Before, during and after
While a holiday home must be lovely inside, outside is just as important – if not more so. It’s where guests will spend most of their time, so I wanted it to be special. Little did I realise how much work this would entail.
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- … the pool sparkles in the sun.
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- In the garden, the lawn was sown a few months ago and has now grown… and…
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- … The plaster is painted and a pergola built out front – and the house is finished!
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- … The gate is hung and plants planted…
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- … filled with water…
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- At last, it’s time for the finishing touches. The swimming pool is lined… and …
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- …painted. A flowerbed is created and load after load of gravel is spread.
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- Finally work starts on the parking area. The ground is levelled and this old wall is stabilised, plastered and…
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- All paved, Amir brushes away excess grouting.
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- They then move onto the terrace between the barn and house.
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- Miro & Amir start their paving marathon, with the path. It’s hot work and their T-shirts have become turbans!
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- With the JCB’s work finished, the remaining walls can be built.
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- By now the house front is repointed and the areas of soft stone are rendered, and new windows and shutters installed.
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- Inside, the walls have been cleaned and repointed and a huge shower is being built
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- … wet-room. The next delivery of top soil will bury these walls forming a slightly sunken entrance
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- With the ground level raised, steps are needed down to the storeroom … and…
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- … he covers it all in concrete. Today, he’s starting work on the pool terrace.
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- With the utilities in place, extra top soil arrives and work starts rebuilding the garden. First Toni lays the hard-core for a path and terraces… Then…
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- … filled with drainage and water pipes.
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- …. the length of the garden… and are…
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- See the need for the JCB! Hardly a corner of the garden is left un-dug, as trenches go in …
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- This end will be the wet-room. But first it needs an outside wall – the gap’s for the door.
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- Inside is reworked, dividing it into a pool room (with pool equipment), storehouse and wet-room. Today the dividing walls go in for the pool room.
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- The old outhouse is staying and needs a complete make-over. First up is a new roof.
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- The stonemason starts work on the wall between the garden & parking area. With the JCB still on-site, this is as far as he can build for now.
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- Toni backfills round the walls, sinking the pool into the ground.
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- … yet more concrete’s poured. When it’s dried,and the formers removed, a pool appears.
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- … wood formers are put in for the pool walls…Then…
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- … pouring concrete to make the pool bottom… When the concrete’s dry …
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- … lining it with sand… and…
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- … the swimming pool. This involves digging a very, very big hole…
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- We’ll be digging bigger holes, but first the cart-shed needs demolishing to make room for…
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- Holes soon start appearing – this one’s for the septic tank (mains drainage has yet to arrive).
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- … it looks a lot better stripped back to the stone.
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- With its broken shutters & filthy, old plaster, the front of the house looks awful… but…
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- At the end, the house and barn face each other across a courtyard.
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- … an old cart shed and tons of rubbish.
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- … an old outhouse…
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- In the long, thin garden were …
Also see:
The restoration tale continues with the house Downstairs and Upstairs, and The barn
Compare the difference with some before & after shots.
For more ‘before’ photos see Outside and the house Downstairs and Upstairs
Or follow our restoration tale.
