The time has come for our second round of finishing material selections. Back in November, we finalized all of the ceramic choices for the home, covering the bathrooms and flooring in the social areas. Now, our focus shifts to the bedrooms and offices, along with interior doors and trim, kitchen cabinetry, and closets.

We began with the flooring for the bedrooms and offices. For these spaces, we selected SPC vinyl planks. Short for stone plastic composite, SPC has become one of the most popular flooring choices worldwide over the past decade. Its limestone core provides exceptional durability and dent resistance, while being fully waterproof. It convincingly replicates stone and wood finishes, remains cost-effective, and is straightforward to install. This material will be used in all six bedrooms and three of the four office spaces.

Mom and I met Marco at a local distributor in Cuenca, and we quickly settled on the perfect option…naturally, in grey. In total, we required 90 square meters (approximately 970 square feet), which came to about $1,300 before installation. Our chosen color is the third from the top in the first photo below.

Next, we turned our attention to confirming all of the color selections for the TFL (Thermally Fused Laminate) wood throughout the house. For this step, Marco introduced us to our carpenter, Luis. You’ll be seeing a great deal of his craftsmanship in the weeks ahead, as he has an extensive list of projects to complete. We’ve already collaborated with him on a few components of the house, finalizing the designs for the stairs, hand-railing, vanities, and the front door. A proper introduction to Luis will come in a future post, but for now, I’ll focus on the TFL wood choices we made.

These selections will define the look of all closets, kitchen cabinetry, interior doors, and baseboards. We chose to source the materials from Masisa, a company based in Santiago, Chile that you may recognize. Masisa products are available in many regions, including the US at Home Depot. One thing I’ve quickly learned is that these colors appear differently depending on how they’re viewed. They’ve looked distinct in person compared to digital swatches, and even varied across different phones and monitors. To give you a sense of our choices, I’ve included both the official digital swatches from Masisa’s website and a couple physical samples I had on hand. Keep in mind, depending on your screen, the colors may look very different.

We made the following three color selections:

• Laricina – Closets, pantry, and built-in office shelving
• Verde Glaciar – Kitchen cabinets, cupboards, and island
• Pacífico – Interior doors and baseboards

* This photo is of the Masisa sample book. It contained two of the colors we chose, Verde Glaciar and Pacífico.

Now, let’s take a moment to discuss progress on the house and outline what will be happening over the coming the weeks. The time that we NEED the house to be available is approaching quickly. Our rental house is not available indefinitely and the ending of our stay here is on the horizon. In order to facilitate our future move, we have coordinated closely with Marco and have established new priorities. The house in Villaflor must be ready to live in by the end of April, no exceptions.

Over the past two weeks, the crew has focused exclusively on preparing the interior to the point where windows could be installed and the carpenter could begin his work. That milestone was reached today. Starting Monday, three separate teams will be working simultaneously to bring the house to move-in condition. This includes our crew shifting outdoors to tackle exterior finishes, utility lines and connections, and the septic system. Meanwhile, the carpenter will begin his extensive list of interior projects, and a new addition to the team, known as El Diablo, will be handcrafting our twenty windows.

I will continue documenting and sharing updates from each team as the work unfolds. For now, enjoy these interior shots of the home as it prepares for its most significant transformation yet!