New house - 5
Decorations
Now the painting is finished, inside and out. Painters Valantis and Vasilis did a wonderfully thorough job, spending two weeks preparing all the surfaces before even starting to apply paint.
The window and door surrounds are a slightly darker shade, as are the parapets. There'll be wrought iron railings around the verandah and upstairs balcony.
Here's a composite shot of the back of the house.
Downstairs
Living room and fireplace, showing the floor tiles.
Note the cunning choice of colour for the chimney breast. It isn't white, but what the painters call "ice" colour. The effect is to make it almost disappear, instead of looming. I suppose you could say it melts away. The mantelpiece will be wood and will be an extension of the shelves I'll have fitted in the alcove to the right of the fireplace. All those holes in the wall are for electrical outlets. All the TV/DVD/stereo stuff will go into that space (I hope).
Outside.
This is the main verandah along the front of the house, and looking in through the balcony doors to the dining area..
Dining area and kitchen.
Looking from the living room. There'll be a fitted kitchen in the taped-out places.
Main bathroom downstairs.
There'll be a custom built cabinet housing the basin on the wall on the left, opposite the toilet. Note the whirlpool bathtub. Only the best for Philip!
Stairway.
Looking up from the bottom … and down from the top.
Upstairs
Main bedroom.
The main bedroom at the front of the house, showing the view. The grill on the upper right delivers heat from the chimney of the fireplace below, when it's in use. This bedroom has its own en suite bathroom and a walk-in wardrobe (not shown, because it's boring).
Spare bedroom.
For the other bedroom I decided on a colour scheme that would remind me of Crete. The colours are taken from a picture of part of the Minoan palace of Knossos.
Studio - office.
This will be my working space, now mainly occupied by the treadmill. Those tubes sticking up by the treadmill mat are conduits for power, phone, and network connections to my desk, without the need for wires running across the floor. All the floors upstairs (except the bathroom and wardrobe) will be light-coloured wood laminate. Pipes along the right-hand wall are for radiators.
Upstairs balcony.
The doors lead out to the upstairs balcony, with nice views over the village.