After a long construction period, the farmhouse and its support structures are nearly completed. We are tentatively set to move in at the end of this month.
Further development work, like improving the landscape, planting new trees, setting up a vegetable garden, building new support structures and enhancing existing ones, will likely take years to finish, and these projects will have to be done while we are already staying in the Orchard.
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July 2, 2022. As of this date, the farmhouse is essentially completed, both interior and exterior. The water, electrical, drainage, plumbing and rain harvesting systems had been tested and are now fully operational. The Orchard's permanent connection to the electric utility provider had been installed, and the 9 KVA backup genset is in place. What's left to be finished is the gravel bedding around the farmhouse.
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| Side facing the road. The eastern side of the farmhouse faces the barangay road. The light brown ("natural timber") paint accent on the beams, columns and triangular upper walls is a repeating motif on three sides of the structure, hinting the outline of a simple house.. The railings, interior window grills and aluminum window frames are in dark brown ("chocolate brown"), while the window moldings are in medium dark brown ("lots of caramel"). These shades of brown provide a contrast to the monotony of an all-white structure. |
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Farmhouse facade. The two master bedrooms (left and right), each with its own terrace, protrude forward, hemming the mini garden. The two MBRs are windowed on three sides for maximum ventilation. The concrete stepping stones leading to the main stairs and porch are now in place. The mounds of gravel obstructing the front of the farmhouse will be spread out soon through out the driveway.
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Outdoor kitchen. The outdoor kitchen lies on the western side of the farmhouse, separated by a three meter wide gravel driveway. A new bahay kubo is placed beside the outdoor kitchen, which also includes a grill section and a laundry area. The open space where a table can be seen now will be what we call our "boodle fight area" - much of our cooking, dining and lounging activities will be in this place.
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Lighting control. Moving inside, the newly installed Korean blinds allow good control of light coming from the outside. An array of interior lighting fixtures (pin lights, center lights and strip cove lights) provide flexibility in mood setting illumination.
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Kitchen Counter. The simple kitchen counter is topped with quartz slab in white marble finish. The three breakfast counter chairs, and the cabinet doors and cladding are all are made of Gmelina wood, walnut-stained, and finished with a polyurethane coating.
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Counter cladding. A closer view of the counter wood cladding - a hidden convenience outlet is installed at one end to power cooking, brewing, toasting or heating devices, hence minimizing the clutter of wires laying across the countertop to reach the wall outlets. Sufficient knee space is designed into the underside of the counter for convenience.
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Table for eight. An 8-seater dining table, with a top made of 3-inch thick solid mahogany planks and supported by 6 inch x 6 inch mahogany legs, occupy most of the dining area. The synthetic rattan sets at lower right are temporarily stored in the dining area and will be transferred to the MBR terraces once we move in.
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Farmhouse sala set. The living room set is made of synthetic rattan, topped with soft cushions. The color complements the overall brown motif of the house itself and the furnitures.
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TV Rack. With a width of 2 meters and made of solid Gmelina wood, the TV rack is walnut-stained and polyurethane-finished. Two simple side tables of the same materials and finish are at each side of the rack.
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Watching TV from the kitchen. A 65-inch Samsung 4K TV set with a sound bar is already up and running at the living room, easily watchable from the kitchen counter. The living, dining and kitchen areas are purposely designed to be divider-free.
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Simple kitchen. The kitchen's layout is minimalist - no hanging cabinets were built to minimize clutter and congestion. Much of the daily routine cooking will be done in the outdoor kitchen anyway, and there is a walk-in pantry with many shelves (its door is partially visible at left) to store assorted kitchen items and supplies.
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| Benches for the outdoor kitchen. Six wooden benches, with plain sanded finish and no coatings, are ready for transfer to the boodle fight area of the outdoor kitchen. |
