January 2012
1 post
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Back from a Renovation Break
Hello world. We wanted to let you know that we’re not dead. This past holiday season brought a last-minute escape to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay to “renovate” our spirits.
Travel, along with a much-needed break from the daily grind brings us back feeling refreshed and ready to tackle the new year with gusto.
For now, we leave you with a couple teaser images...
November 2011
2 posts
2 tags
Stair Carpentry - A Simple Design to Please Your...
The last time we mentioned our staircase, we were reveling in the fact that we could travel between floors without either having to climb a ladder or negotiate a rather steep makeshift ramp.
My how time flies. After watching the stairwell go from a drab gray concrete tunnel to a more spritely white-washed shaft of light, we have now witnessed its final transformation into the wood-clad beauty we...
2 tags
November Springtime in Mérida
What? Have we gone mad? How can it possibly be springtime when we’re north of the equator and were headed into winter?
The answer lies in the following image.
Unlike further north, the prime growing season is now upon us. With the heat behind us and tropical storms abated (well, almost), the air is feeling positively springtime and it’s perfect for growing yummy things.
Unlike our...
October 2011
1 post
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Who Wood Have Thought?
After many months of production and installation, the wood terrace connecting our two bedrooms is finally complete (okay, maybe it’ll be tomorrow morning because of the rain).
Constructed from tzalam wood, this wood has been sitting in our carpenter’s shop for over a year drying and being processed for use on our terrace.
With a flooring design in place, our carpenters were on...
September 2011
2 posts
3 tags
2 tags
Bedeviled by Details
It’s been over a month since our last excitable post about our pool, so we thought it was high time we resurfaced and assured everyone that we are still alive and kicking.
We’d love to say we’ve been relaxing poolside while our crew wraps up around us with efficiency and outstanding speed. Alas, that would be a lie. Instead, we find ourselves mired in the painful phase of...
August 2011
2 posts
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No Longer Pool Deprived
Being sans pool these last 12 or so months, our friends have taken pity on us with invites to swim at their houses. Their kindness has at times helped us from completely losing it during the hot days spent on site supervising the build.
This weekend, however, we are no longer a charity case as our pool is full up with cool aquamarine. As of 1:13pm yesterday, the pump stared up and water gushed...
3 tags
All Moved in and Camping...Again
As of a week ago, we are living in our new home. It’s not done yet, but with the lease on our rental accommodation up, we had to move.
Living in a house under construction is no picnic. With 15 workers on site each day, hammering, sawing and asking a million questions, it’s hard to concentrate in the din. Dust flies everywhere, and although we are living upstairs where construction is...
July 2011
4 posts
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Reunited and It Feels So Good
The thing about restoration is that you can spend a great deal of time and money to repair something that ends up looking the same once you’re done. Is this good? Should one be happy that the job was so “perfect”, or feel deflated that after all the work, you are back where you started. Such was the conundrum of our tejaban.
Six months ago, the old tejaban covering the space...
4 tags
Painting the house in "Horchata"
In the last few weeks, our house has gradually been turning white. The painters have arrived and are washing our walls with calestina.
An ancient technique used throughout the world, calestina is a cal (slaked lime)-based paint that has been used in Mexico for centuries. It works well in Mérida’s humid climate because it’s not waterproof. Any moisture rising up inside the walls...
4 tags
Meanwhile, at the Carpinteria...
When designing the kitchen, we always felt like the cabinetry had to be wood.
After flirting with tzalam, (and buying a stack of wood we’ll now have to use elsewhere) we changed our minds and went with pucte. It’s lighter in color and the fact that it’s easier to work made it the superior choice for our needs.
The big question, however, was what to use for the counter tops?...
5 tags
Totally Floored
We are finally at a point in our renovation where we are starting to see finishes applied to the house. After eight months of renovation, it’s gratifying to see hints of color and texture appear.
First up, the upstairs bedrooms get a lift with the laying of reclaimed pasta tile from the former living room. With a splash of orange, the house starts coming back to life.
Although the tiles...
June 2011
3 posts
3 tags
Never the Same Second Time Around
What would a home be in Merida without hammock hooks? We opted to fabricate ours from wood, to complement some old existing horse posts that remain from the original house. The brief we gave our carpenter was simple: replicate the one shown below.
Of course, even the simplest of things cannot be recreated. The result, ironically, looks quite phallic. Our construction crew was most amused the...
4 tags
A Beverage to Build Houses
We would like to take a moment to thank the Coca-Cola Corporation for all material support they have provided during our renovation.
Coco-Cola is the drink behind the man. Our workers valiantly empty gallons of Coke into their bodies every day so as to provide us with free building materials.
The empty bottles are refilled with water that are carried around the site to wash walls, thin...
4 tags
Where Water Flows
Before we started construction, our house had one well, one cistern, one tinaco (water tank), and one single-chamber septic tank.
It’s a setup typical of houses in the Yucatán. Water is pumped up from the well (of which the well head is visible to the right of the pre-construction photo below) into the ground-level cistern (to the left of the well but overgrown with plants). From there,...
May 2011
1 post
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The Choice is Made
After debating over what tile pattern to use in the bedrooms, we finally settled on option three, edged in plain white pasta tile. Here is a plan view of how the tile will be fully laid out in the guest bedroom:
Yesterday, the room was measured out with string to determine the position of the first tile to be set, a tile in the center of the room.
Concrete was mixed on the terrace outside the...
April 2011
3 posts
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Layering Views
With the heat of April fully upon us and the thought that the rain (and associated onslaught of mosquitos) will soon return, we are finding ourselves indoors and sheltering from merciless clime.
The longer we spend inside, the more we miss spending time in the garden. It reminds us of the design goal we set this time last year - to design indoor spaces that remain connected to the outdoors during...
3 tags
A Question of Patterns
This is a picture of a concrete pasta tile. Found all over Mérida, each tile is a basic 20x20cm wafer of concrete with a 1/4 inch layer of color stamped on top to form the pattern. And wow! What amazing patterns there are.
The tile above is one reclaimed from the floors in our front rooms. It has over 900 friends sitting in neat piles at our carpenter’s workshop, cleaned and ready to be...
2 tags
Return of the Frames
Many moons ago at the start of the build, existing door and door frames in our house were chipped out and carted away for restoration. Rotted wood was replaced, nail holes and other damage were puttied before everything was sanded, treated with “termite inhibitor” and coated in a single layer of primer.
This week, some of the door frames returned so they could be fixed into place.
...
March 2011
4 posts
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A Thin Blue Line
Our house is being erected almost entirely by hand. Besides the occasional use of a concrete mixer, the main tools of the trade are a shovel, bucket and a trowel.
Apart from these more obvious tools, one arguably more important item goes largely unnoticed. It is string, or in the case of our contractor, nylon fishing line. On our build site it’s everywhere and is used for all sorts of...
2 tags
Up the Narrow Stairs
Architects often obsess over the need to create beautiful stairs. Stan is no exception.
When we started the project, he was awash with visions of a gorgeous exposed staircase ascending from the living room. A little thing called a budget intervened and we eventually went for a cheaper L-shaped staircase tucked behind a wall.
With good design possible on any budget, Stan still managed to engage...
4 tags
From Renders to Reality
A key part of our house is the new central courtyard, which connects the indoor living room up front with the kitchen in the rear. As this is where most of our days will be spent, achieving a well-proportioned space is critical.
During the design phase, we relied heavily on 3-D renderings of these spaces to give us a sense of proportion. Since construction began, we’ve had our fingers...
3 tags
Our Bedrooms Take Flight
It’s amazing how quickly things happen when we’re not building walls from large boulders of limestone.
Our rear garden wall took a single stone mason and his assistant six weeks to complete, one stone at a time. In contrast our second story, built from concrete block, went up in a flash. One day they were just starting and then two weeks later they were done. Just like that!
...
February 2011
1 post
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Mind the Gap. It Sucks.
Concrete and stone are standard construction materials in Mérida. In our house, we employ both for our many walls and roofs.
With their high mass, these materials absorb a great deal of heat as they bask each day in the brutal Mérida sun.
Once absorbed, heat seeps into the building and heats up the rooms. This of course is apparent when visiting homes in hot summer months - you are greeted at...
January 2011
2 posts
1 tag
Movin' On Up!
Last week, construction leapt forward with the erection of our second story floor. Workers began hoisting steel columns, laying concrete beams and raising concrete roof block.
Suddenly, walls and roofs were rising from the ground and new rooms, like the outdoor living room, were taking shape.
The main mass in this new floor is a type of concrete block (pictured below) designed to drop in...
1 tag
The Structure of Things to Come
The steel columns are finally up. Purchased a few weeks back, they have been languishing on site awaiting the holes to be dug for each of their footings.
Demarcating the line between indoor and outdoor space, as well as defining the spacing for the screen doors, their precise placement was crucial. As such, we have been on site measuring and remeasuring to ensure they are erected in just...
December 2010
6 posts
1 tag
Relatively Boring... or Perhaps Not?
As architect on our project, Stan sails home from site each day on an ethereal cloud of constructive bliss. Each night he is bursting with thoughts about the joys of a house built by hand and the impressive craftsmanship witnessed that day. One week, I (Brent) am regaled with tales of how steel structural cages were hand formed from long lengths of rebar. Hoisted into place, these columns are...
1 tag
Building Blocks
For the last few weeks, a huge pile of concrete blocks stacked up in the front room has slowly shrunk. One by one, they have been carried deeper on site to be mortared into place.
The old western wall of our property was built of mamposteria. Not structurally sound and encroaching the boundary of the neighbor’s property, we decided to build a new block wall in front to support the second...
3 tags
Picking through the Trash
Refuse seems to be the theme of the week for us. After posting a few days back about the way garbage is collected in Mexico City, we ended up learning a lot more than we expected about what happens to it after it’s collected.
Our favorite furniture dealer hooked us up with a guy called Antonio to drive around the city for a day in search of stuff that we could use in our renovation - old...
2 tags
An el DF Moment
Coffee in hand, we gazed out the window of our Mexico City rental apartment this morning and were transfixed by the work of the garbage crew.
Once collected from the sidewalk, trash bags are opened and emptied onto the back of the garbage truck. From there, they are sorted with all recyclables removed and placed in separate bins.
Strangely, although we live in Mérida, we are unsure if the...
3 tags
el DF
So, we have been meaning to take a trip to DF (aka Mexico City) to do some furniture shopping for our house. This weekend, we finally made it. First stop, Trouvé - a mid-Century furniture store in Condesa and Roma. Javier, the proprietor, has a fabulous eye and acquires some outstanding pieces, like a gorgeous chaise lounge made entirely out of steel. Unfortunately, it had just been sold two...
2 tags
A Transformative Return
After several weeks lurking about the countryside of New Zealand, eating way too many meat pies, and enjoying a gluttonous Asian food tour NOB (it really was shameful the rate at which we slurped those noodles), we flew back home ready for warm weather and anxious to see the progress on our house.
We weren’t disappointed on either front. Along with tropical temperatures (for winter at...
November 2010
1 post
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On the Other Side of the World
In the midst of construction on your house, it’s best to stick around, visit the site regularly and be on hand for issues that arise. It is not, generally speaking, the best time to go on vacation.
Despite the warnings to heed this advice, we decamped to New Zealand for a two week visit to Brent’s family. Although it was difficult to tear ourselves away from the gripping construction...
October 2010
8 posts
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Down with the Roof
Today, the existing roof of our soon-to-be kitchen (formerly known as the tejaban) is coming down. The old French terracotta tiles that sat for years, baking in the sun, are being lowered to the ground, three at a time in a white bucket.
The tejas (terracotta roof tiles) almost completely removed.
Once down, each tile will be hand cleaned and stored until it can be re-fitted on the restored...
2 tags
What Comes Down Will Go Back Up
This week our house is being taken apart. Bit by bit, everything of value is being removed for restoration. The walls are now studded with gaping holes that make them look like we are in the midst of war.
2 tags
Intrepid Exploration Without Leaving Home
Yesterday, we discovered a lime tree on the property. We feel like explorers.
Although we only have a small rear garden, it was hidden amongst the undergrowth and we never spotted it until the yard was recently cleared. With its discovery, it’s rather obvious this little tree could do with a bit of coiffing.
Now that we can get back to the rear of the property (also a new journey), we...
2 tags
Humble Beginnings
The ground has yet to move. Walls have yet to tumble, but slowly, we’re seeing things happen with our build.
As we’ve mentioned previously, our wood work is moving forward and progress is being made daily. We now have the beginnings of a project schedule and are starting to organize major purchases for things like sinks, cooktops, ovens, etc. We’re also visiting the site more...
2 tags
The Responsibility of New Construction
We are about to intervene on site with new construction. Paving over most of the central courtyard and inserting a building, it will never look this way again. A small swath of earth will not see sunlight for years, perhaps even a century. Is this a responsible course of action? What are we losing? What if we make it worse? It’s sad, and perhaps a little scary.
2 tags
Our Front Room Could Use a Tidy Up
The ceiling of the front room was not in a great state and had to come down. What was formerly our front room is now an “entrance courtyard” filled with the rubble of demolition. To get past it all, a path has been cleared giving us access to the front door.
2 tags
Bye bye doors
A naked door frame. The doors have been carted away and are undergoing restoration. The frame (and upper windows) will be restored in place, as this is easier.
With this door gone, it’s easy to see how the larger house was divided in two many years ago (of which we purchased one half). Strangely, although our side of this block wall was hidden behind a door, the other side is equally...
2 tags
So long wall
This will probably be the last photo we take of this wall. In a few weeks it will be removed and the two rooms will join together into one larger space that we will use as a media room.
September 2010
4 posts
4 tags
Revealing the Wood Beneath
About two weeks ago, our carpenters came by our house and removed all our door panels for restoration. After stacking them carefully on a truck, they whisked (okay, more like sputtered) them away to the wood shop.
Since that time, two guys have been appointed the task of restoring our doors. Not only have years of caked on paint been painstakingly stripped away by hand, but major cracks and...
3 tags
Gorging on Rambutan
Yay! It’s rambutan season (or ranbutan as they’re called here). These tropical delicacies burst in your mouth with a sweetness and texture similar to lychee.
We haven’t had any since living in Mexico City a few years back, when they would make an appearance at the markets each summer. Seeing them recently at Mérida’s central market looking so fresh and juicy was a...
4 tags
A Loo with a View
Okay, so we’re not talking stunning vistas of Florence a la Forster. Instead, think small “view” to an outdoor terrace from our master bathroom.
Since April 2009, we’ve wanted to ensure that our master bathroom open up to the outside (you can see the full history of our drawings here). The idea is to have the flexibility to shower outside without feeling overly exposed to...
2 tags
Have Permits, Will Build
We know it’s hard to believe (hell, we were getting a bit skeptical), but we just found out our drawings officially have both stamps of approval - one from the city and the other from INAH.
After we crack open some bubbly and drink ourselves silly, it’ll be time to sign off on the budget, draft a construction schedule and finally break ground.
We’ll keep you posted.
August 2010
4 posts
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Like Designers in a Candy Store
We are giddy today. We stopped by this morning to check out our first delivery of tzalam wood.
Stacked together, the wood looks almost deceptively like mahogany or even cedar. But put it through a planer, and this is what you get:
Note the beautiful dark grain and the nice chocolate tones. It is definitely in a class of its own. Now all we have to do is wait two months for the wood to be...
1 tag
Because Everyone Needs a Girl Friday
After years of being in Mexico on tourist visas, flitting in and out every six months as the government requires, we finally broke down and applied for our FM2s.
Until now, living off tourist visas has not been a problem. Friends would invite us to their wedding or a special birthday celebration would demand that we leave the country.
In a sign that we have been in Mexico for a while now, such...
3 tags
Working the World of Wood
While negotiating our way through the permitting process for our house, we’ve been spending a lot of time investigating wood.
Since our house will be painted white throughout, the primary source of color and texture will come from our garden as well as key pieces of wood furniture that we’re having custom made.
To that end, we are choosing our wood based on a few key criteria:
The...
2 tags
Permitting Headaches
As some of you may know, Mérida recently held local elections. After over 21 years, the ruling party PAN was thrown out of office.
With this change in government came a massive shuffling of administrators and some changes in permitting procedures. As a result, our application for a building permit, previously little more than a rubber stamp, has been rejected based on building code violations in...
July 2010
5 posts
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World Cup Fever (of Sorts)
We have finally found a reason to love the World Cup. Although it’s a few weeks gone, better late than never.
The other day, while at Superama, we spied bottles of Mrs. H.S. Balls Original Recipe Chutney sitting by the entrance, marked down and unloved. This chutney, a staple in South Africa, was presumably being sold as some sort of promotion for the great sporting event just gone. Thank...