I'm just cranking out the posts today! I want to show the house as it is now. It's a lot cleaner and easier to see for one thing, most of the debris is gone although there are still a dozen or so bags in the garage. The cave has been covered up and sits under the bags of escombro.

I was overwhelmed at how large it seems now that it is empty. I'm sure it will seem more normal sized once there is furniture in it but for now, seeing it without all the equipment and debris, it seems huge.

I'm really in love with it. The light is incredible, the flowing levels, the tiles, the shape of the kitchen hood.

This is light spilling down from one of the skylights in the office. Each corner of the room has one and the way the light washes the walls is great. Not so great is my ability to take a picture of it.

We finally seem to have decided what to do with that closed off doorway in the office, you can see the bump out in the picture. It is so that a full sized car will fit in the garage which was converted from a bedroom by previous owners. We thought of removing it, but it is really convenient. We thought of just making it a little smaller, a lot of work for little change. I think now it will have concrete shelves on either side, the top part will become a niche for art or a statue and the rest of the wall will also have places to display things as well as an area that can function as a desk.

The master bedroom tiles and floor are done, I like the green version we picked of the downstairs tiles. I didn't get a good picture but there are areas in the terrace and the counters, showers and bench in both baths will be crema maya a nice stone that comes from the Yucatan.

We walked around with the electrician and architect and checked that there are plugs where we want them, fans and chandeliers and light fixtures and where the switches are to control them. We changed some things and didn't change some others but for the most part it was done as I expected and as our last walk through had specified. I'm really pleased with Henry and his crew, they anticipate so many things and the work I see is excellent.

Mimi crawled around in the pool pump area under the stairs, tight but doable. I noticed that there wasn't a drain in there. When you open the filter, water comes out and I don't want it staying under the stairs for mosquitoes to breed in. They are putting in a drain. We were pleased to see that the pump sits in a well that is below the water level of the pool. This we asked for on the advice of our friend's Tom and Debbie as it keeps the pump primed through power outages.

A lot of work is going on off site now, the doors are all gone to the door maker. He will refinish the old ones, add hardware or repair it, and he is making new doors for the upstairs. The ironwork guy is making the window grills and railings at his shop. The glass guys are making the windows and inserts. The cabinet maker is starting on the cabinets next week.

At the house, more plumbing is being done. The solar heater for the pool is going on the roof. The water filtration and pressure system is going in, the tinaco is being delivered and mounted. The spillway and filter for the inside pond is being made, they are using part of the skimmer I brought down but not all of it as it doesn't fit right. Instead they will make part of it from concrete.

The next big change is they are going to start work on the front of the house soon. That's going to be exciting to see. The front door and garage door will be opened back up to their original height. The 1950's tiles will come off the front, new trim will go on, the plaque we had made that says Casa Ixchel and has a relief of the Mayan goddess Ixchel will go on the front along with the house number.

Oh, I forgot to add, in the last picture the guy up on the scaffold is cutting through the rock wall for 2 more round windows between the hall and the living room. When they opened up the original ones on the outside wall of the living room, they found very old round metal frames, perhaps wheels. They kept them but they are much smaller than we anticipated so they are opening 2 larger circles to the hall for more light. I love how they just get up there and start picking the stone out when they want a hole. I should have gotten a picture of that. One nice touch is that through the small windows on the far side, you can see the blooms of the neighbors huge bougainvillea perfectly framed.