Traditional House Renovations Rhodes
During the process of 8 house renovations here below you will find some explanations and visual journeys for your added information and interest.
SUMMER PYRGOS HOUSE : TRIS
This lovely summer house in Tris needed a total renovation. It had been left in ruins, hidden at the end of a path. This is a style of house very particular to the Trianda/Tris area of the island, called the “Pyrgos” houses. “Tower” houses with one bedroom upstairs. They were built for people to escape the heat of the city, as the breezes always pick up in the afternoons on the west side of the island. These little summer houses are real indoor/outdoor houses. I designed the kitchen space to be able to distribute food through the kitchen windows, and added a compact toilet and shower area in the house’s old fireplace oven.
After living in this house for a summer, I found it adorable, practical, and I felt like I was constantly on vacation. The summer vacation nature of this house is why I chose the pale blues inside. This house was featured on the UK TV show ‘Place in the Sun’ and was sold shortly thereafter.
Koskinou : The Vicars Camara House
This renovation took 12 weeks to clear out and bring it back to life after a full rewire, new plumbing, re-plastering, new windows, repainting and re-furnishing.
Living in this house gave me the opportunity to really feel the character and style of these fabulous old arch houses for the first time. The colours chosen for this house are the true traditional colours of the Dodecanese islands, and much softer on the eye in the bright mid summer sun. The shower has a natural plaster with a blue pigment mixed in, which allows the sandstone to breath rather than grow mould.
Koskinou : Cafe-Store House
Just a long rectangular building previously a cafe and store room, it had been split into 3 rooms we knocked a door through one wall to access all the house internally and blocked a double door in to make the bedroom window.
With a spot of creative layout work this compact house had great practical spaces and was fitted with quality wooden windows with iron inserts, a mix of stone and solid wood floors, and access out onto the roof from the kitchen with sea views.
The local man who bought this house had a great house that he could walk into ready to live in. He went on to build a new room on the roof of the house which had been prepared for in the original renovation.
Koskinou : The Ruin Next Door!
This lovely little house tucked away in a corner, was a total ruin when I bought it with a fig tree merrily growing in the lounge! With all stone walls treated in an eco concious way, the fine sand and lime plasters move playfully on these walls and prevent damp forming on the walls as they are allowing the sand stones to breath.
The local stone and wood floors are practical, good looking and warm to the eye in this house. I knocked through a wall to join the house up from inside, and went up a floor too. This house was designed with access out on to the roof to enjoy the village and sea views, and was also set up for a natural central heating system for future installation.
Whilst living in this house people often though it was central heated, yet it was not at that time. This was clearly from the natural plasters retaining the heat in the building.
Malona Big House : Before and After!!
Each house takes on a life of its own during the renovation period. Here is a little insight into the building of 1 of the 8 houses I have built here on Rhodes, the Big Arch house in Malona.
The process of renovation is a bit like having a child, the concept & arrival, the realisation of what is ahead, the period of development, the waiting for it to be over, the decision making and final touches, and then finally a perfect blank canvas to nurture and bring to life.
This is a photographic story of what happens during the rebuild of a total ruin. I choose this house to view in this condition as the most environmental of my builds, and probably the most memorable for all involved as this was finished just in time to have my own child !!
