A week in Vejer during the final phase of limewashing at Casa entre cales. Loose notes, taken at the foot of the wall.
Monday. Freshly applied lime is almost blue. We learned this years ago working with a master from Tarifa. The residual oxide of the calcium putty gives a cyan tone that drifts towards off-white as the wall dries. There’s a particular day, around the third or fourth, when the wall decides its final colour. From there it doesn’t change.
Tuesday. The master asks whether we want the last coat finished with sponge or trowel. The sponge leaves a livelier texture, with grain. The trowel comes out tighter, drier to the touch. We choose sponge for the bedrooms and trowel for the living room. Light works differently on each technique.
Wednesday. The client arrives on site. We hadn’t seen her since February. The first impression is good but something bothers her in the kitchen. It takes her ten minutes to know what. The window into the courtyard is two centimetres higher than on the plans. We had raised it on site to align with the existing beam. We hadn’t told her. Noted.
Thursday. Technical disagreement with the stonemason about a joint between original stone and new wall. Ostionera stone never cuts flush: it has an embedded shell that always breaks along its line. The joint has to be accepted as it is. The mason is right.
Friday. The courtyard is finished. The olive tree we transplanted from the old garden has taken. It’s probably the most significant moment of the project: when the new piece begins to behave as if it had always been there.
I’ll come back in September, with the works completed.