaning that this communal path will not need to be used. Access to the garden, will be from the house. And, if funds allow, the final piece of the jigsaw will be the installation of a pool, along the lines of a Dip Tank. Therefore also addressing the second most asked question – “Do you have a pool?”
So, roll on autumn as we’re heading towards another BIG project!
by Helen | Nov 23, 2017 | Renovation
For the past few days, we’ve been clearing out the kitchen and creating a makeshift one in the Well Room, as work is beginning on the first big renovation project. Things are getting serious!
Time to get rid of this awful kitchen…
Meanwhile, our builders have been beavering away in the kitchen, stripping out the false ceiling. This was low and only plasterboard, and knew from the external shape of the kitchen roof, that there’s likely be beams above it – a hammer through the ceiling confirmed this and so there was no going back. We were going to have an apex ceiling, with beams.
No going back…
Part of the roof packing – firewood…
Exposed, after goodness who knows how long…
After yesterday’s excitement of taking down the false ceiling – plus removing a dead mouse, numerous critters and a hornets’ nest – today was always going to be a bit of anti-climax in terms of progress. However, in the short time that Misko and Sergio were here, they achieved an awful lot. In order to get the positioning of the new window spot-on, they did a bit of a mini move-around of cupboards and appliances. And after nine months of a poorly laid out kitchen, they temporarily nailed it – could have saved ourselves a bit of money
And, today, the scaffolding arrived. It was brought to us by Edo, a lovely Dutch guy who has really helped us ease into Istrian life, as he did the same thing 12 years ago. He brought the scaffolding to us because he was already going to Sergio’s, as he was taking hay for Sergio’s horse. Which Sergio doesn’t ride. He keeps it as a pet. Just when we thought we couldn’t like Sergio any more.
The ricketiest looking scaffolding we have ever seen…
Anyway, it was lovely to see Edo again – plans were made for getting together after Xmas, when he’s back from Rotterdam and we’re back from our travels. It feels good to be forging friendships in a foreign country.
The walls in the house are very thick – at certain points being nearly 80cms thick. One of those points is where we want the new kitchen window, which we thought would present quite a challenge. Not so! With only a hammer drill and a chisel, huge slabs of stone were quickly being removed, revealing what had once been an internal chimney, still full of the black soot – and red soil, which Misko told us what was used pre-concrete days. All of the stones have been saved and these will be re-used, probably in the garden. Waste not, want not.
Creating a new window opening.
Pretty soon, the hole was sufficiently big enough for us to get an idea of what the kitchen will eventually be like when daylight floods in. (The current window is north-ish facing, so apart from very early in the morning, we don’t get much sunlight in the kitchen – the new window will give us sunlight in the afternoon and into the evening).
Much excitement as the new window started to emerge.
The brickwork at the top still needs to be removed, and that will be done tomorrow – and then in will go the newly cut Istrian stone surrounds. The frame and casement windows have been sanded, prepped, undercoated and glossed, so they’re ready too, for their new home.
Because the weather today has been sunny – and warm, when the sun has been at the front of the house – we’ve also had to take the opportunity to get as much as we can get done, in between client design work, to crack on with the exterior woodwork. This might not look too high, but our living room window is probably 10 foot above ground level – it took a little bit of coaxing to get my super decorator up the ladders, but he did it!
For someone who hates heights, this was a brilliant job today…
Meanwhile, we think that for a good few days yet, we’ll only have a plastic sheet between us and the elements, as work still needs to be carried out on the stone lintels, before the window can be fitted.
We’re hoping that winter doesn’t arrive just yet…
