Update on progress

We were supposed to be moving in the house around the end of August but unfortunately this has to be postponed for a few more months.

The roof has been fitted but there are still a lot of other things to be done.

The economic crisis in Greece has shattered our dreams as the Greek government has cut down on salaries and pensions and rising taxes and imposing new ones, day by day.  Unfortunately, like the 90% of the Greeks, we are also facing some economic problems.  I don’t know if and when we will now finish the house as we don’t want to get another loan from the bank as the amount which was supposed to pay our monthly installments has already been ripped off by the government.  Our anxiety now is whether we will be able to repay the loan we have already got from the bank, so getting another loan is out of the question.

Even If we wanted to move in during 2011 now we will have to wait for the new year, as as soon as  we have the electricity connected within this year, we will have to pay the new property tax imposed, which is around 800 Euros.  So it’s not worth hurrying up, is it?

As a first step, we’ve decided to finish the ground floor only and only add whatever is necessary to live in.  The semi-basement and the top floor, where the bedrooms are will have to wait indefinitely.

A few days ago when we visited Nafplion we finally placed the order for the kitchen furniture, as well as the doors and windows.  These will be fitted around end of November or early December.

We are now trying to reduce the cost and starting from the kitchen furniture we have gone to a cheaper solution, by adding only what is necessary.  The part which is under the window was mostly for storage, so that will have to wait.

The microwave has been removed as a fitted microwave costs a lot and as I don’t use it often (but merely to reheat food), I prefer to add an extra cabinet for storage in its place.

I’ve also decided to reverse the colours and have more beige, to make it brighter.

Original kitchen plan

New kitchen plan

 They are still working on the tiles of the shower and the floors are almost ready.

The floors may look like wooden but they are made of granite.

Living room

Bedroom

Bedroom balcony

Side verandah

Shower

Enough of whining:)   We are still having great weather here in Greece, so we are grateful for that and are enjoying the beach as much as we can.

For the time being at least this is still free!!

A roof over our head and please help me make up my mind!!

Everybody’s dream is to have a roof over their head and we have reached the stage where the roof is now being placed on our house.  Hopefully it will be ready by next week.

At this stage there are so many things we have to decide about and I am so confused!!

What colour to paint the exterior?  What colour the interior?

I think the exterior may not be so difficult, so let’s focus on the interior.

The photo above is the kitchen I have chosen from the show room and below is my kitchen space, a couple of months back.

According to the plan of our house, this is the sketch which has been prepared for us.  The colour is the same as above, as the picture below has been scanned from a low resolution print.

The colour of the floor is something like the picture below but instead of wood, it is a granite floor tiles and the walls will be something between beige and light yellow (buff).  See colours below.

A dining room table will be placed infront of the window and opposite the kitchen will be the living room, which are all in the same space.

I am not buying new living room furniture as the ones I now have, were bought a couple of years ago.  Their colour is dark chocolate brown, so I have to match them with the remaining house.

I have beige covers on the leather couches, which I may not use in the other house.

I can’t make up my mind if making the kitchen brown and beige will be too dark.  Shall I keep it like this or is it better to make it the opposite i.e. everything beige with brown counter tops, bearing in mind that the walls will be probably beige as well.

I found this colour chart, so what do you think?  Shall I paint the walls in the living room chocolate, beige and blue green?

What do you think?  Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Another trip to Assini and to the beach

A couple of days ago we visited Assini again.

The plumbing, heating & air, and electrical system as well as the outer layer of cement, inside and outside, have now finished.

Next week a layer of plastering (interior and exterior) will be added and the house will look like our neighbour’s.  The roof will also be placed, soon.

We also visited Assini last month but there wasn’t much to post as we had visited some local stores to chose bathtubs and shower units, kitchen furniture, doors and windows, floor tiles etc.

A wall between the two houses is now being built.

Remember this picture in May’s update?

Well, here is how it looks now.  This will become a second small closet in the bedroom.

The beach is only 2 km from the house, so after finishing what we had to do we went to Castraki beach to swim and have lunch before returning back to Athens.

Although it was partly cloudy, it was very hot and the sea temperature was perfect.  In fact it may have been one of the hottest throughout summer.  Although we were planning to swim more, D treaded on a sea urchine but we were quite fortunate as the spines did not go too deep and were easily removed.

(The picture is from the port of Nafplion)

So we now know that next time going there, we will wear our swimming flippers 🙂

We had lunch at the restaurant which is just above the beach.  We have eaten there many times and the food has not disappointed us yet.

The food was delicious but unfortunately as I am still on a diet, I avoided the fried potatoes, olives and feta!  I ate mpifteki (Greek burger) and Greek salad and D ate a pork chop.

Our next visit there will be around the end of August, which we will combine with a few days of holidays.

Back from Assini and progress of the house

We just came back from another trip to Nafplion.

The house is progressing swiftly and now all the bricks have been laid.   Next follows the electrical wiring and plumbing pipes, tubing etc.

The two chimnies are, one for the central heating and the other for the fireplace.  These will be morphed when bound together and will have some arches as well.  I forgot to mention that the arches are gothic, elements of Cypriot architecture.

This will be the kitchen / dining room.  The sink will be under the window on the right.  You can see this side of the kitchen in the next photo.

Next to the right window will be the fireplace.

The staircase leading up to the bedrooms is now ready.  Next to the staircase is the W.C.

One of the bedrooms is next to the bathroom.

Upstairs:

This is one of the bedrooms upstairs.  The closet will be on the wall next to the door and as it is not ver big, we came up with the idea of demolishing part of the bricks which are above the staircase.  The ceiling above the staircase is very high so we can take advantage of this space by replacing it by a second small storage closet.

The second bedroom and behind the wall is the W.C./Bathroom.

It was the first time I saw the view from upstairs and was secretly hoping to have even a distant view to the sea but unfortunately this is all we can get, not that I am complaining but it would be great and relaxing having a sea view 🙂Just before leaving my husband gave me a piece of orange blossoms and the smell was amazing all way back!

See “Recent Posts” for full text with pictures.

Top Floor / Επάνω Όροφος

During Easter we went to Sparta and on our way back to Athens we had a few things to do in Nafplion.  On our way back, we made a detour and spent the whole day there.   The children were also with us and the last time they visited was when we bought the plot, so they hadn’t seen the house before, except, of course, in pictures.

Το Πάσχα πήγαμε στη Σπάρτη και επειδή είχαμε κάποιες δουλειές στο Ναύπλιο, την Τρίτη του Πάσχα κάναμε μια παράκαμψη για το Ναύπλιο. Ήταν ευκαιρία να δούν το σπίτι τα παιδιά γιατί είχαν να πάνε πριν ξεκινήσει το κτίσιμο.  Περάσαμε όλη την ημέρα εκεί και γυρίσαμε το βράδυ.

Προχωράει με γρήγορους ρυθμούς και ήδη τελείωσε ο σκελετός του πρώτου ορόφου.

The progress is going ahead quite fast and the top floor skeleton is now ready.

Tomorrow we shall be visiting again and shall be staying until Wednesday, as there are more things we have to decide on the spot on what we want.  We shall have to be visiting more often now as we need to choose doors, windows, tiles, sinks, kitchen counter, bathrooms and so many other things.

Αύριο θα ξαναπάμε και θα διανυκτερεύσουμε γιατί υπάρχουν αρκετά πράγματα να αποφασίσουμε και να κάνουμε.  Είναι καιρός να αρχίσουμε να ψάχνουμε για πόρτες, παράθυρα, πλακάκια, νεροχύτες, έπιπλα κουζίνας, μπάνια και πολλά άλλα.

We had time to visit the Archaeological Museum of Nafplion and Tolo.

Είχαμε χρόνο να επισκευτούμε το Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Ναυπλίου και το Τολο.

Unexpected Delays

Our visits to and from Nafplio continued.  Signing of papers, visiting the architect, visiting the bank for a loan and when all these things were arranged, if everything went smoothly the house would finish before summer.

In real life, however, things don’t turn out as we plan them and we had a sudden death in the family which put our plans on hold for a couple of months.

Then when we decided to go ahead again we were told that new requirements for a green licence were now necessary and this delayed our plans for a few more months.  We finally got the licence in January, and our engineer told us that we were the first to get the green licence in Argolida.

The construction started end of January….  Unfortunately a lot of the trees had to be cut down…

Visit 7th February:  The basement is being constructed..

Visit 7th March.

Visit on 21st March:   The first floor is being built.  Arches are being drawn.

Visit 5th April:  The first floor skeleton is complete.  Next visit will be after Easter…