More house updates, are you sick of this house yet?

The exciting change this week is they have torn off the front of the house! Next they will break out the doors to the original height, they had been bricked in and were originally about a third higher.

There was a tile Virgen de Guadalupe on the front that someone had painted over.

They cleaned her up and saved the tiles and we will put her in a favored spot so she sees the sun again. I asked about why anyone would do something so disrespectful and the guys said it must have been an evangelical. Then they spit. My sentiment exactly.

They also tore out the concrete shelf they had built on the patio outside the master bedroom. I agonized about this and had Henry come over and help me decide. I really wanted more light below over the indoor pond. I have visions of orchids blooming there and didn't think there was enough light. Henry's point was that without the shelf, rain would come in and get on the hall floor. Well, it's just water and it isn't cold and I can squeegie it into the drain... I decided light was more important.

This is a pic of one end after they tore out the shelf above. If you look back to the last blog entry you can see the amount of natural light at the far end, I used the flash in that picture so the closest part of the wall is not natural light.

I think it was a good decision, ask me again after a torrential tropical downpour :)

Henry has an incredible eye and he is a perfectionist. A few weeks ago, he looked at the completed guest bathroom and didn't like the way the walls looked. He had them tear it all out and redo it.

He said they had used sand from different loads and it created a color difference. Once he pointed it out, we could see it but we didn't really notice it before. He also thought that crew had too many tiny cracks on the finish and that they hadn't kept it wet enough while it was curing.

This is with about half of it torn out, they took all of the walls down to the initial concrete covering the block.

So, after making them tear everything out, he brought in another crew to redo it, what an insult! They were all working away very diligently and without the usual banter, I think he scared them all. He also sent me an email to make sure I understood that there would be no charge for the additional work!

Have I told you internet, what a fantastic architect he is? I love him as a person as well, I consider him a friend now. His work ethic and his honesty and attention to detail is something I forget to mention. He has a design sense that is incredible and that style tends to be what everyone notices, there is a lot of integrity behind it though.

This has been the most incredible journey in renovating this house, I've enjoyed it in ways I never did when doing other renovations in the US. A big part of that is the confidence I have in Henry.