Beachshack: Tropical Building Page

St Barts Renovation:
Azu Villa

Anguilla Construction:
Guest cottage.
Tech center.
Residence.

Mary Ann's Tropical Building Page

This is the web site for the three villas that I built on Anguilla and the villa that I am renovating in St Barts (see Azu Villa Renovation Page), plus tropical construction tips and resources as well. These construction projects started in 1997, although land acquisition and architectural planning started in 1995. Every stage of the construction is recorded here.

We rent the villa in St Barts and the guest cottage in Anguilla (La Vanda) and the villa at the top of the Anguilla property (Mimosa), but we keep the beachfront house and pool for our own use. And we have created a name and web page for the overall completed property: Bellamare

For details on the main Anguilla beachfront house, visit the Residence Construction Page.

For the technology center, visit the "Clubhouse" Construction Page.

And finally, for the guest cottage, our first attempt at construction on Anguilla, visit the La Vanda Construction Page.

-- Mary Ann Green

Construction Tips

Saturday, June 03, 2000 Permalink

Finish Work on the Gazebo.
Although the gazebo was the first thing we built, we put off the finish details until the adjoining house was closer to completion.
Now we have added louvered panels to 6 sides of the gazebo for shade and privacy. The panels are hinged at the top so that they can be swung open if desired. They really make the gazebo feel like a little house now.
The trim is painted yellow and blue.
The interior ceiling now has trim and decoration.
The top plate for the railing is a product called Trex, not wood. It is a combination of wood sawdust and recycled plastic bags. Trex can be worked like wood, but it doesn't require maintenance and it lasts forever. Frequently used for decks. Excellent for the top of railings, since they always need repainting and repair with wood.

Thursday, June 01, 2000 Permalink

Starting the Swimming Pool. Contractor Chici Gumbs is building the pool for us. The picture below shows the location which is between the western "Pineapple" Villa and the kitchen of the main house. The pool is not quite as long as it looks, since part of the space in the foreground is for a new cistern (because the hole was dug too big!).
The pool aims straight out to the ocean, then curves to the left, around the Pineapple Villa veranda.
Several pool experts have commented glowingly on Chici's steel work for the pool.
The outer edge of the pool has a vanishing edge waterfall.

Sunday, May 28, 2000 Permalink

Ian "Sugar George" Edwards.
Sugar George is a builder who migrated to Anguilla from Montserrat. He has built a luxury rental villa, Splash, which he and his wife manage, and he worked on the new CuisinArt Resort.
Ian and his crew visited our site between other jobs to add some trained manpower to the finish details. They finished most of the doors, routering in the old-fashioned handsets (which come from Wilson Brass in Chile, call 787-723-7020 in Puerto Rico) and inserting pins into the Brazilian doors to strengthen the joints.
Sugar George also installed the lattice work on the master suite veranda. This is plastic lattice that we also used on the tech center veranda for decoration.
Here is a closeup showing how the lattice is connected to the posts. We don't expect the lattice to survive a serious hurricane, but it is easy to reinstall.