A Box Full of Goodness
This week has been a little bit of a whirlwind…
Work on the house has continued, finally the bathroom tiling and flooring is finished, the coving 99% finished, a working W.C. is installed downstairs and there is power and some light.
Tuesday saw the container arrive at the house for unloading, so I was up bright and breezy after an early night to be there to meet it, checklist in hand.
Two guys from the shipping company started to unload, and then the three builders pitched in as well, so five of them humping boxes rapidly into the house, and the checklist was about as much use as a chocolate fireguard…
It was all happening too quickly. Also, everything was being placed 'randomly' downstairs, as no floors have materialised upstairs yet, so I couldn't even separate the studio kit from the furnishings and effects.
Nobodies fault of course, just a consequence of being behind with the build; the ongoing knock on effect from the roof being delayed.
It sort of feels like two steps forward and one step back, as the lovely uncluttered space of the house is now jam packed with boxes. It will pass.
The full scale of the 'clutter' became apparent once I was left in the house with it on my own... the big stack of boxes on top of the oven are the light fittings I had to find for the electrician... this was no small task.
Once the goods made it into the house and the moving crew left, then the builders marvelled over the arrival of a loo with a built-in basin. There was much curiosity and playing with parts of it. It is a novel concept, apparently. Time well spent, I guess, as they now know how it goes together (and compared to a standard loo, it is quite complicated). It will be fitted soon. Fingers crossed.
Here it is, the miracle loo. £299 from Victoria Plumb. Quoted price on the island 3,500 Euros, or there abouts. No wonder the local trades have never seen one.
As the week progressed the downstairs finishes started to come together. The coving is all but done, lots of time was spent by the plasterer making sure that the finish was flawless... although, as he explained to me, decorating will need touching up once we are further down the line.. as you can imagine, whilst works continue, everything gets covered in dust and the inevitable 'dings' apear as things are moved around.
The tiled skirtings are nearly done too - the only ones left to finish are the ones near the doors, and these will be done after the joiner has fitted the doors and frames.
Meanwhile, through out all of this I am 'camping'... that is to say, living in the property without full services (shower!) or cooking facilities. Frankly, it's a nightmare, but since I have been without my household goods in the UK since January the 10th (Yes!) I'm getting used to living rough. It will be worth it. Here's my current sleeping spot:
The futon frame and mattress is located in the dressing room. Basically, I am sleeping in the closet. Warm though, which is more than can be said for my time on the sofa in the UK.
I am being kept sustained by the local café and bars... one sells food and beer and the other sells beer and groceries. Sorted...
The Illa da Azul Café serves coffee, snacks, wines, beers and is also the local bakery; so breakfast can be a thing of beauty:
Oh my, oh my... now the pastry here is rammed with chocolate, sprinkled with icing sugar and probably has 40% of your daily calorie needs. It's all I have - so that's fine. Yummy. As ever in the Azores, the coffee is the finest you will ever taste.
In the bathroom, the tiling is finished and floor laid, with all grouting. There is some cleaning up to do of course, but this will be done after the basin cabinet is fitted and the shower installation completed. However, there is now a working loo. Brilliant, but of course there is no toilet door, so use has to be somewhat 'restricted'.
The W.C., brand new in all its glory, labels still on: Looks a bit sad in isolation, but once the other fittings are up and around it... well, who am I to say a toilet will look beautiful. It is manufactured by Roca - no expense spared for one of life's important functions.
The bathroom floor is absolutely gorgeous - unfussy, plain black matte tile. It is obviously covered in dust at the moment, but I am very pleased. Also it is non slip as specified. The grout is in grey, so should age well. Meanwhile the wall tile grout is in black, again to make for a low maintenance future. Nothing looks worse than white grout that is past its best.
The shower enclosure is now fully tiled to the ceiling. Yet to fit is the electric shower unit, the glass wall (no door - it is 'walk in'), grab rails and a shelf for soap and shampoo. I'm really needing a shower after camping in the house for the last four days, so hope this happens soon.
Also to fit is the vanity - basin unit and water heater, a tall cupboard (for cleaning products and towels) and the heated towel rail, toilet roll holder, mirror and mirror lights. There is some concern over the vanity unit, as it is purely wall mounted, without legs... the concern regards its capacity to remain on the wall. Extra bracketing is being considered, although I am going to check the manufacturer's specification regarding this concern.
Here are the connections for the basin water heater. Fortunately, all this gubbins will be hidden by the wall hung unit.
There has been just a little confusion over the fitting of the electrical water heaters, including the shower. The normal thing on the island is just to have a gas heaters or a hot water storage tank, again running off bottled gas. I really wanted to stay clear of bottled gas or hot stored water for a number of reasons:
It is a complete pain if you run out of gas, and you have to monitor your usage.
You are not doing the planet any favours; much electricity on the island is generated renewably by wind or solar.
You need to run a hot system around the house, which is constantly being heated when running water.
Whilst you wait for the water to heat up you are wasting water, which is metered on the island.
Saturday saw the arrival of the electrician, to fit the lights. Previous to his arrival I had been scouring boxes to find all the electrical fittings that had been so meticulously labelled... of course, in the move all of my smaller labelled boxes were packed into bigger boxes. Boxes that got labelled in a very generic way. Essentially, I had no idea where the electrical fittings could be.
"Aye, it's in one of these boxes somewhere"... I go slightly crazy opening large boxes to reveal smaller boxes to reveal not what I'm looking for. Eventually, after opening every large box but one... yes, you guessed it... I found them. Labelled, "For Electrician". Nice.
With these goodies, the electrician made a start on fitting up some lights. The following shows some pretty unflattering photos - much better will be shown when everything is cleared up and the lights can be shown during the evening.
First to go up was a couple of dining room uplighters. Why not all? Well the housings are a bit 'sloppy'. So the builders are going to re-plaster / adjust and make a better fit. But they look sweet: Chrome surrounds in the dining room and up the stairs, white in the bedroom and dressing room.
Let there be light. Kitchen spots added as well as the dining table pendant. Joy.
Bathroom spots. I'm quite pleased with this little unit. Basin area, toilet and shower adequately illuminated, plus eventually there will be the mirror lights...
Spotlights have been fitted on the mezzanine to illuminate the studio area. Plenty of lights that can be angled as desired, given the limitations that they are between the beams, which was unavoidable.
One major cock up revealed itself with the lighting... and this appertains to the 'Smart Home' stuff... but that's a tale for next week!
I'll leave you with this charming picture of the broken church in Pedro Miguel, a victim of the massive earthquakes of 1958 and 1998. It stands as a monument to lives lost.
Next Up: Mezzanine Floor
