Stay positive!

Balcony Tiles

     We had doubts about the tiles we had selected mainly because we didn't know what their final appearance would be.  They actually turned out quite nicely, and we can't wait until the front of the house is finished with Jolypat to see the effect.  The tiles themselves were quite economical, sold through Nagoya Mosaic; the cost of installing them per m2 however was twice that of the tiles, even though the process seemed quite straightforward. 

These kinds of tiles come as sheets that are held together by a film at the back. The individual sheets measure 145×22mm and there are also corner tiles for the edges. First a coat of mortar was applied to the surface of the balcony and the tile sheets were firmly pressed. The tiles were then covered with grout, which was then brushed away so that to remain only between the individual tiles, filling the gaps.  Just placing the sheets on top of mortar is not solid enough, hence the grout step to ensure that tiles remain in place for a long time. That's exactly what we want!

Here's the detail of the tiles:

First Floor

     The kitchen is now being fitted.  This is the seating side of the island, with a view to the deck. 

     This is the view from the storage side of the island.  There are 4 deep drawers and plenty of space for storage below.  With this wide counter, I might start rolling dough again to make quiche or pizza...  It's been ages!

     Much work has yet to be done in the kitchen so it's hard to really see what the final outcome will be.  A few adjustments need to be made to one of the cabinets.

     A bit of an unappealing sight is the opening below the bathtub on the studio ceiling.  Couldn't get around this.  This is how repair people can fix whatever gets broken with the bath. 

Second Floor

     The music cabinets in the master bedroom are starting to shape up.  We just forgot to mention that we need to let the computer cables pass through the shelf.  Our carpenter confirmed that a hole of our preferred diameter could easily be cut through the wood.  So it's great that we are sometimes able to fix problems easily.

    The handrail to the loft was fixed.  This handrail is terribly necessary, especially to come down the stairs because they are pretty steep.  The plus here is that we gain space in the kids' room below.  The handrail will be painted white later on.

     More photos to come soon...  Hopefully, it'll be smooth-sailing from now on, at least I hope so!