News from the House - Nytt fra huset

Finally, we got some new photos from the house! Work is in progress. Now, using the metallic stairs instead of a ladder, we can easily access the roof terasse and enjoy a glass of wine or a lebanese coffee there and admire the beauty of Maghdouche's church and the vine trees that are covering the roof of every house.

Endelig......noen nye bilder fra huset. Det går framover. Trappen opp til takterassen er ferdig, så nå kan vi sitte der med libanesisk kaffe og nyte utsikten å alle vinstokkene som lager terassene om til grønne hager med druer.

As parts of the house are 100 year old, the walls needed to be handled properly. Applying layers of anti rain absorption treatment from outside is supposed to solve the problem.

Deler av huset er over 100 år gammelt så veggene må behandles riktig. Flere lag med beskyttelse mot fuktighet må til............

In addition, the old parts of the house were covered from inside by a certain kind of plaques with a very natural texture. In this way, we avoid having the problem that almost every house in Lebanon is having, and that is paint getting off the walls.

Perfect result!!! at least we hope and we keep our fingers crossed... For such a big bill, it should better be!!!

In anyway, after painting white, the light seems wonderful especially in the studio area and the space seems to be bigger. Good work boys!!!

Det blir lyst og flott. Det ser med en gang større ut ettter at det er pusset opp, det er så vakkert lys i disse to studiorommene. Flott arbeid!

Back to the House...Tilbake til huset.....

Things are moving on...
The electric board was upgraded to 20 ampers instead of 5 ampers, so "Maallem Maurice" was able to connect the stairs together. Now we have a descent access to the roof terrasse.
The electric installation has been completely changed in the basement floor and will be accomplished in the first floor, in the next few days. We thank "Simon Bou Ali" for all the effort he is putting there.
Yesterday, the procedure of putting panels on some of the walls of the house has started. As the house is built in local stones, these sand stones absorb the rain water in the winter and spit it out in the sommer, which takes out the paint from the walls. According to "Tony Hourani" the paint guru of Maghdouche,these panels are the best solution for this problem.

We will keep you updated...Keep tuned...

På norsk i kortversjon:
Strømmen var 5 ampere i huset, og den er nå oppgradert til 20 ampere. Trappen fra 2 etasje og opp til takterassen er ferdig og montert. Alle elektriske ledninger er skiftet i første etasje og i løpet av noen dager er det i orden i hele huset. Nå legges paneler på innerveggene for å hindre fuktgjennomslag. Huset er bygget i lokal stein og er porøs, panelene vil løse dette "problemet".
Vi skal holde dere orientert..........................................

Stairway to Heaven, or ?

After the hole in the wall was made, comes the discussion about the stairs.

"Maallem Maurice" was called since we decided to go for iron instead of wood for the support but to keep the stairs themselves in wood. The big discussion was the size of the stair and the distance between 2 stairs ... It took a lot of mathematics... a bit too much for two artistic brains !

But as far as Ibrahim Bassoul took the calculation in charge, we trust that the result will be satisfactory.

As "maallem Maurice" promissed, the pieces were ordered and ready on time. He needed to gather them on place, following the zig-zag line traced on the wall by Ibrahim Bassoul. As soon as he connected his equipments, surprise surprise... " takk el degenteur" ... the 5 amper electric board in the house is too little to boot the equipments and the electricity got cut.

At this stage, the only possibility is to postpone the work in the stairs till the electric board is changed to 20 ampere instead of 5, and this requires an application to be sent to the lebanese electric company.

We will keep you informed !

Work in the house

Since the house is old, it needed some reparation here and there...

Here is "maallem Nakhleh" opening a door that will help us access the roof from inside the house.

The house - Beit el Founoun

Here we go ! What is done is done !
Finally, we got the house ... signed the paper and got the keys, after long, very long discussions, a lot of heavy thinking and calculations...
Why? : here is the full story...

The economical conditions in Lebanon have really changed thru the years, especially after the war of 2006. People who already had serious economical difficulties found themselves in a dramatical situation. We could not just turn our eyes and continue to live normally, we got to do something ...

We discussed and discussed... and the idea became more and more clear : an art project based on recycling and handcraft that keeps for the people their dignity. We design items based on lebanese traditions, afford the help and the skills needed to get people to produce these items and then find a market to sell these items for them without any commission.

We needed a place... so we bought a small beautiful house. We baptised it Beit el Founoun (The House of Arts) and we baptised the project as: Dignity

Here I am outside the main entrance of Beit el Founoun. The second floor of the house will be a living area for friends, artists and people that would like to visit and have a closer look on the project... When it comes to food and care, it is nothing to worry about with such warm Maghdouche hospitality.

The kitchen needs some repair, paint and a lot of washing

...so do the toilets and showers

In the first floor, there will be my studio, an office and work room for the Dignity project and a bedroom. It is a good space for holding different workshops in different techniques needed for the project.

The roof terrasse before it is redecorated and painted.

All photos are taken before we started the renovation.