Building & Decorating

Our Friends Marc & Stephanie are working with a Merida contractor / engineer by the name of Miguel Dbaz.

Marc had interviewed 6 contractors in his search for the right man to take on the building of his and Stephanie's mexican dream casa! He found many lacking the 'knowledge base' or the 'understanding' of Marc's vision.

Miguel came very highly recommended to Marc and Stephanie by the owner of Barlovento's (a local watering hole we all frequent on cruise ship days!). He mentioned to them that Miguel was an engineer as well as a contractor and had built many homes and industrial buildings in and around Progreso and Merida and had just recently completed in fact,a major renovation of his home.
Marc and Stephanie were intrigued enough to contact Miguel and speak to him about their plans.
Marc was impressed with Miguel's qualifications, but, Marc wanted to see for himself some of the homes that Miguel had built and renovated, and some of the industrial buildings as well.
Having seen all of this was a postive beginning for Marc, but, Marc wanted to assure himself that Miguel would understand what his vision was for their property and what some of his requirements were as well; Canadian and Mexican building standards, codes and basic requirements are quite different, and for someone like Marc, who as an electrician, has always followed only the safest practices on any job site, would have nothing but Canadian standards practiced, especially when it comes to electric (and plumbing).
Marc is an electrician with many years of experience and a 'Jack of all trades' who, like Mike Holmes, believes in doing it right the first time, and if you don't do it right the first time,then,YOU'D BETTER COME BACK AND MAKE IT RIGHT!

We've decided to hire Miguel as our contractor as well.
When Stephanie stayed with us for a month in Mexico, we had the opportunity to observe Miguel's work ethics and habits.
Being armed with a fairly good working knowledge of Spanish, I was able to interact with him quite often whenever my services were required as an 'interpreter' by Stephanie and my own hubby.
We feel confident that Miguel will prove himself to be an excellent contractor who will do his utmost best to satisfy our requirements!

Our plans for our home are fairly simple. It's not going to be a mansion, but, it will be comfortable and welcoming!

My plans for the interior of our Mexican home are already in my head, and will be in the beige and brown palette. I used those colours quite successfully in our condo, and I received many compliments. I find those colours soothing and calming, and that's exactly what I am looking for in my Mexican home as well.
The house itself isn't going to be very large as the lot is only 8 metres wide (26 ft.) by 20 metres deep (65 ft.).

The front of the house (where the kitchen will be), will measure 16.5 ft.wide, NOT very large, but, our plan is to have an outdoor kitchen as well, with an oven, a flat top cooking grill and of course, a large BBQ!
The dining area & livingroom will be 22.75 ft wide. An island will divide the kitchen from the livingroom and serve as a dining room / bar / serving counter and will be in the shape of a T with the 'stem' jutting out into the dining room.

~I don't know if you can tell, but this couch is made out of cement and so is the end table! The cement can be painted to match your room or the cushions! You are only limited by your own imagination! This couch was in our canadian neighbours livingroom and was VERY comfortable to sit on.~

The livingroom will be very comfortable with a U shaped CEMENT couch with a lot of throw cushions. There will be NO television in the livingroom, only the couch, a few really comfortable chairs and cubes that can serve as seating and as tables. French doors in the livingroom will open onto the patio / pool area. Beautiful, yet and functional, steel bamboo protectores will offer security, but still be esthetically matched to the room.
The main floor will house a large 3 piece bathroom / laundry room, which will also open onto the pool area so that bathers and guests won't have to trek through the house to get to the bathroom! The laundry room being off the pool area as well will be handy, so that all bathing towels, swim suits, etc., can be put into the wash right away and not be left out of doors.

My favourite room in the house, of course, is the master bedroom which will measure 26 ft. wide by 35 ft. long! It will feature a walk through closet, with the interior wall of the closet serving as the headboard of our bed! A 3 pc. ensuite bathroom will be on one side of the room and the other side of the room will be graced by the deepest soaking tub that I can have made, again in cement!
I discovered, before I left Mexico, an artist, for that is all I can call the man, who can re-create marble with polished cement, and, who will incorporate whatever colours you want! I can already invision chocolate brown with veins of gold and copper runnning thru it! Mmmm! very rich looking!! I'm hoping that as an engineer, Miguel can figure out a way that the area above the tub can be open to the sky somehow! I'm hoping that I can have a section above the tub to be done all in glass blocks to allow the sun to shine in and to add light to the room as well!
I haven't decided yet whether I will hang some art pieces above our bed or whether I will have an artist come in to do something special in the way of a mural, possibly of mayan lovers embracing! I have SO MANY ideas!
Our home, as I mentioned, will be done in shades of the desert, browns, beiges, golds and bronzes and coppers.

The main theme will be Aztec/Mayan, with complimenting art pieces scattered throughout both the house and the pool area & garden areas.
I'm planning on having glass blocks put in the ceiling in our walk through closet so that there is no need to have more than one light put in. Our rental home in Chicxulub had just a single large glass block in the ceiling of the closet, and often I would go to turn off the light, thinking that one of us had left it on, only to discover that the light was coming in through the glass block. Imagine how much light could come in from having 5 or 6 in the ceiling of our closet! It's a very clever use of glass, and very energy efficient as well!

I would like to use as many glass blocks as I can throughout the house to allow for natural light to flood the house. They come in various colours, clear (of course) opaque, frosted, blue, smoky, and a lighter version of what I can only describe as 'beer bottle brown'!
Our 'boudoir' will also house an entertainment center (television, dvd, sattelite, and a stereo system which we plan to have wired throughout the house, pool area as well.)

Mexico is a whole other plane of existence for me. I feel completely relaxed and don't feel stressed like I do at home in Canada!
I can't wait to get out there and start 'Living the Dream'!
!Hasta Pronto!~
Sue