The Murano antique

No, I am not from Murano myself, thank you very much! It's now time for the fun things to start. We hung the aquamarine glass chandelier I purchased almost a couple of years ago for the house from a local antiques shop. The wiring is not yet in but it already looks fabulous.

Bathroom light

Have been on the lookout for the right light shade for the bathroom and think I might have found the one. It's Zara Home's January lantern. I wonder if the Sliema branch in Malta stock it. I'll have to call them tomorrow.

The kitchen pod

The kitchen had been lying in dad's garage for far too long. Now that the doors and windows were in, the kitchen could finally be fitted in. To start off with we insulated the kitchen from the stone wall using boards that can take humidity (Maltese stone tends to retain moisture within it). This had to be taken off again and re-applied as I had made some miscalculations with were electrical outputs ought to be. This time dad and I decided to do it ourselves as we would have been charged extra otherwise.



Kitchen was taken out of its flatpack packaging and assembled by two guys from Aplan and we found out there was one missing part. I phoned the company that has transported the kitchen from Germany and their guy came over to have a look. The part should be coming in with their next order.



Gennaro (yes, you guessed it, he IS from Naples) came over to build the gypsum structure for the pod I designed for the kitchen. It does make a substantial difference to the look and feel of the kitchen, even now in its unfinished state. It's looking good already.

The Hanex surface I have ordered is from a company called Seamless. They promised they'd install it for me before the end of the month

Metal spiral staircase

I set out to design a spiral staircase that could be equally contemporary and classic, above all one that was comfortable and free from any additional decoration. The white metal part is already in and the carpenter has come in to measure the chunky wooden parts that go on the surface of the steps and on the frame of the balcony that extends from the room upstairs. The white structure looks so light that I am tempted to not add the dark wood I designed in the first place but, on second thoughts, the wood will add contrast and warmth to the whole thing.



It was a bugger getting the extremely heavy thing into the house as no aperture was wide enough. The staircase had to be lifted by crane and slowly rotated through the aperture by several men all yelling out instructions. Some damage was done to the gipsum walls which will need to be fixed at a later stage, but on the whole, the thing went smoothly.

Sky on the big screen

The double glazed ceiling to cover the 3 x 3 meter courtyard has arrived. Getting the frame right took a couple of days to assemble and finally the heavy glass was taken out of its wooden packaging and carried carefully by 5 workmen, watched by one nervous owner. It's great to watch the clouds scuttle across the sky through the glass. What's even better is staying dry when stepping into the courtyard on a rainy day.

Apertures

This week, the carpenter promised the apertures will be fitted in and the house can finally start getting cleaned up. Kitchen and bathroom can then be safely installed. I cannot risk a similar incident happening as happened recently, so security is one issue I'm keen on.

We had the usual end of August torrential rain this week and thankfully I was there to keep the water from making its way into the hall downstairs. The glass ceiling for the courtyard is nowhere in sight and so I have asked the supplier to fit in a temporary plastic one until the real one arrives from Germany. That should take care of any other showers.

I also checked the roof after the downpour and noticed a small puddle had appeared by the door of the roof garden. The tiler has been asked to come again and take out two/four of the tiles and lay them again so that no water puddle remains.

Unfortunate incident

I was not sure I wanted to write about this as it was not exactly a highlight in the doing up of this wonderful house, but it is still part and parcel of my experience. I have decided to just provide the link to what has been reported today in the local newspaper. What I would like to add is that the number of hours dedicated to removing the damage has been rather cathartic and I feel much better for it.

Sona si Latine loqueris

The Pietra Santa marble with the latin inscription UBI DUBIUM IBI LIBERTAS has just been fitted above the doors to the garden roof yesterday. I wonder whether the inscription is visible from the Domenicans across the street. The Domenicans were the ones assigned to be inquisitors for the Vatican, the ones that policed the faith and who convicted heretics. Vescere bracis meis, Domenicans.

In lieu of green and other colours

The 3 x 3 meter courtyard with its double glazed reinforced glass roof could do with some lovely plants and a climber that could conceivably even flower in summer. To achieve this, we created a planter, reinforced it with a concrete bottom and waterproofed it so that we can rest assured we don't get any complaints of damp walls from neighbours. All we need to do now is to cap the retainer wall with a specially carved topping and fill it with soil, making sure the bed is filled with stones so that water does not clog the soil. Automatic watering is also planned.

Insulated walls

After making sure all roofs were well insulated, we also wanted to insulate the walls of the room on top as they are the ones that get most sun. The room's ample height already insures the hot air stays at the top and does not affect the quality of life below, so further insulation can only make it more comfortable. All apertures to the outside will have double glazing and some will also have louvered shutters on the outside.



The wall insulation is placed underneath the metal structure that holds the plaster boards. The amount of space that has been taken for the layers needed is well worth it when one considers the savings in energy consumption in the long run.

I've got you hooked

My mother in law gave me a book by Suzanna Clarke for my birthday last June. "A House in Fez" is about building a house in Morocco and, in many ways, I have greatly empathised with the misadventures that Clarke finds herself in when dealing with decorators. She writes how a carpenter worked on her house for one day and then left to continue on somebody else's, making it difficult for Suzanna to get another to continue the work, thus making sure he had as many jobs assured as possible. I sympathize in that my tiler laid one terrace last Monday and disappeared into thin air.

The importance of being earnest

When most of your enthusiasm has been anaesthetized by the never ending challenges thrown at you, the only thing that keeps you going is the fact you've told all your friends about your project already. The prospect of going back empty handed is enough to keep you earnest.

Twice a day, every day I visit the site. Why twice? Because it's worth it. Issues need to be nipped in the bud. A day can be a long enough time to incur extra time. Some things might seem pretty obvious but a worker can't know what's in your mind. The water pipe leading down to the tap on the roof needed to be embedded in the wall. The workers had embedded the horizontal part but had left the vertical part showing. It seemed like a pretty obvious thing to me but not to them.


before

after

It was only after the old balustrades were taken out and replaced by new ones of the same design (the old ones were beyond saving) was it evident that we would need to replace both the base plinth and the top coping as well. While we're at it, perhaps we should take out the stone steps and replace the soil underneath for a stronger support. And the budget keeps on stretching!


balustrades don't look quite right

A silver roof

One early morning
I climb up the stairs
to taste the dew.

The roof has turned silver.
A magic offering bestow the stars,
sprinkled generously
on our home.


Heat reflecting aluminium paint applied to roof. So 70's Disco, isn't it?

Things are moving... finally.

Apologies for having been scarce with the news. Work on the house seemed to proceed so slowly that I did not feel there was anything worth writing about. Here is a summary of the works you missed out on.




Insulation: The roofs have all been taken apart, leaving just the stone slabs (xorok) on top of the wooden beams. A new layer of filler material is then applied on top. This is where insulation comes in. Seven centemetre plus thick polystyrene was placed on top of this with every little space filled in so that very little heat escapes or, in this case, little heat enters the house.



A specialist company then applied the screed, pumped up from a contraption down in the road. For many of these jobs, we had to apply for a council permit to block the narrow road.




We have had various issues related to the pointing. The specialist product that had first been suggested by the architect was suddenly no longer available but we had already used it to point a large area of the main room and the courtyard. The importer gave us a substitute which he claimed to be the same colour-wise. The decorators went on applying it to a considerably big area. Only when it eventually dried, did I notice the colour was much colder and greyer than the previous one. This time we took no chances and tried out various colour variations on small sample areas. We waited for them to dry and chose the one.

We then had to chip the old pointing out again before applying the new one. It's frustrating to think about the amount of time that has been lost in doing the same work more than once.




A dark oak stain has been applied to the new beams so that they are similar in colour to the old ones in the house.

I am resigned to the fact that I shall be spending August here in Malta. Just last week I have just been to the UK on a spending spree for the house. I miss our home back in Reading. I enjoyed the little quality time I managed to steal with Mike and family. Now that work seems to be moving at a faster rate, can't wait to see it transformed.

Suburban storytelling

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I have been looking around for creative and innovative ways to market La Indulgenza even though the finished product is for the most part still on paper. A couple of weeks ago I was asked to take over a blog promoting Maltese culture. With an established average of 100 visits daily, this was an opportunity I could not pass up.

What if I created a story, a tale that takes place in Vittoriosa itself? The primary and most crucial part of the sell is the location, before one even starts thinking of marketing the house itself. Better still, why not have the main character live in the house itself? Involve local landmarks, familiar streets and places and you could eventually even get some tourism spin-off. Well, the story has to entice and enthuse before all of this happens but, in the meantime, I shall enjoy spinning the story and getting lost in the plot with its characters.

Ladies and gentlemen, and those undecided, I present to you the first episode of the serial Borgo. Enjoy
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gathering clouds

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All the gods are scheming. Call them challenges, problems, barriers, they're all flippin annoying and they're all out to get me. Paranoid, moi'? You would not believe the obstacles I've had to tackle. Aaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhhhhhhhh!! A weekend to mull things over and we'll deal with the issue as soon as I can think straight.
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For your eyes only

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It is easy to feel disheartened at this stage. There is so much that seems to go wrong. This week the weather conspired against us closing off the roof so we have placed our attention elsewhere. I had objected to the way a wall had been constructed and it has now been dismantled and is in the process of being rebuilt in the correct manner.



In the meantime, to whet your appetite here is one of the individual pieces of furniture exclusively designed for the house. It is being manufactured as we speak. This closet will be finished in white lacquer on the outside. Inside it will have a richly coloured pattern to contrast with the white outside. The voluptuous legs are all different, a little bit in the style of Jaime Hayon's Multileg Cabinet Showtime.

The idea of a white exterior hiding a richly coloured interior will be extended to other parts of the house. One of the doors in the house, a thick solid wooden door with a small window in the shape of a key hole will take you down a dark spiral staircase into a tiny "secret" room with a floor to ceiling library.

Since the theme of the house is subtly linked to the Inquisition and the Inquisitor's Palace (a stone's throw from the house), I wanted to create something where wealth of knowledge is hidden away from the disapproving eye of authority. In time I want to fashion other "secret" corners for inquisitive guests to discover.

Myself, I'm fascinated by boxes and other containers for this reason. Oh yes, as most of my women friends will no doubt tell you, also to never leave a handbag unattended in my presence. It's the fatal temptation as far as I'm concerned. It's there to be opened, unwrapped, revealed!
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Emerging shape

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I was very excited this morning because finally I was about to see the new shape of the house be revealed. Once most of the living room upstairs was ready, part of the roof and wall of the dining room was to be pulled down so that the two rooms could link. In the existing and proposed cross section drawings below, you'll hopefully be able to make sense of what I'm trying to explain.



Above is how the place used to look if sliced right through (yes, the previous owners were planning to have a cafeteria in the building)



Now, from the dining room you can look up into the living room making it more open plan and bringing in more light from upstairs.



This week work will go on in finishing the roof of the room upstairs. In the meantime, hopefully Mr Contractor is having his well earned rest so that he can deal with all the challenges the house and I throw at him next week.
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Mike woz here

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Mike was here just before Easter so we rented a car and managed to get some air as well as check out what work had been done so far on the house. We also walked around Vittoriosa on a Saturday. One of the oldest buildings in Vittoriosa - the Norman house in Triq it-Tramuntana (North Street) was open and we met the nice gentleman that meticulously restored the house and is in the process of restoring the house next door to it. We asked if he'd like to have a look at La Indulgenza and the marine graffiti we found in the chapel room. He said he'll gladly come by on a Saturday.



We also found the opportunity to have a peek at the Piano Nobile (first floor) of the residence of the village band in the main square. I mentioned this in an earlier blog entry. Unfortunately most of the walls of the house were covered to create the ambience for a Holy Week exhibition but the music room with it's balcony that gives unto the main square was there for us to ogle.



Work has finally started on the roof. I was in for a shock yesterday when I visited the site after the workers had left. I looked up and noticed all the "xorok" (ceiling stones) were misaligned. I called the contractor, knowing fair well that he was leaving for Sicily this morning. He explained that the hand cut "xorok" of the period are never straight. He asked me to have a look at the ceilings in the other rooms. They were all haphazardly shaped but seemed to fit in like a jigsaw puzzle. The absence of pointing in the newly laid ceiling upstairs made it more conspicuous. This morning the mason explained the techniques used to avoid any cracks appearing once movement occurs with temperature changes. Can't say it's not a steep learning curve I'm faced with.


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Of stones and races

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Again, not much to report on. Building of rooftop room is going ahead, using old stone. We discussed with the architect the possibility of colouring the newer stone so that it blends in with the rest. It is a possibility, but the colour will darken after a few years anyway it seems so it might not be at all necessary. You can now see clearly the 2 apertures that give unto what will be the rooftop/terrace garden.

I must have missed the Regatta (boat racing) on Freedom Day (that's from us British) on 31 March. Vittoriosa must have been victorious again because their trophies were proudly displayed in the main square yesterday.

St Lawrence's

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This morning I thought I'd wander down to Victory square for a coffee after my daily visit to the house. There isn't much I can report back about the works: The delivery of the recycled building stone did not turn up and the contractor had to make other plans. The workmen used up the stone we had and left off to pick up the structure for the bathroom's concrete floor so as to have something to do if stone delivery does not turn up this afternoon.


the street down from the square

It being close to Good Friday, the band club in the square have already started putting up the decorations related to the holy week. I walked down some steps and the paved road that leads from the square towards the water front and noticed some tourists walking out of a relatively modest looking church.

The church turned out to be the Collegiate Church of St Lawrence, one of the most historically venerated churches in Malta. The original building was built on its site in 1090 and the Knights adopted it as their first conventual church in 1530 after enlarging it. It contained many treasures the Knights brought over from Rhodes when, two years later, it was badly damaged in a fire. The present church is that which was built by Lorenzo Gafa' in the 17th century.


The pulpit

Inside I met a wonderful 72 year old volunteer who told me of the town's well known expertise in wood furniture and intarsjar (inlaid wood). He proudly showed me the amazing pulpit in the church as a prime example of such work.


A Mattia Preti

He insisted I have a closer look at the Mattia Preti painting above the altar. It depicts the martyrdom of St Lawrence. Lawrence is said to have been martyred on a gridiron. An interesting anecdote is that during his torture Lawrence cried out "Assum est, inquit, versa et manduca." (This side’s done, turn me over and have a bite). Christians' dark sense of humour never escapes them, it seems!


Spanish statue of Veronica (17th Century)

But what really intrigued me were the wooden sculptures, some imported from Spain and some sculpted by Maltese artists. They represent the different stages of Jesus' Passion. Some are rather gruesome and in normal circumstances (outside of a church) would require parental guidance.


The dead Jesus

The statue of the dead Christ is housed in an old hearse originally used for the funerals of prominent people during the time of the Order of St John. In 1793 Frangisku Demajo sponsored its redecoration with silver a martello.


Ganutell on top of the hearse decorated with hammered silver

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A call to preserve beauty

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Those of you who know how long it takes in the morning to look decent enough to face the world, understand the call for preservation and enhancement of the beauty of the Three Cities. An exhibition is currently being held at the Malta Maritime Museum on the Vittoriosa Marina to create a further awareness of the need to preserve the cities that overlook the Grand Harbour. Eve of a Renaissance hosts a selection of 40 artworks and will be in aid of Flimkien Ghal Ambjent Ahjar. I feel good about doing my small part with the restoration of this historical house within the Collacchio area of Birgu.

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Timing

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It all happens to our Frank it seems. Let's be frank, my much loved mason has not had the best of luck lately. Yesterday he hurt his leg and had to go to hospital. Thanks to our contractor's immediate response, this morning we have another team working on site. They are currently proceeding with the construction of the room upstairs.



In the meantime, we have had to find temporary storage space for the bathroom and rooftop tiles. I did try to time orders, but we are lagging slightly behind with work so orders have started trickling in before we are ready for them. Thankfully both the contractor and my dad have kindly offered to store things for us.

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