Pictures to come soon

We're having a bit of trouble uploading pictures to the blog seeing as we are in Belgium and don't have our laptop with us; but upon request you will soon get to see some before and after pictures of the house.

Thanks for understanding and we hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

In Belgium

On Saturday morning at 6am we left Portugal for Belgium for the holiday season. The drive went very smoothly, passing by Guarda, Salamanca, San Sebastian, Bordeaux, Tours, Paris, Lille, to only name a couple, and Lokeren as our final destination for the night. Rain, snow, sunshine, we saw it all in our 1900km and 21 hour trip.

After a couple of days of seeing family and friends, playing in the snow, wrapping presents and decorating the christmas tree we are completely in the holiday spirit. Pictures of Chopin in the snow to follow soon.

With this we would like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season and for those that celebrate christmas a very Merry Christmas!

Good Morning Portugal!

 So winter does exist in Portugal.

We woke up to a frosty landscape with the sun shining bright.

Door and window of the annex

The door and the window of the annex were placed several days ago, the floor is completely finished and all left to do know is to install all the necessary machinery for which the annex was built. If all goes as planned this should be done next week and be ready by the time we come back early January. 

Quarta-feira

It's Wednesday (quarta-feira in Portuguese) today, and only 2 more works days until we leave for Belgium. I spent the morning working in the garden and helping Frederik clean up around the construction site. Getting rid of anything and everything that no longer needs to be here and putting it in the truck for the men to take with them. It's amazing how much 'stuff' just gets left behind, but anyways, soon it will all be gone, or so we hope!

In the meantime, the plumber placed all the bathrooms and the house is almost completely painted; a pretty good day so far! All we hope for now is that the carpenter shows up this afternoon and replaces our kitchen door and brings the bathroom doors in the guest rooms!

Closer and Closer

Three and a half more work days until we leave for Belgium and the works are almost done. Today is spent placing the last floor tiles (1st floor ensuite bathroom), painting the exterior walls of the ground floor, placing all the bathroom furniture, connecting all the electricity, filling up holes in the walls, and painting the annex. Minor finishing touches left aside, we should be done by friday evening, all we're waiting for now is the equipment to connect our solar panels to the plumbing tubes so that we have solar powered hot water.

Terrace

The first floor terrace tiles were placed on Friday afternoon. After a weekend of letting the glue dry, the floor is now ready to be finished off, leaving only the railing to be placed in order for the terrace to be completely done. 

A room with a view...

It's been too long...

Sorry for the delay in a new blog entry, but the month of december always seems to be the busiest month of the year. Only 11 days until we leave for Belgium for the christmas holidays and the to do list is endless.

So much has been going on that we can't really keep track, the annex is well on it's way to be finished. All it's missing are there door and window and the machinery. The kitchen has been tiled and grouted, the railing on the top floor balcony has been placed and all the guestrooms have been plasterboarded.While Frederik has been working with the men outside, I have spent my time in the house, painting(with the help of my mom) what will one day be the reception.Today we move on to the guest room on the first floor.

Pictures will following later today, but here is a little preview.