Drunk on Shopping

It felt magical to walk onto the construction site and see two complete houses rising white and large from the ground where previously there had risen only tall grasses.Even though I had seen plans and photos they were little preparation for this experience. It is now a house that one can walk around inside, see the view from the "windows", imagine where the chairs and appliances will go. Chairs and appliances! OMG! The house is completely empty!

Our first task was to make final decisions on colors for doors, window frames, interior doors and kitchen cabinetry. BF had painted some boards with colors we thought we wanted. The decision was easy because of all the pre-work...Signal Blue for the window frames and exterior door, Powdery Turquoise for the interior doors, Pale Gray for the cupboard fronts with Medium Gray for the cupboard backs, all interior and exterior walls bright white. We'll soften the white, create interest and introduce color through the use of textiles.

All the bedrooms will have built in cupboards so next we turned our attention to designing these. How much hanging space?; how much drawer space?; shall we build in a desk area?; is a bookshelf a good idea?; shall we incorporate large mirrored expanses on the same or opposite walls? It was fun to think about future guests and imagine everything necessary for their comfort and enjoyment already designed in. After we took measurements and made sketches, we went to the cabinet-makers shop, Birbas.

There we discussed, drank raki and coffee, mocked up options on the computer, looked at product brochures and tried out showroom samples. With the competent assistance of Dimitri and in the space of one afternoon, our kitchen cupboards and bedroom cupboards/closets designs were firmed up. We will finalize after having a day or two to think about it some more to make sure we have included everything we want and need. We will have to live with any design mistakes!

Another big project was to source and select tiles for the house, terraces and bathrooms. We traveled all around Athens looking at various tile showrooms. A good friend of MG's suggested a showroom and it was here that we found everything we want. After much deliberation and looking at examples in other homes, we decided that we want the floor and terrace tiles to be the same. As we expect to have a seamless flow between the indoors and outdoors, having the same tiles flow through all inside and outside areas will help create that flow and uniformity while giving a feeling of greater space overall. I love, love, love the tiles we selected at SEYDAP. The tiles for the floor are 1 foot square and called "Riverstone". They do look more like stone than tile. The two guest baths will have large subway style tiles in an oxidized copper color on the floor and one wall with 1 inch mosaic tiles on the three other walls. Our bath will have oversize subway tiles in white on the floor with two walls in oversize aqua subway tiles and two walls of glass mosaic tiles. Here we also found modern, beautiful bathroom mirrors and shower enclosures. We placed a HUGE order.

Oh that raises a question! How will we get everything from Athens to the island? BF to the rescue again. His company uses a freight consolidator, Hermes, to move goods from the Athenian port of Piraeus to the islands. We will have all our orders shipped to Piraeus, consolidated and then brought to the island in one go.

Okay, on to Ikea. While in Boston, I thought of the idea of shopping on Ikea. When I mentioned it to people in Athens, it turns out that many people building homes in the Greek Islands furnish them with Ikea goods. It makes sense as their goods are of modern design, simple, good value for the money and not so precious that one will worry about them. Ideal for an island vacation home. Turns out there are two locations in Athens. We did a mad tour on day 1. So glad I've shopped Ikea at home because I knew how to navigate the store and could guide MG, who glazes over after 3 minutes of shopping. We agreed on a first set of options and took photos.

Next day we came back with MG's brother who will be a frequent visitor and has spent a lot of time on the island. With his input, we selected a dining table and chairs, beds, night stands and occasional chairs for the guest rooms and for our bedroom. We found chairs and coffee tables for the living room. As much of the furniture will be built in, we don't need much. We wrote out the order and left it with Costis to place it so the timing works out for the Piraeus consolidation.

That same afternoon we dragged Costis along with us to shop for mattresses. What a trooper! We discussed many configurations but in the end decided on 3 Queen and 2 single mattresses as providing the most options overall. The basement is a beautiful room with French doors to the outside, generous windows and a beautiful tile floor...we can create a dormitory there with portable beds and screens if we have many visitors clamoring to arrive during the same period.

We went to the mattress factory and laid on many mattresses in order to find the ones we each liked. We had them made to American specifications so U.S. sheets will fit. I like the patterns, colors and thread counts available in the U.S. so I will ship sheets and towels from Boston.

Okay, last set of purchases...outdoor furniture. There is a patio/terrace off each guest room, a terrace off the kitchen and a large terrace off the dining room and living room. The terraces off our bedroom, the kitchen and the living/dining room all have built in benches that will be outfitted with cushions. In the final count, we will need a large table and 8 dining chairs for the main terrace plus a small taverna style table and at least two Director's chairs for each of the other terraces.

MG and I went on our own to several stores to do the initial hunting. After awhile it all begins to blur and to look the same. Out of the confusion, however, came a useful insight. I don't want one large table stuck right in the middle of the terrace. It will become something to walk around, a blockage. Rather, I would like two tables that seat 6 each and can be placed on each side of the main terrace. This will give many more seating options for a small group or duo and we can seat 12 to 14 by placing the two tables together. I had to argue quite hard for this design concept, but in the end MG agreed. After thinking it through BF also decided to go with this option.

What luck. On the very day we decided that we would buy everything at superstore Leroy Merlin, a one-day only, 10% off sale was in progress. I don't understand Greek but s-a-l-e is one word I DO understand. Suddenly a posse of workers surrounded us as we ordered 4 of this, 8 of that, 6 of the other, and so on.

Even the sexy young woman dressed in a tight black dress with a zipper from the high hemline to her hip got into the act. "Miss Patio World 2010", as I dubbed her, was doing the Vanna White point this way and that as she directed the fork lift operators. Initially I couldn't understand what her job was. It didn't' take too long for her role to become evident. She provided my amusement for the day as I watched all the men from pot bellied to young and punk salivating over her. I guess "Sex Sells" is still a big marketing concept in Greece.

We filled up several pallets and ponderously made our way to the shipping dock so these goods could join the others in Piraeus.

MG hates to shop but he was dragged into it every day for a week since I don't speak Greek. He was most patient only saying to me once during all this, "you really need to learn to speak the language." He's right. I need to and want to learn Greek. And I will. But for right now, I'm just happy that all this work is behind us.

The whole experience felt as if we had won a lot of prize money and had to spend it all in 5 days in a mad dash around Athens and the islands. It will be big fun to return in July and see all the decisions we made implemented and before us in living color. I can hardly wait.