Page 3 Week 23 Week 22 Week 21 Week 20 Week 19 Week 18 Week 17 Week 16 Week Twenty Four: Just Add Color..... Way back in the beginning (somewhere around the middle of April), Kriss said to us "Paint is your friend". Well here we are five and a half months later making friends with LOTS of color. If last week was a "white out," then this week is definitely "coloring between the lines". Carl came home from two surgeries in Taos and the generous care of good friends (Nancy and Brad, Wolf and Jenny) to a construction site that seemed to have taken a great leap forward in his absence. The decisions are really starting to happen at a rapid rate. This week most of the rooms got their distinctive wall of color. Chemino started to tile in the guest bathroom. The circular iron (caracol) staircase to the roof went in and railings appeared on the second floor lanai and back staircase. Indeed, there were more new details than we had room to show you in this past week's pictures. And this coming week won't be much different. Sharon heads up to Guadalajara for (hopefully) her last furniture, fixture and tile shopping trip. Also to arrange transport to get it all down here to the coast. She'll return on Wednesday in time to help Carl great our good friend Ani arriving from Santa Rosa, CA for an early Fall break and a peak at the construction as it comes down the wire. Next week we'll have a picture of her taking a tour of what is "casi Casa Fritz". Week 24 Photos Rectangles were cut into the walls and then wired for electricity. Jose Angel is using a wood frame to finish the rectangles. These forms for the lights were cut from screening material and then covered with cement. Lights bulbs will be placed inside. Almost all the walls are painted this peach color. Each room will have an accent color. This is looking from the guest bedroom through the hall through the master bedroom and out the door to the balcony. Chemino begins to set the tiles in the shower of the guest bedroom. These are some of the upper cabinets for the kitchen. The spiral staircase (caracol) leads up to the roof. This is the first coat on the wall in the upstairs hall. The accent wall in the living room. The pad is formed and poured for the front door entry way. These are the colors we have selected for the house. return to top Week Twenty Three: Whiteout..... A very busy week! Calls to Carl twice a day. His medical business all went very well. Thanks to everyone who held a good thought for him. At the house, small things got accomplished. Bases were poured, pipes added and pipes covered up, squares cut and lots of white primer and paint. The entired house, inside and out, received 2 coats of primer which is a mixture of paint and other things to keep the moisture from penetrating. Then, all the ceilings were painted white. Fernando, the head painter, came by on Saturday so Sharon could look at the peach paint samples for the interior walls. Sharon went to the house with him and they taped the different color samples to each wall to be painted that color. And more tiles (azulejos) arrived this week: "mar verde" for the kitchen counters, "ambar" for the guest room bath and "marmol rojo" (red marble) for the shower floors. The metal worker has been hired and soon there will be gates and a "caracol" (spiral stair case) and hand rails. Sharon and Kriss designed the bathroom vanities. Carl returns on Tuesday and Sharon will be off to Guadalajara once again. Week 23 Photos The pattern of the squares is carried out above the front gates. This design will appear in the gates themselves. Chemino is cutting into the wall for the doorway lights. This lighting is also in the back yard. A trench is cut in the garage floor and under the foundation for additional brown water drainage. The tenaco on the roof. We now have water throughout the house. Max is plastering the upper corner from the roof. Jose Angel is plastering the storage space under the stairwell. The upper steps of the back stairwell are plastered and prepared for finishing. The ceiling of the master bedroom is the first area to be primed. The entire downstairs receives the primer coat. The exterior receives the primer coat. Oscar painting the exterior. The cement base for the master bath vanity. Samples of colors for the interior. return to top < Week Twenty Two: A Week Without Carl..... I drove Carl to Puerto Vallarta Tuesday and he flew to Taos. He sent these words this morning: "It's been way cold at night and fairly chilly during the day. I haven't done any serious shopping, but I've managed to pick up a few things that Sharon "ebayed" before I left. I am happy to see friends in Taos AND, for sure, I'd rather see them in Barra de Navidad. Thanks for all your support." And the beat goes on. It seems like small parts are getting done which makes the house more whole. The laundry room, powder room and bathroom floors were poured. Ventillation squares were cut. Areas of walls were plastered. Edges finished. We hired painters this week and they will begin to prime Monday in the kitchen so Kriss can start to get the cabinets installed. We are talking about COLORS! The exterior gates are designed and bids are coming in for them and for the windows. Many decisions large and small: dimmers, door knobs, drawer pulls, window openings and hand rails for the balcony and stairs . This week, Sharon designed the bathroom vanities and will discuss them with Kriss. It will be a different place when Carl returns! Week 22 Photos The subfloor is poured for the laundry room. The drain in the back yard. This will collect water from different roofs, the back stairs and any pool overflow and carry to the front. These squares have been cut into the garage for ventillation and decoration. More squares. These are cut into the closet wall for ventillation, also. The short wall on the left is added and the garage front is plastered. This wall is constructed in the guest bath with an arch cut in it. It will eventually be a closet and storage space. Kriss has added the hardware for the sliding shelves in the kitchen cabinets. Some of the kitchen cabinet doors. They have a non-yellowing matt finish. This is the front gate overhang. Made of styrofoam, it will be cut shorter and plastered. The house from a block away. return to top Week Twenty One: Comin' Round The Clubhouse Turn Houses and horse races. There's a real analogy here, more than our location on the track which, if you've never watched the ponies run, is nearing the home stretch. Right now though, we're not so focused on win, place or show as in making sure that all the fine points and details are being covered as we head down the last furlongs toward the post. We still think it'll be done by or very near the end of October. More importantly, it truly feels like we've got a solid house nearing the end of its construction. Plumbing and Electric are about done. The kitchen appliances are all bought. Sharon needs to make one more trip up to Guadalajara/Ajijic to take advantage of the good graces of her friend and shopping buddy, Steve Cole. We're putting in the orders this coming week for all our windows (anodized aluminum) and front gates (ornamental iron). What else? Actually this week Carl is leaving for New Mexico. He'll be in Taos for 10-12 days getting some medical "stuff" taken care of. Hold a good thought for him, por favor. Week 21 Photos The subfloor (firme) is being poured on the balcony and the terraza. Only the powder room and garage floors remains to be poured. Bricks are placed on the firme where the cabinets will sit. They will be backfilled with concrete. The front side will be tiled. One set of kitchen cabinet frames. The top of the cabinet on the left is already cut for the sink. These are some of the shelves for the kitchen cabinets. They will all slide out. The south wall is being plastered. They had to set up in the neighbor's yard for this process. Chemino is doing the finish work on the front door overhang. Paint colors and plants are on our minds already! Angel is plastering the side of the back steps. And...the floor tiles arrived this week from Colima. Box after box unloaded and carried in. The walls will be primed before the tiles are laid. The wall of the shower in the master bath. This was just installed and is made from a styrofoam sheet wrapped in metal wires and then plastered. These squares are around the house. Used as vents in the pool equipment room, the garage and here, the powder room. A few will be cut into the outer wall, too, as decoration. Coming up the stairs, Sharon was struck by the play of shapes and light looking through the windows out onto the terraza. Feeling unobserved for a moment, Oatmeal thinks he's discovered "The Promised Land". return to top Week Twenty: Plaster and Wire, Pipe and Tile There were workers crawling all over the joint this past week. The father/son-in-law team of electricians, Miguel and Oscar, were pulling wire through the conduits buried in walls and ceilings. The finish plasters, Angel and Max and Jose Angel, were slapping on that fine, slippery mud that their backups were mixing fast as they could dance, upstairs and down. And Chimino, with what help he could find to clean and glue together pipe, was PVCing the bathrooms and the kitchen. After some pretty flat water, it was nice to be back in some "rapidos". We like that white water feeling where you just stay in the current avoiding major obstacles and go zipping downstream! The week ended on a longer-than-usual Saturday with the sub floor (called "firme") being poured on both levels of the house. The tile will be delivered sometime this coming week while various small "catch up" projects, odds and ends really, get done. And then....maybe even before next Saturday....they start to lay the tile. It's really starting to look and feel, both inside and out, like the house we wanted to build. And hope to live in happily for many years. Yeah!!! Week 20 Photos Jose Angel is plastering one of the last areas to be done. The left side, garage and outside entrance still need plastering. Angel has cemented the bricks around the window and is finishing it with plaster. Miguel, our electrician, is dealing with six different wires here. We don't know how he keeps where they go straight. If you remember the orange tubing that was placed in the "chipped away" wall and is now hidden by concrete, these wires are now being pulled through that tubing. Looking at the roof, you can see our "tenaco" laying on it's side. This will be on the roof and hold our back up water supply. If for some reason, the community pumps go out, we will have water by gravity feed. The kitchen and dining room have been completely cleaned out. The gas and water lines are embedded in the concrete on the floor. The next step will be to pour the floor (firme). This is the floor tile for the entire house. It is a "rustico" from Monterrey. The square opening in the wall from the dining room to the hallway has been formed into an arch. And this is the finished product. We are loving the spaces created by different openings and light. These are the pipes for the gray water in the master bath. Max is plastering the wall of the balcony off the master bedroom. return to top Week Nineteen: Progress, Not Perfection The plastering was SUPPOSED to be finished this week. It wasn't finished but we're close. Hopefully, it will be this coming week. Our front bedroom is full of stuff that Sharon has brought back from a second trip to Guadalajara. Now we're looking around for a big truck that might be taking bannanas or some other produce up to Guadalajara and could fill it up with furniture, tile, stove, etc. on the return trip. Soon, the subfloor will be going in and then the tile work starts. We asked Kriss if we would be finished on time (end of October) and he said he thought we could be "moved in". With maybe the pool and some work out front still unfinished! Week 19 Photos The trim around the windows has been started. Bricks were cemented to the wall of the house, flat side down. Then they are plastered over to create this framed look. This is the view from the second floor hallway window. We happened to have visitors this day. The wall around the balcony off the master bedroom has begun. This wall will be plastered and have a railing. The house from the side. The new balcony wall can be seen from here. Kriss is working hard in his shop, gluing, sanding, clamping. This is the door from the garage to the front yard. This is the door for the powder room with panels for the bedroom door beside it. Kriss will also make all the kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities. return to top Week Eighteen: Beams, Doors & Yet More Plaster The finish plastering continues, and continues and....while it continues, Kriss is starting to put primavera wood together....the beginnings of doors and cabinets. The palm beams which will serve as trellis for the 2nd floor terrace were delivered and are drying on site. All the floor tiles have been ordered and will be delievered the week they are needed. Tomorrow (Monday) Sharon heads back up to Ajijic and Guadalajara to, hopefully, finish most of the fixture, tile and furniture shopping. Chemino has promised that the plastering will be finished and the sub floor down for laying tile by the second week of September. A wise man ponders promises that don't have penalties attached. We shall see. Onwards into the foggy future! Week 18 Photos The window of the guest bedroom is finally the right size. Once this part of the house is plastered, none of the changes will be apparent. The entire front yard part of the house has been plastered. Here, 2 of the guys are posing in the guest room window. Almost...the entire rear of the house has been plastered. This is the upstairs, master bedroom on the left, terraza on the right. The outside back stairs have been cleared and cleaned. They will be plastered and painted and filled with flower pots. Here are the vigas (beams) cut from palm trees. They will be placed over the terraza as the backbone for the roof of flowering vines. Kriss has been busy cutting and gluing the primavera boards. Here are the beginnings of the door panels. return to top Week Seventeen: Getting Plastered Again?... Well, it turns out that FINISH coats of plaster are quite a bit more exciting than earlier coats. What would be even more exciting would be to see three teams (three plasters along with their backups) working on the walls and ceilings all together at ONE TIME. Mostly though it felt like we were back on track this past week. From where we are now, with just a bit of imagination, you can see the sub floor going in and the "concrete" phase of the construction winding down. Kriss is going to start up the wood phase (doors, cabinets, etc.) in his shop next week and Sharon will order the floor tile. Also next week, Sharon is headed back up to Ajijic to shop, order and buy more furniture, lights, a sink for the kitchen, faucets, maybe pool, bath and kitchen tile, an automatic garage door, etc. etc. We already ordered the vegas made from coconut palm trees for the terraza upstairs. You can't see the finish line from here but we're running solid on the back stretch. If you wanted to put a $2 bet on this pony, the odds to win (finish by the end of October) would be 2 to 1, maybe even 5 to 2. By Thanksgiving? Not a sure thing, but very high! Everybody thinks we're doing exceptionally well and, except for occasional fits of impatience, we do too. We are continually greatful that we chose Kriss as our builder and, except when we see him working next door on the bathroom addition that will end up taking a full month of energy away from our project, we're happy that Chemino (his real name is a formal "Maximiliano") is our maestro. So we're four months into our project now. The time has gone by exceptionally fast. If the next two months pass as quickly, we'll be making beds, filling cabinets with dishes and linens, closets with clothes and connecting DSL/WIFI/TV and phone lines before we know it. YEAH!!! Let the good times roll baby. Week 17 Photos Carlos is plastering the doorways. planks are held in place by bent rebar on both sides of the door opening and and a nice thin finish coat is laid in. Yikes! This is the floor of the guest room. The cement for each room is mixed on the floor of that room. Don't worry. All the floors will receive a subfloor and the tiles will be put on top of that. Tonio is putting the finish coat on the walls of the living room. This is a very fine mixture of cement and sand. Max follows after Tonio with a bucket of water and a sponge. This gives the wall a much smoother texture that will be painted with wonderful bright colors. The wall has been built in the upstairs hallway. There will be a chair here to take advantage of the view and the breeze. This is primavera wood. Kriss purchased it as logs and cut it in his workshop. It is now drying in his yard. Our future doors and cabinets. The pile of stuff Sharon brought home from Guadalajara. We are storing it in the second bedroom. If you look close, you"ll find sinks, fans, an on demand hot water heater y mas. The extra bricks have been added to the front wall. Jose and Pancho are busy plastering the front yard walls. return to top home.............. page 2.............. page 4.............. page 5.............. e-mail