A Turning Point

For the past three months the children’s nursery rhyme “Humpty Dumpty” has been running on an occasional loop in my brain. Can it really be put back together again?

Scott and I signed the Promissory Contract (sales agreement) for our villa in Vestiaria, Portugal in July 2022, and had full ownership and keys in late December 2022. We knew from the moment we stepped into the villa that some renovations were clearly needed. Our original assessment included a kitchen refresh, remodel of the primary bathroom, interior and exterior paint, and some landscaping. But, as depicted in every single episode of “This Old House,” renovations on a 100+ year old house tends to expand as the work commences. The flooring in the main bedroom area needed to be replaced. When the concrete sub-flooring was exposed, it was determined it was unsuitable for laying tile, so repairs were needed. The door jams for the first-floor interior doors were rotting at the floor level requiring new ones to be made. The exterior and some interior walls needed to be repaired and re-plastered.

The more time we spent in the villa the more ideas started forming for changes that would make the living space more comfortable. So, we decided to launch into a more extensive project than initially planned. The kitchen became a complete gut job, including removing a wall, doorway, and floor tile in the main entryway. We decided to combine two small back-to-back bathrooms into one ensuite bathroom that adjoins the primary bedroom. Gutters have been installed; new lighting selected; appliances ordered; new kitchen cabinets, an island, and countertops have been designed and are in process of being built; construction of a new bathroom cabinet for the primary bathroom and lighted mirrors for all of bathrooms is underway. And of course, all of this required new plumbing and electrical lines to be run.

We are fortunate to have the services of Portugal the Place, a relocation destination company located in Alcobaça, who helped us secure the various tradespeople needed for the project. Our decision to hire a designer to help with the kitchen and bath design, although not included in our original budget, ended up being a good decision as she has been a tremendous help in communicating the finer details of the project to the other contractors. Over the past few months, we have experienced many animated conversations where our designer and four or five contractors are all talking at the same time, arms waiving, heads shaking, a lot of pointing, and then our designer turns to us and says, “It’s OK Scott and Diane, don’t worry! All is good!

The original kitchen! Although the cabinets were wood, and the tile was in good shape, the design and space for modern appliances was not functional. A lot of discussion was needed on the best way to "break" the wall and doorway coming into the house.

Breaking Walls

During the early phase of the project, we quickly learned that construction terms, materials, and timelines are very different than what we are familiar with in the States. Walls are not removed, they are “broken.” The term makes perfect sense given the terra cotta bricks, concrete, and plaster used to build walls. Little to no wood or sheetrock is used in home construction…at least not when this 100+ year old villa was built! Walls and flooring are broken using jackhammers and sledgehammers, creating waves of dust and dirt that gets everywhere.¹

The floor in both bathrooms was removed in preparation for installation of a new floor. The wall separating two bathrooms was removed to create a more "American Size" primary bathroom.

Signs of Progress

We visit the villa daily to be available to the contractors and to watch the progress being made. Every day we discover something that has been worked on. A new vent hole was drilled; tracks were made in the walls to run electrical wires and plumbing; new concrete was mixed onsite and applied by hand; and the walls in the upstairs rooms are prepared for the final coat of paint. The good weather over the past few weeks has enabled the painters to start the exterior painting.

The space on the left will eventually be our ensuite bathroom. The picture on the right shows the tracks in the walls that were chisled out to provide space to run the electrical and plumbing lines in the kitchen.

Before and After Exterior Paint!

When Can We Move In?

We have arrived at the “Turning Point” in the renovation project as the demolition work is finished, and we see signs that Humpty Dumpty can be put back together! But the date we can move into the villa is yet to be determined. Based on the progress so far and the estimates provided by our various contractors, we are holding out hope that most of the work can be completed by the end of April with a move in date sometime mid-May.

As they say in Portugal, “Pouco a Pouco!”²

1. Note to my family: The contractors and the work being done reminds me so much of Shorty Thomas, Crawford Ewen, and Dad transforming 640 Yoder Street from the initial cinderblock house to our growing up house.

2. Pouco a Pouco translates to “Little by Little.” It’s a phrase used frequently to describe incremental and steady progress.