You might be wondering what's been keeping me busy and away from blogging the last few weeks.
We decided to renovate the bathroom, something we've been planning to do for a long time. Because summers were always busy and the winters we passed in Amsterdam. Up until then we tried to look through the horrible green tiles, ignoring the old toilet and sink as much as we could and pretended it didn't matter that we had to jump into the tub to take a shower while being closed up in a hidious box with decorated glass. Also we had this small extra room with a 'hole in the floor' toilet wich we never used (below with pink tiles).
We decided to renovate the bathroom, something we've been planning to do for a long time. Because summers were always busy and the winters we passed in Amsterdam. Up until then we tried to look through the horrible green tiles, ignoring the old toilet and sink as much as we could and pretended it didn't matter that we had to jump into the tub to take a shower while being closed up in a hidious box with decorated glass. Also we had this small extra room with a 'hole in the floor' toilet wich we never used (below with pink tiles).
But no more. So we decided to roll up our sleeves and get rid of it all. We got help from Levent, B's younger brother who manages a villa project for a construction company in the back hills of Alanya. He brought he's men over and they started to drill and hammer and destroy the room the best they could. It felt sooo good to see those ugly tiles come off the walls and everything being removed within one afternoon.
In that first week we were pretty optimistic. One more week and we would be done, we thought. Meanwhile B was staying at his parents home and I became Elif's room mate for a while. But then, somehow, everything went backwards and I could swear the project was jinxed. The wrong tiles arrived, one order didn't come through so we were waiting for nothing, one Usta (constructor) got ill another one didn't get allowance from his chef to leave the construction site, our neighbours downstairs complained about a leakage caused by the drilling, the bath tub was wrong, etc. Two weeks turned into three and three weeks into four. Meanwhile the house was a complete mess, covered in dust and debris.
In that first week we were pretty optimistic. One more week and we would be done, we thought. Meanwhile B was staying at his parents home and I became Elif's room mate for a while. But then, somehow, everything went backwards and I could swear the project was jinxed. The wrong tiles arrived, one order didn't come through so we were waiting for nothing, one Usta (constructor) got ill another one didn't get allowance from his chef to leave the construction site, our neighbours downstairs complained about a leakage caused by the drilling, the bath tub was wrong, etc. Two weeks turned into three and three weeks into four. Meanwhile the house was a complete mess, covered in dust and debris.
Our patience was heavily tested. But we kept cool as much as we could. And serving tea, lots of it. I repeted my mantra whenever I felt we were on the edge of dispair: it's gonna be worth it! But from time to time B opposed with saying: actually the green was fine too, it wasn't that bad.
We moved back in a week ago. I spent three days on cleaning and organizing, with some help from sweet Elif. There's no way I would have gotten through this without B being the calm and cool man that he is and Elif's support, our crazy laughs and her home cooked dinners at the end of days. Now we really love the results and every time I enter the room in the morning I'm thinking: this was so worth it.
These pictures only show the work in progress. There are still some details we need to take care of so the final result will follow in another post.
Before
Work
After
Before
After (not completely finished yet)
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