WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
A little theme planning. Experiences from the initial idea to the finished house
Homesickness without a home Worldwide search – Almost Miami – Europe and worries that the Americans will vote for Trump – Valencia, Denia, Malaga – Found: Denia – Estate agents, brokers and constructors – Location Location Location – The plot – Z.Sanchez – The long road to planning permission – Building styles – The details Style and design – Kitchen – Bathroom – Tiles, floors – Walls or wall painting – Putting pressure on – Shell construction – Swimming pool decisions – Outdoor living, garden
Why We’re Writing This Blog
Experience is everything.
Across all the world’s oceans, there’s an off-season – a time when it’s better to keep boat and crew safe on land. In the Caribbean, it’s hurricane season. In the Mediterranean, it’s winter. In the Pacific, it’s cyclone time.
Over the past five years, we’ve weathered five of these off-seasons. And to be honest: it became harder each year to settle somewhere temporarily and truly unwind.
So we made a decision: we want a home base on land again – a place that feels like home. That’s why we’re building a house in Spain.
When we first set sail, we launched our blog Sailrivercafe.com to share what life on the water really looks like. Over 30,000 readers followed our journey. The most popular stories? The honest, hands-on ones from everyday life – no sugarcoating, no sailor’s tales.
The idea to blog about our house project actually came from a friend. Dan lives in the US and plans to move to Spain. Like many of our American friends, he longs for a more cultivated environment – in a free country with good weather.
Now it’s time for a new chapter – this time on land. On CasaBinz.com, we’re sharing our experience of building a home in Spain. Just like on Sailrivercafe.com, we’ll be writing about everything this journey brings our way.
ABOUT Building homes
This isn’t the first house we’ve built. We’ve had very good – and very bad – experiences. And we’ve paid our fair share of tuition to the school of life. Our first house was built by probably the worst architect imaginable. The last one was built by arguably the best.
With this blog, we want to share what we’ve learned, offer some honest insights, and hopefully help others avoid common mistakes.
We’ll write about the decisions we make – and why we make them. We share our experiences with the people we’re building with. The do’s and don’ts. And of course, what life is like for us here in Spain – with all its frustrations and joys.
It’s a mix of the personal and the practical. A story about the longing that led us to search for a home – and finally to build one. About the many places we considered along the way. After all, we searched for nine years, almost all over the world.
And we’re telling it all from two perspectives: hers and his – often surprisingly different.
If you feel like reaching out, we’d love to hear from you. We answer every email. Promise.
The first four photos show our house in Luxembourg – designed by Sharam Agaajani from the architecture firm Metaform in Luxembourg. A dream.
The next three show our first house in Igel, Germany. We will definitely not be talking about that architect.
And then there’s the parallelogram, also known as the garden house. Unfortunately, it slid down a bit – along with the hill.