February 25, 2009

First Outdoor Glimpse of Our Beautiful Home on the Island of Tenerife

Here the tour begins…Notice the beat up awnings and old delapidated Spanish clay roof tiles. Also the walkway was painted green! The windows that you see are in the old kitchen which actually had a door too that we removed. Aluminum sided windows I suppose were the rage in the 60's.

Entrance Stairs (Before)

Entrance Steps (After)

In the after photo, notice the beautiful handmade Spanish clay tiles and handmade volcanic large stones making a path to the front door.

We decided on PVC look alike wooden windows…they even feel like wood but you have no upkeep. This was the first time we saw them and couldn't believe how real they look, since they don't use them in the US.

We found the house we dreamed of with an open floor plan and so the exterior and interior floors sort of flow and are made of the same material…handmade Spanish clay tiles.

At the time, gutting the entire house was a nightmare, not to mention doing all the rooms at once, and searching for construction materials at the same time (remember we live on an island) so exactly what you want is not available, you have a 3-4 month wait for it to get it here from Spain…we learned our lesson and didn't order ANYTHING but the floor tiles from the peninsula because when they finally got here, they were the wrong tiles!

Now looking back I think how lucky I am to have been able to put part of me into the house. I did all the floor and bathroom tile designs with two mosaic rugs! Each room has a different design throughout with borders and they flow together because I used the same tiles, I just cut and placed them differently. I also did the huge mosaic planters outside in the garden and the steps you see coming in. One of the hardest jobs was the grouting of the interior floors. In Spanish the workers called me "Maestro"("a")?…women never work in construction in Spain….who ever thought I would have to? We learned alot the hard way and the only way to get it done right, was to do it ourselves!

Tags: art, decor, decorating, design, DIY, exterior decorating, floor designs, interior decorating, island homes, mediterranean/spanish style, spanish architecture, spanish clay tiles, style, tenerife canary islands