Month: July 2017

7. How Do You Light Up A Cave?

~ cueva limon ~ Leave a comment

It may sound straight forward but is it? There are ceiling lights, wall lights, light boxes, light tunnels, strip lights and … you get my gist! Then… you have to consider the power each unit may use.  Remember we will not have mains electricity so usage will be quite crucial when we move into our cave. We will be dependant on systems such as solar, wind and/or generator.

As I look at the various options for lighting, I am tending to move away from ceiling lights and wall lights. In Cyprus we live in a large villa/house. Yes it has windows all around and yes it is not a cave, but when night falls, it gets dark. When we need light we use table lamps and floor lights. We very rarely use ceiling lights except for the kitchen, bathrooms and halls. This may be because that is the only source of light in these rooms!

This got me thinking. Can we live without ceiling lights? As I am not a lover of standard wall lights, I may extend that to, can we live without ceiling lights and wall lights?

After searching through the web and looking at Pinterest I have concluded, (for now anyway but I am happy to consider your thoughts too), that we can do without these types of light fittings in most (if not all) areas of the cave.

The modern variations of floor and strip lights on the market are unbelievable. My plan is to try and make a feature of the lighting in each room.  Funds permitting.

I love these particular examples.  We will have small corridors within the cave which would be ideal for strip lights as shown in the first picture.  I would also like to use the strip concept in the bedroom as shown in the second picture.  How good would it be to have the base of the beds, which are to be built in to the room, having strip lightening at the base. That would look amazing.  As you can see in picture three, lighting can also be art.  Just up my street!  The final picture is lovely or the bathroom.  A circular mirror surrounded by light but I do concede that another source of light would be needed especially in a cave bathroom.

Then you have floor and table lighting.  The sky is the limit, (especially if you have the budget which sadly I will have to limit quite a bit).

Did I say that I did not want ceiling lights in the cave?  Well, I did say I may have to reconsider and that I may just do.  Look what I have found.  I just love them.

 

The next consideration is what kind of bulb should be used? Again after research I am leaning towards LED lighting. They are cheap to run, use little electricity, last 2/3 times longer than most other bulbs and do not get hot.

Talking to the architect, he is looking at designing a light tunnel – not sure until I see the drawings – but it is worth consideration at least.  My only concern would be leaks and heat.  We have had many problems with leaks over the years so we are trying to avoid anything that may cause us problems in the future and… one of the positives of buying a cave is that they keep cool in the heat of the summer.  Not sure if these are valid reasons for not having a light tunnel so need to do my research.

If you have any other ideas, suggestions or have a favourite light fitting you would like to share with me, please do.  I need help!

Please follow my blog so that you will get notifications of my postings.  Thank you.  Sue

 

6. Off To Meet The Architect.

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Friends have asked me, ‘How is the cave coming along?’ My honest answer is, ‘I really don’t know’.   We are making progress albeit very slowly with tiny steps.

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My latest trip to Spain was for a dual purpose. I needed to meet with the architect and builder to discuss alterations and extensions to the original plans we had been given when we purchased the cave but most importantly, to discuss the boundary of our land.  If you recall from my previous posts the deeds for the cave still have the original map detailing the plot as it was back in the Flintstone days.  Plots of land had been verbally exchanged, (farming land for extra scrub land), but nothing was put down in writing and no alterations had been made to the drawings.  This apparently happens a lot in Spain and according to our solicitor – nothing to worry about.   I sit here with crossed fingers!  The new updated drawings would then be attached to the deeds of the cave to make everything clear and legal.

As the builder spoke no English, (but had most lovely eyes), and the architect very little, Matilda agreed to meet up and help out. Matilda will be overseeing the reform of the cave when we are in a position to begin.

The temperatures were in the late 30’s as we walked around outside the cave, but as we went inside the cave, the temperature dropped to a lovely 20 degrees. That is what cave life is all about.  Cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

As we walked around it was getting more and more obvious that some of my plans for the reform would need to change. The builder was not happy with the idea of digging into the cave any further than had already been done which was rather disappointing. However, the lounge area that I had imagined to be on the left hand side of the cave was achievable pending planning permission. This is where we are hoping Matias, the architect, will be worth his money.  Matias was born in the area and worked within the planning department until recently when he moved towards the coast. If anyone can get plans passed we are hoping he can.

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The lounge area will be designed to appear as part of the cave apparently – I cannot wait to see the plans.

The urgency of the drawings to mark out the land has been put back slightly as the planning offices close during most of the month of August so it is unlikely that we can get anything finalised until September. Hey ho, so be it.

So yes, we have moved forward but….as I say, it does appear to be with tiny steps. But, as I always say, those tiny steps all add up and in this case add up to us living in a cave. The problem is that the older I get the less patient a person I am, especially when I have set my mind at something.

The second purpose for my trip to Spain was to give my granddaughter Megan a holiday. Megan has been revising none stop for her exams so I wanted to give her a break away (and for her to see the cave in person). Ryan (Megan’s twin) has also had exams but he had flown off to celebrate with friends on another Spanish island.

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So, it was decided to have a girlie week with me, Megan and Sharon (Megan’s mom). We had a lovely 4 days near to the cave. I did all I could with the people I needed to see and we toured around the area visiting villages and shopping centres!  We found a wonderful centre close to Granada which had every shop you could dream of in a surrounding that was second to none.  It truly was amazing and one that I will certainly go back to.  You could certainly make a day of it even if you don’t shop.  The last 3 days of our trip we decided to move nearer to Malaga Airport as we had an extremely early flight home.

We chose a converted nunnery about 10km inland, which was a lovely spot in the mountains, but I must admit to feeling a little pleased that we had chosen the Granada area to live.  When you are not so near to the coast you get great daytime temperatures, cooler nights and ….no humidity! Wonderful.

Now we wait for the drawings to be completed and continue to advertise the 5 bed house and 2 bed apartment in Cyprus.  Spain awaits.

Here is another little video we made during our last visit.  I cannot wait to show you a video when the work begins.  It will be amazing –  I hope.😉