The Who, the What, the House

When my great grandfather Ioanni hand built the house is 1888, the ground floor had two stables and α courtyard with a stone arch leading out to a garden. The front door from the road opens to these stables and also a stone staircase that winds up past the outhouse to the second floor. On the second floor, which are the living quarters, there were two bedrooms, a grande salon, a petite salon, a kichen, a front balcony and a back balcony.














My grandfather Favies built the dovecoat and plumbed the house. Between the petite salon and the kitchen they built a fake wall and that had a toilet and a sink. To take a bath you still had to step into a small cooking tub in the kitchen and have water put over you. The water from the kitchen sink led out to a trough that watered the garden.











My Dad put in a garage, a modern bathroom and kitchen, two really nice wall air conditioners and continues the regular upkeep on the house. For the past couple of days, Alket has been helping Dad spruce up the house. Alket has been whitewashing the exterior. Dad has been painting the exterior wooden shutters and frames. The house is so white now that the glare from the sun almost hurts your eyes. The shutters are so blue that they absorb the heat and soothe the ferocity of the sun.









But the renovations are never at an end. The kitchen still needs a countertop that we're waiting on. There are stones stacked up outside for paving the front and back balconies but first Dad wants to expand the back balcony and grow a grapevine canopy over one section for afternoon shade. I believe those plans have already been discussed with Donado, our favorite builder, and are slated to begin over the winter months.

My great grandfather Ioanni built a strong foundation and left something for all of us to build on.