The Last Piece of the Puzzle is in Place!

The Last Piece of the Puzzle is in Place!

The little room at the top back corner of the three-story house has been ignored until now.

It has been a very useful space, but no one would want to go in there, and few could imagine what it has turned into now!

 



The top floor when we began work





I think the little room may have been the nursemaids’ room at first, with the two large rooms in the front used by the children, all nine of them, one for the boys and one for the girls.  This ‘nurse-maid’s room, has a door, but is open onto the stairwell. Maybe that was so that she could see if any of her charges were escaping down there after hours.

When the children were grown, and came here for summer holidays with their families, each room tended to be claimed by one family, with drawers filled with the family’s gear, and left behind for the next summer. In fact on room had a cheap sticker on the door announcing that this was the room of George! And, if you have read one of my first blogs, you will know that by the time we arrived there were beds in every room, requiring us to drag out about 14 soggy old mattresses before we could begin renovating the house.





Once the nursemaid's room, then a storage room





Now our cosy nook

 

 

 

 

After we arrived, and cleared out old furniture and assorted other stuff, we put those things we wanted to keep in this little room on the top floor. Here we put picture frames and old mirrors, some beds that we intended to keep, some of the better chairs and so on. 





Me painting windows



 

 

Later as the house gradually was painted and furnished this room was filled with numerous old tins of paint, left over from work done in other rooms, for you never knew if you might need that paint again!

This year, with the rest of the top floor completed we actually began work on the ‘maid’s room, or ‘box room’, or whatever you want to call it.

Anestis had to first remove the old plaster work which was badly cracked. Then replaster and paint. The walls and woodwork have been painted two shades of cream and ceiling has been coloured, in the same manner as other rooms. Here the colour matches nearby rooms, picking up that used in the two other top bed rooms, green and mauve.



Anestis replaster and painted



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



painting the 'Juliet' balcony from where the maid could spy on the staircase.



 

And then I moved in the furniture I have been longing to place in there for a couple of years – my desk, Takis easy chair and one of our favourite carpets. It is now no longer the maid’s room, but my study, and our retreat. We still have to get power points, and hang pictures, but already it looks cosy and inviting.



Now I have a writing corner



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





And Takis has a quiet reading spot





  Last Jobs for 2014



Takis and Anestis rehanging repainted shutters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course there is still stuff to do on the house. We have not done all we planned yet, and we've already had to redo some things that we thought were done.

 

For instance Takis has already begun work repainting some of shutters.

 

This is an island with hot summers and cold winter, and salty winds, so outside paintwork often needs refreshing.

 

And better Shabby Chic, than live in plastic perfection I say! Even if living in this old house means having to compete with wind and rain, mice and bugs. It is after all a living structure. And that’s life, endeavoring to beautify what is continually changing and disintegrating!

 

At least all this work stops us sitting around for too long, keeping us active and challenged!