Saturday, May 3, 2014

The Construction of our House

They say Rome wasn't built in a day, and whoever has had workers around their living space for a long time, might actually appreciate the heaviness of those words. Of course, comparing our house to the eternal city, doesn't really hold any water, but when you see what was there before it, you will know why I chose those words.

I took these images over the course of a couple of months. I wanted to document the building of the side-kick house, as I call it, since our main house was built much earlier. There are many more images from this time period, but I only selected a few to show you.

click on the images for a bigger view 

This is the finished house as it looks now. I have shown it to you before, and I'm showing it again here, because I want to make a contrast between it and the structure that was there before in the next image.


This is what was there before. This old house was destroyed in World War II and deteriorated over the years. It had a very unfortunate position, between the other houses, and the owners had a hard time selling it to someone.


After we purchased the lot, our wall on the left side in this image had to be taken down, and the cleaning process began.


The remains were destroyed and bit by bit the stone was taken away.


It was a grueling process, since parts of the old house were "glued" to the neighboring house. Great attention had to be payed, but after a couple of days, everything was cleaned up.


Then the rest of the old walls were taken down, including our own walls, that had to be repositioned once everything was built.


A glimpse into our old garden. Beni was of course there during every step of the way. :) In truth, we had to be extra careful with him, since the walls were down and he could roam freely, and also run away, which he didn't of course.



The views for the next couple of weeks were grey and dirty. Not a pretty sight at all...


...even from the inside...


Eventually construction on the house started, and it was build rather quickly. We had a great team of workers and architects that worked full time, 6 days in the week. The construct of the house was build over the period of a month.



The roof was a extra detail we came up with. In order to have a sense of privacy, a steep roof was constructed, that shields the garden from the other houses around  us.


You can see that better in this shot.



Eventually the two houses looked at each other, and the long process of the exterior works began.




Looking back at it (and maybe for you too) it was a big and dirty process with so many decisions to be made.


Eventually the house was built, windows and doors put and, an the facade was painted and we could finally focus on the fine details, and making everything look pretty. We really needed that :)


I want to close this rather long posts with some after shots. The interior of the house is still a work in progress. We are waiting for the rest of the furniture and kitchen, which are being hand made, and then it's time for the decor and other fine details.


Now Beni has a big wide space to play in. :)


This is the living room.


Other side of the living room, with an intruder peaking in.


The bedroom, with an exit to the balcony.


Dining room and on the left side is the kitchen, but I'll show those parts in another post, when there is a kitchen to show.


Thank you all for stopping by. I hope this was of some interest to you. I wanted to photograph the process and make a series of images like this. (I also did this for the main house, so maybe, if you are interested I can make a post on that too).


34 comments:

  1. quite the undertaking that was. but what a beautiful home you ended up with.

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  2. Wow! You had a lot of work to do before ending up with a very beautiful result - can't wait to see the kitchen! And yes, I'd be interested in seeing photos of the whole construction process of your other home.

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    1. Then I think I will do that at some point, maybe not right away, since I just did this post. But I'll keep it in mind.

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  3. i very much enjoyed this post and yes i want to see the big house also... will you be living in the side kick when it is done? i love the dining room in the big house, that wall of slanted windows is wonderful. and i like the privacy idea a lot... Beni has the perfect and safe play ground.

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    1. As of right now we haven't really decided yet who will move in. But I'll keep you updated :)

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  4. What beautiful home there is now instead of that abandoned lot!

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  5. Oh wow what a job... But it looks like it is going to be a nice place to live :)

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  6. Ah, a beautiful home indeed!! How wonderful for you and your family -- and Beni, of course!! Thanks so much, Mersad for sharing!! I'm looking forward to seeing more pics when the project is completed!! In the meantime, I hope you and your family are enjoying a wonderful weekend!!

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    1. I hope that the kitchen will arrive by the end of May (that's the date we have been told anyway). Then the rest of the furniture will be done as well.

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  7. it is beautiful, mersad! great new addition!

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  8. Mersad, what a lovely place you have there. A lovely addition.. Your Beni is so cute, I noticed him right away.. I am sure you are happy it is completed now.. Have a happy weekend!

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  9. This looks like a massive undertaking; the results certainly was worth the noise, dirt, and inconvenience!

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    1. It was a massive undertaking, a couple of years in the making. Especially during the processes of obtaining the lot.

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  10. AnonymousMay 03, 2014

    That is an amazing transformation! I love the colors and minimal design! Great job!

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  11. beni the king! :) lijepa kucica u zdravlju da je nosite :)

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  12. Fascinating! Yes, it was very interesting to see the construction. What a job! The result is gorgeous. :) Very, very lovely!

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  13. I found that very interesting. I've always had a bit of a fascination with watching things develop and grow. You certainly ended up with a lovely building, I imagine you will have a lot of fun with the interior decorating.

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    1. We sure will. That's the best part I think, making these four walls a home.

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  14. Krasan dizajn i izvedba; pravo porodicno gnijezdo!

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  15. Wirklich sehr interessant und ich finde es klasse wie du es dokumentiert hast. Danke auch dass du es gezeigt hast. Schaut klasse aus, gefällt mir richtig gut und auch innen schon jetzt sehr geschmackvoll.

    Wäre ich nun Nachbar (so ein Brauch in D.) würde ich beim Einzug ein Brot und Salz vorbeibringen.

    Hab einen schönen Sonntag und ganz liebe Grüssle

    N☼va

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    1. Ich weiß von dem Brauch, und würde ihn sehr schätzen! :)

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  16. A big job, but how good to see it progress. Beni loves it, you can tell... smiles

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  17. It is good you documented this. I can't believe the transformation and the vision!!

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  18. Wow Mersad I was actually quite fascinated with this. How interesting to see from wence your dwelling came. It looks fabulous there now ~ very inspiring !

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  19. Good heavens. This was/is a gigantic project. What a huge challenge to go from the ruins of the old place to the clean, handsome, thoughtfully designed place that you have now. Looks like you have a considerable interest in architecture/design as well as photography. I'm so impressed.

    And I love your little Beni! What a good dog.

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    1. Thank you Kerry for visiting. So glad you enjoyed it.

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  20. That was an amazing project. The house in my post is our daughter's home. It took 2 years to build.. Has a built in pool in the back and all three floors finished. Someone asked if there are many homes like this in our town. Yes, it is a pretty wealthy town. Of course some rundowns in the old part of town.

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    1. It was a big undertaking, that rippled through the rest of the year.

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  21. Yeah construction photography is a best project and we need to carefully shoot it properly each and every image. You really did great work!!

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  22. nice to build a house right from the beginning. As a teenager, I saw the house across the road which was identical to the house we were living being built. (It was a government quarter, not ours.)

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