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Progress Update

It's been over a month since the last blog update; those of you checking it out on a weekly basis may think that I'd disappeared of the face of the earth... but no. Just the opposite, as each weekend I have been tied up with one activity or another, of the social kind. Be it BBQ's or lunch out, my regular Sunday 'coffee and blog' have had to take a back seat to the actual business of 'getting a life'.

Here's a picture of a flower to get us in the mood - taken whilst at a BBQ at one of the many communal forest parks on the island. Anyone identify this plant?


Some photos of these events and comments will be at the end of the blog, which will also help me as a diary of sorts and a reminder of who's who and what I was doing!


Progress on the house has continued - it has to be said that the main build is nearing an end, but not quite...


The internal doors are frustratingly still absent. I am assured they are made and ready to fit, and yet I have no idea when. It is part of the build contract, so until they are fitted … well, "no honey, no money".


But for the sake of brevity, here's a list of jobs that have been completed since the last blog update.


  • Bedroom furniture assembled and rugs laid in bedroom and dressing room.

  • Studio assembled and wired.

  • Mezzanine tidied up and floor cleaned.

  • Final boxes unpacked and disposed of, so no more rubbish!

  • Outside planters assembled ready for placement.

  • Patio table assembled.

  • Extra exterior coat of white, fifty percent done (rain stopped play).

  • Application of first coat of blue paint to wall base and side of steps to under the house.

  • Red tiles fitted to kitchen and fire/flue back.

  • Covers fitted to fiber, hub, network cabling boxes.

  • Smart bulbs installed and mostly working.

  • Safety hand rails fitted to patio - a major item!

  • Retaining wall around raised tree area built and 70% backfilled - awaiting top soil to finish.

  • Drainage holes fitted to retaining wall.

  • Electrical cables brought to switch boxes for exterior lighting on retaining wall

  • Logstore built, awaiting decorative roof.

  • Landscaping started, with large (huge) boulders repositioned and all small stones sorted from side garden area for wall building.

  • Pavement laid outside house (legal requirement) - awaiting parking bays to be laid...

  • Wires tidied up for entertainment system (TV, games console, broadband hub etc.)

So, as you can see - it's been all 'action stations'.


Still to do:


  • The doors, including wardrobe doors and cupboard doors for under the stairs and in the small loo.

  • Wardrobe shelves and rail (designed and awaiting price)

  • Glass for fireplace tops (awaiting price)

  • Finish exterior paint.

  • Re-apply interior paint to flawless finish.

  • Snagging.

  • Driveway

  • Exterior walls (Decorative)

  • Topsoil

  • Plants and trees (palm trees, lemon and lime trees, shrubs etc.)

  • Landscaping and planting

  • BBQ


I'm sure this list isn't exhaustive, but funds will be.


The best way is to illustrate progress with comments, so in no particular order:

Before the second phase of the wall started - massive 800 Euro pile of bricks await assembly, off screen to right! Good footings support the 'creative horizontal'. I.E. it is not. At all. Drink enough wine though and it all looks very reasonable.

Joan and Paul (the main builders) working on the retaining wall with built in log store. This was creative wall building, as the wall follows the topography in order to come down the drive and around the corner... it is the way it's done here. Forget everything being by the spirit level!

A joy to behold, a work of art. The finished wall, now back filled with rocks and soil mix, graduated with rocks at the bottom, then gravel, gravel soil mix - awaiting topping off with top soil. Drainage holes have been fitted at the bottom. Steel reinforcement adds strength to the Great Wall of China. Once the infill is planted up (vines and shrubs), it will bind everything together against the elements. The log store is huge, so will probably be divided into a log store and small tool store. A tile sloping roof will be fitted.

Of course, building a wall and a log store can not be done without an impromptu 'builders BBQ'. Paul had fished out an old wheelbarrow and found a gridle... chucked on the sardines and pork, marinade in a bucket, box of wine, bread... and there you go. What a great way to spend an hour and a half on a Friday lunch. Totally unexpected. The sardines where unbelievably tasty. My Portuguese language got a work out and I now know how to swear fluently.

How it is done. Brilliant.

Meanwhile, inside, Rob and Paulo had assembled the bed and cabinets for me - the bed was just to big for me to handle on my own - the parts weighed a ton and needed two to move. In all it took nearly a day for it all to be put together. Ikea. Love it.

Having dressed the bed and unpacked the hand painted cabinet by Rosie-Flo Studios, the bedroom is looking really nice. Some voil at the window will complete. Simple.

I really love this piece by Rosie-Flo. The detail is amazing - a bit of a statement piece, and you get what you pay for. It had been so well packaged that it arrived in pristine condition despite coming in the container and being hefted around for 4 months! A link to Rosie-Flo is on my FB posts....

In the kitchen the red tiles are now fitted - I have just done the lower main wall, and not gone to the window wall, as I felt the red might distract from the view out of the kitchen window. By night the effect is pleasing with the cooker hood illumination.

The kitchen small appliances have been moved subsequent to this picture to give more prep. space - I have moved the microwave into the left corner and moved the toaster to over the wine cooler, right. I'm now happy with the workable layout. Some shelves may go on the wall for the jars and spices. But I want to keep the lines clean.

The fireplace also got the red tile treatment, for behind the log stove and the flue, when fitted. I need a couple of really strong guys to assemble this on to its feet and move it into place, ready for plumbing in the chimney. The fire place is also needing the glass tops, so that keeping it clean is easy.

The picnic table and benches assembled. Now apologies to an ex-girlfriend who wanted this about 12 years ago when we split up ... I said I didn't have it... and I thought I didn't; but it was hidden behind lots of garage junk when I came to move over here! Boxed and new. Result. LOL.

One of two matching planters assembled - they will not be staying here on the patio, but will be going to the garden on the right at the side of the house, as this recieves sun all day, dawn to dusk. The patio is shaded from around miday onwards (a good thing in summer!). The builders toilet (new location) will be gone shortly. Or I could keep it as a novelty feature?

The second planter... Oh, those handrails are really nice. Polished stainless with stainless steel wires, so should be easy to maintain and keep looking good. And now, no fear of falling to an immediate bloody death. Cats and small dogs may want to take care though.

Here we see: Placement of large rocks (stage 1) to start to blend the house foundation into the landscape. Blue lower wall colour. Wall in background. Trees.

Rob (Right) and Paulo (Left) discus where to put the medium boulder, while Chico looks on from the cab of his digger. They moved a lot of rocks. I couldn't bear to watch some of the huge stuff. Heath and Safety.... erm...

The under house area still needs a concret floor and painting out. The side wall has had one coat of paint and needs at least one more. The side of the steps nearest camera also need painting in blue, and most likely tiling.

This stone 'trough' is an antique that I picked up (with some hassle, I may add, but that's another story). It is actually very old and was used to cook in surrounded by a fire, so is not actually a trough. This makes it pretty rare and quite valuable, Think of it as an ancient stew pot and you will be about there... it is going to be used here:

This is the 'side garden', and will be used for veggies and herbs etc. Also a nice place to sit if the wind is blowing as it is very sheltered. It gets sun all day. The 'trough' will go in the right hand corner and form part of a waterfall feature. Raised beds will be center. The wall will be made up with the rocks seen in the picture, and concreted into place, before the entire wall is painted white. Then vines will be planted to hide the wall over time. Rocks will be used to create a rockery slope between the house and raised beds... Gravel will be laid between the planters. Lemon tree... etc... Easy? LOL Muito Caro.

Upstairs on the mezzanine, work on the studio has continued - I'm really missing being able to make some sounds after about 6 months 'in transit' since packing all the studio into boxes and getting it here and unpacked. I have a lot of work still to do; nothing is being done 'sloppy style', so I am waiting on cables to be delivered as well as some routing boxes and an interface - a bit of an afterthought. But once I started putting this space together, I realised it was foolish to cut corners.


So, I reckon that's about enough for this massive update. Here follow some photos of people having a good time. No captions (ish).

Forest BBQ

Forest

Cooking

Horta - out shopping and attending to business. Lovely day. This taken at the bandstand.

Graca & Nigel's

Graca and Nigel's with friends - L to R - Helius, Filipa, Vitório, Me and Nigel. Graca pictured above with the red hair is taking the photo. Wicked time!

Next Up... the bloody doors?



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