Our new villa

We finally found a villa in December and have been negotiating and now renovating since then. We are trying to be patient; we thought our move-in date would be late February but now we will be lucky to move in mid-March. We both cannot wait to get our own furniture and sleep in our own bed. The reason for the delay is that we are completely renovating the kitchen and the landlord decided to paint everything inside and outside the house and refinish the floors. It will be worth it once it's finished. For the moment we just want to sit outside in a yard or terrace with plants around us. The weather is becoming lovely and I read that February and March are Egypt's best months.

Our new address is 27 Road 81. The villa is 100 years old and is an old English colonial style with 16 foot ceilings, a fair amount of charm, and full of light. Three floors, four bedrooms, roof terrace, yard, and unusually private driveway. Those 16 foot ceilings make for a very long staircase... Yes the house is large but all the villas are large. Our landlord is terrific and easy to get along with. Which I've been told is unusual. Dave and I feel very lucky to have found this house with the people who work there and the amenable owner.

We brought over a 20-foot container filled with two bedrooms, a living room, patio furniture, and gas grill. Now that I have a driver I have been busy visiting stores and figuring out where I am going to buy things. It's very common to have furniture made here and I've already got plans for that. There's an interesting place on Road 15 where they make furniture from old doors and things and for those of you who know me well, you know I just love that kind of stuff!!

Part of our yard. The gardener is great though Dave can hardly wait to start his own planting.

Our private driveway, which is very unusual. The steps to the right at the end lead to our kitchen. It's unusually convenient to have a private driveway that will deliver you to the kitchen. Unfortunately that also means we will most likely use the kitchen for entry and exit because the front door is kind of out of the way.

Our front door, which is rarely used. We plan to have a stone path put down that leads to the front so we will use this door. I was standing on a landing that is halfway to the 2nd floor.

Standing in the dining room, looking into the living room. See the little cubby at the end? I'm going to have a Turkish divan made for the area and use it to read.

A "before" photo of the kitchen. It's not the worst kitchen we saw but we like kitchens so decided to remodel. The owner wanted us to use a designer they knew and she did a great job. Right now the room looks like a cave with dirt floors...