A Productive Month in Spain

We’ve been in Spain for over three weeks now and I’m really growing to like it here. The view is so fantastic and the sunrises are exceptional. The sunsets aren’t too bad either, but I’m so busy by that time of day, I often miss them. But I enjoy my morning coffee alone (while Theo still sleeps), overlooking the Mediterranean—a dream come true.

Remember, we bought the house furnished. Now that it’s time to start on the renovations, we are regretting that decision a bit, as it’s been a lot of work to get even just the books out. There were well over 1,000 books left behind by the sellers—beautiful hardbound books—all in German. So we boxed them up and donated them to a dog rescue that sells them for a great cause. And, most importantly, they come to your house for pick up. We have ordered another visit from them this week to pick up the better pieces of furniture, art, lamps, and tons of stuff from the kitchen.

A small portion of the kitchen stuff I am parting with!

Bye bye kitchen!

Speaking of which, everyone told me it couldn’t be done…selling a 16-year-old kitchen (albeit, a SIEMENS kitchen, as the seller reminded us not less than 15 times!), but I managed to sell it outright! A lady came to look at The Beast (see previous post), but it was not the right color for her. So half jokingly, I asked, “How ‘bout a kitchen?” She mentioned they had just closed on a house after renting here for 12 years and they most certainly needed a new kitchen. Well, I quickly measured up all the components and they went to their new house to see if it could work. And it did! Sold the whole thing, including appliances!!! She has hired someone to come and remove it later this week, right before we return to France. And with the kitchen gone, the contractor plans to tear out the wall to expand the space the week after. So here we go! We’re off to the races.

The space left after the Beast was picked up.

As far as the rest of the stuff, I sold the big leather ‘walrus’seating pieces the through our local community Facebook group to a neighbor. And sold the ‘Beast’ of a buffet to a Spanish lady through FB Marketplace. The rest of the furniture we donated to the local church to be distributed to the needy.

Since we need to return to France for a few weeks in November, we have picked out the new floor tile, so they can get going with that project. I did a 180° on it—I had planned to use the wood-look tile to give the house a warm, traditional feel. But after looking at umpteen million samples, I only liked the brand new, very expensive type. Of course! And the price was WAY crazy!

New floor tile selection.

So back to the tile shop I went and found something that was quite attractive. A large-scale (45 x 90 cm) matte-finish stone-look porcelain tile. More modern, which makes Theo very happy, and when we brought the huge sample home, we both loved it. Bingo! And at one-fifth the price, it was a done deal.

Theo and Alfie ‘enjoying’ the last night in the smelly blue velvet vibrating massage chairs. Hate to see them go. Not!

And so my work is cut out for me. I found my design inspiration a few months ago, but now is the time to make it a reality and find actual products to fit the images I have in my head. And so this trip has been a daily designmania for me, grinding away at the floor plan, picking plumbing and light fixtures, adjusting the tile layouts, and finalizing the electrical plan. Etc., etc…

Got a tip about a local kitchen builder and decided to go with him instead of Häcker. Options were better, service was better, prices were better, and we’re giving business to two brothers instead of an international conglomerate. That always feels good. The language difference is again a challenge on this project, but somewhere between our French, English, and Spanish (and thank goodness for drawings), we’re getting what we want [fingers crossed.]

About half way through our time here, our dear Alfie got very ill. We were afraid we were going to lose him. He is, after all, almost 15 years old, has an enlarged heart and occasional water in his lungs. But our friends here referred us to a great vet that rehydrated him, injected some antibiotics and vitamins, and got him on probiotics to grow good bacteria in his gut, as he had stopped eating and had ferocious diarrhea. Two days later, his eyes were sparkling, he started eating like a bear, his stool was normal, and he had energy like the old days. Whew! He is on medication for the rest of his life, but we are so glad to have our little guy back to normal.

We made this 3-tiered path to the sofa for Alfie.

And lastly, we celebrated Theo’s 70th birthday here on the Costa Blanca. Not the big whopping party we threw for his 60th, but a nice night out at the harbor in Denia. And, of course, us giving thanks that we can have this great second property to enjoy.

Theo with Alfie, his “little boy in a doggie suit.”