It has been some time since my last posting and I was somewhat bemused by the comments of the sceptics and others. There are people who build in Bali without the cultural knowledge, without assistance and without building knowledge. As I have all of this stuff plus friends who supervised in Bali when I wasn't there, a fantastic builder and a marvellous plumber/electrician my experience was truly pleasurable, fun and rewarding.
I supervised from Adelaide via my friends and went to Bali every 6 -8 weeks. There were 21 little builders running around in thongs and Aussie caps as busy as little bees 6 1/2 days a week and often well into the night. Following them were 9 also little, plumbers and electricians digging holes and pulling wire. My architect was my friend's cousin and along with the electrician/plumber and builder had done work for my friends and came highly recommended. This is the key to success. See work that has been done by the tradies first!
The builder came from Java and brought his family and friends as workers. He also brought Teak trees and had them milled in Bali. All of the door and window frames along with the kitchen joinery and other furniture are teak.
Now Filo was a Technical Studies teacher and his favourite areas were woodwork and photography. I have this sense that he supervised these little workers in the coconut grove opposite the villa and made sure that they plugged the extension cord over the road in properly at the villa. He was ensuring the little circular saw, nail gun and little sander were all working well. I'm sure he was grinning as all the furniture and frames were made outside on the ground in true Balinese style. By the way his favourite timber was Teak.
Chuppa Chups were in big demand and supplies were plentiful. Some hundreds were purchased during the project and everyone kept smiling.
My builder made a lot of the decisions and choices in my absence and I only disagreed with him once. ‘No worries Mum, I fix' and with a big grin he fixed it. Not a cross word was spoken between any of us and regular emails and inspections by my friends kept me in the loop.
The villa started in mid-January last year and finished mid-November. I moved in for a week and tried out all the showers, visited all the toots and checked out the bath tub. Unfortunately the pool was filled too late for me to christen but I have since and it is wonderful. The turbo jet lets me walk in the water pretending to get exercise.
I purchased all of the furniture, custom made, tap fittings, appliances, rugs curtains and artwork in Bali. Prices and quality are excellent and I incurred no problems at all.
Oh that's not quite true. Worms ate my waterlilies and so the Koi got very shy and hid under the bridge until we bought more. My gardener is now on worm watch.
While staying for the first time I had this incredible sensation that Filo was walking up the wide shallow teak stairs, with a wry smile on his face and shaking his head as he caressed the bannister. Teak!
I had a special opening ceremony in January which is another story and look forward to returning in June. In the meantime as soon as I finish updating Filo's website you can check out Villa Filo's Paradise at on line booking sites. Of course......would I call it anything else?
Anyway, if any of you are interested in such an undertaking I am happy to talk with you in detail and share my experience which has been one of the highlights of my life and a fulfilment I cannot express in words.