Thursday, September 16, 2010

French touch





A french inspired building from 1910's. An apartment that has not been touched in over 50 years (not even cleaned!). High ceilings (over 3,40 meters high), magnificent panelled wood doors with a million coats of paint, two tiny and awkward bathrooms, a creepy mini kitchen and a carpet of an undescript colour (we guess it was light blue when it was installed, probably when Peron was ruling the country in the 50's).

That was the picture we saw when they called us to help with the renovation. Buenos Aires is full of those surprises. A combination of faded grandeur and half a century of harsh economy combine to create something that you rarely see in other places (especially not in New York).

The way they lived, those fancy argentinians from the Belle Epoque! Now, things have changed, and an apartment like this needs a new life. We are bringing new plumbing, electrical, paint (yes please!) and especially water and soap to clean those magnificent windows that overlook ancient trees.

A french touch s'il vous plait, for an absolutely wonderful, neurotic, sexy and noisy city. There is no place like home.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Attitude for destruction




There is something absolutely exciting about renovating an apartment...the thrill of the first knock on the wall, bricks falling down, the occasional chunk of old plaster hitting the floor...Dust, old pipes, wood floor, tiles, old cabinets...The old stuff is gone.

Walls falling down give place to new rooms. It is not a living room next to a dining room next to a library anymore...no way. Now we have this huge space, flooded with light...now we can see the four french doors leading to this amazing garden...a classical building from the 40's, where the owners (a young couple) trustred us with the mission of converting the ground floor apartment into something new and really special.

Right now it is only destruction, but soon we will have a new kitchen, a big bathroom and THAT walking closet that you only see on films. And a garden for Olga, the black lab.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

All quiet on the Southern front

We have received a lot of emails asking about our lives, what is going on and why this blog has been so quiet.

The answer is very simple: we are incredibly busy, and after a few weeks of silence it is increasingly difficult to come back to this blog... We are spending a lot of time in South America (Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica...) working a lot in renovations and new projects, so there is no time whatsoever to post anything...

So we think The Chukker will rest for a while.

Best

http://www.chukker.net/