![\"Sun](\"https:\/\/www.ioniaguesthouse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/furniture-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Sun lounges by the pool<\/p><\/div>\n
So we did. The furniture came from a few different places. We concentrated mostly on getting the pool area and the interior of room two to look good. Big thanks to Sirem’s mum Nadire, her sister \u00c7isem, and her cousin Mevl\u00fcde\u00a0for all the work on the beautiful quilt for the bed.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Interior with bed. (That’s the bathroom door on the left, but sadly the bathroom was in no state to be photographed yet.)<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Interior with column and front door.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Interior with sofa.<\/p><\/div>\n
You’ve probably spotted the lack of floor tiles by now but hopefully we got away with it. The raw concrete slab doesn’t look great but I’d like to think it doesn’t take anything away from the rest of the decor.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Breakfast on the verandah perhaps?<\/p><\/div>\n
It was good to put some real tables and chairs into the cafe: very reassuring to see that seating sixteen or twenty people in the dining area is completely realistic. Although we expect most people will want to sit outside on the terrace in the summer, it’s good to have seating space for cold or rainy days.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Cafe dining area<\/p><\/div>\n
Originally it was just going to be a door and a sort-of serving hatch connecting the kitchen with the cafe, but that looked like a missed opportunity to have a proper bar. Years of visiting British pubs must have unconsciously left a mark as we seem to have reproduced one.<\/p>\n
<\/a>We have accidentally built a pub.<\/p><\/div>\n
That thing just to the right of the bar, on the wall near the light switches, is our straw bale “truth window”. The idea is to leave a window opening in the interior plaster so people can see that there really are straw bales inside the wall. I didn’t quite get this convention at first, but now that we have seen the bales disappear from view, I understand why everyone does it.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Straw bale “truth window”.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Garden doing OK.<\/p><\/div>\n
We were happy with the furnished photos but of course the furniture all had to be given back to the people we borrowed it from and building work had to go on. One big job recently has been putting insulation into the ceiling, between rafters, and then concealing it with interlocking wooden planks. I had been a bit worried that an all-timber ceiling might make the room look a bit like the inside of a sauna, but I’m happy with the result. See what you think.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Looking straight up at insulation and timber paneling going between the rafters.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>A shot of the new ceiling.<\/p><\/div>\n
No point having windows unless you eventually put some glass in them, and thus we contacted a local glass factory with good prices on double glazing. The only downside was they don’t deliver, so we had to lay all that glass in the back of the truck, wrapped in blankets and bubble wrap, and drive home very carefully. Nothing broke \u2014\u00a0yay!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Glass for windows and mirrors has arrived.<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Build your own windows for fun and profit.<\/p><\/div>\n
Right, and in conclusion: I would write more but the truth is I need to sleep so I can get up in the morning and build more things. Here’s your animal photo as required by popular demand (something a bit different today).<\/p>\n