Email & ShareGood Things Come In Small Boxes
This episode of The Houses of Merida features one of the smallest houses we’ve seen renovated in the centro historico of Merida. The facade of this houses measures only four meters wide (that’s about 12 feet for those of you who are metrically challenged), and the lot is 28.7 meters long (about 94 feet). In the days when we were house-hunting, we would never have even considered a house this narrow!
But look at how the owner, an American who built this as a full-time home, has turned this long and narrow house into a modern jewel!
The house is built like a railroad car (they called them ‘railroad apartments’ when we rented one back in the 70′s in California), with one room following the other as you walk from front to back. The architect expanded the square footage by making it a two-story railroad car and finding the space to fit in a staircase. When you open the front door, the first room you see is an entryway, which is rarely used, but provides a good sound buffer between the street and the rest of the living area. The second room features the staircase, a bathroom under the staircase and a sitting area with shelves for storage below, and a counter for display above.
The final and third area downstairs is where all the living is done: a kitchen with stainless steel applicances that match the polished grey concrete, overlooking a living room and office area with built-in desk, all of which look through glass doors out to a small patio, garden, fountain and plunge pool. The owner built a retractable shade that can be unfolded to provide shade for the pool during the heat of the day. The garden is surrounded by brand new stone walls that look as if they have been there for decades, but have a wave design that echoes the modernity in the rest of the house. And just behind the pool at the end of the property is a bodega for equipment and storage. The doors are painted blue to match the wave in the wall and give a touch of color to an otherwise neutral color palette.
Upstairs is the master bathroom and a spacious master bedroom, also defined on one end by glass doors that look out to a spacious covered balcony with space to hang a hammock, all overlooking the pool.
Modern Merida
Unlike some renovations, the doors, floors and ironwork in this home are all new, produced by the architect’s crew and done in a modern style. The traditional Yucatan elements of a colonial home actually work very well in conjunction with a modern design, as was originally proved by the first architect we ever met here, Salvador Reyes Rios. Salvador’s style of modernizing colonials while maintaining certain original elements has become much sought after, and many other local architects have put their own slant on that strategy.
It seems to us that this little house manages to pack in all the elements that you want in a house in the Yucatan: high ceilings, tile floors (in this case, a little bit of original tile surrounded by polished cement, which is very typical in a renovation), a pool, a garden, stone walls, a place to lie in a hammock. The open kitchen, the glass doors and the high ceilings all lend a feeling of spaciousness that you wouldn’t expect in such a narrow house.
The house was completed in early 2008 by architect Victor Cruz and his crew for an American client. It is a one-bedroom, 2 bath with a plunge pool located in the Santiago district.
More Coming Soon
We hope, as always, that you enjoy this installment of The Houses of Merida video series. We enjoyed your comments from the first episode, and plan to present you with more variations in size and style of the houses in the future. We are also going to branch out from Merida and explore some of the cities and pueblos outside of the capital, including houses at the beach, haciendas and more modest houses in areas not usually associated with gringos. So, there’s lots more to come! If you want to be notified whenever there is something new on Yucatan Living (including a new video), put your email address in the box on the first page labeled "Subscribe", and that will be automagically done for you!
Now sit back, relax and please enjoy while Eric Partney of Mexico International hosts Yucatan Living’s second episode of The Houses of Merida!
Throughout the winter months (roughly October to April), the Merida English Library holds House and Garden Tours that allow you to visit three or four homes in Merida in person. As these are a benefit for the library, and a lot of fun besides, we encourage you to join one of these tours for further exploration of the Houses of Merida. Find out more on their website.
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Eric Partney can be reached at casamex [at] me [dot] com or through www.mexintl.com.
Yucatan Living can be reached at info [at] yucatanliving [dot] com
See the rest of this series at Houses of Merida… and as always, we welcome your comments!
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When I was growing up in Merida back in the 50/60s, I knew 3 such homes in calle 57 between 74a & 76. One of those homes belonged to my best friend’s parents and I often found myself there. After reading the description given “railroad car/apartment” I wonder if the house in question in not one of the 3 I knew back then (those homes were next to each other). For such an small house, 5 people lived at my friend’s home (6 if you count me because I practically lived there).
Great written description above!!! I could envision the house before I saw it. Victor did our house as well and it turned out fantastic. We highly recommend him and his entire team at Estilo Yucatan. We’d work with them again in a heartbeat.
PS. Love the video. The Eric’s did great!
What a beautiful house- pefect for a couple. Keep the vidoes coming! Thanks, Carol
wonderful homes! both the home on episode one and episode two are obviously gorgeous, perfectly tasteful and could feature in any magazine! thanks for the new series.
I wish though, you could show some more ‘down to earth’ maybe not so fancy renovations, and homes which are also more affordable. after all, we are not all interior decorators and architects and not everybody can afford one.
the idea is great, showing actual homes, after a renovation is a fantastic way of getting to know the ‘secrets’ behind the facades in this beautiful city.
Thanks so much for the second installment. I send them to friends whom I have spent time with in the city. Great quality even in full screen. Keep up the good work.
I’ve seen his house for sale and love being able to tour it at home. I like the house when I saw it online and am encouraged by how a small house can be renovated to something perfect! Thanks again!
To the wondersful and creative staff at Yucatan Living:
Great – but too short! Why not go a full 4 minutes in length – instead of only 3+ minutes? This will allow the camera man to pan a bit more slowly when they are tallking about a specific feature in a room so we can see them better. On this video I had to do a “stop freeze frame” multiple times to see the things mentioned in the written narrative or in Eric’s comentary / otherwise if you blinked – you missed them since the action was so fast.
Obviously from the very large number of comments you received on Episode #1 and that you will certianly get from Episode #2 – this new feature is a 5 star winner!
The expanded written narrative was most helpful to read before we viewed the video. Maybe a couple photos from the owner of the “before renovation” could have been inserted into the writen narrative to make it even more informative and interesting.
This new “HOMES” feature is going to be your most popular item in each issue. Maybe eventually you will even have to expand it to weekly!?!?
Keep up the GREAT work – I am now going to forwrd this Episode to about 2 dozen friends – many whom I will assume will become new subscribers in their own right – just to see the future “HOME” Episodes.
Thank you for all your comments. We taped the first four episodes before airing any of them, so please look for improvements and additions starting with Episode Five.
Yes, we’ll do some less “designer” homes. Yes, we’ll take more time and show more details. Yes, we’ll try to get some photos, and if possible, photos from “before”.
Stay tuned!
Thank you again for such a great home in the beautiful city of Merida. I am glad that you have shown a smaller home and smaller lot. I am searching for a home in Merida and, like Working Gringos, would have likely passed this one up due to lot size. Thank you for adding the Architect info.
A quick note to Fabio. This is a beautiful home in Merida but likely not considered to be expensive, by any Expats standards.
Was able to access house number two easily – thanks. Think I will really enjoy series
Nice house! Still pretty luxe but the scale seems more “real” to me. I thought the video was great and it’s fun to see what people have done with their homes.
Jennifer
Very beautiful renovation but can we get an idea on how much are we talking about to renovate a house like this one.
Guessing — not knowing how much electrical work and plumbing work had to be done, but assuming the entire house was upgraded to modern and new — anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000 would be a guess.
They had to newly construct the second floor, the bodega, the pool. That takes a major portion. Probably repair some walls.
Electrical and plumbing are cheaper than you’d think, because labor is less expensive. They had to newly fit out the kitchen with cement counters (doing that in my kitchen was around $1,600 and their kitchen was much smaller). Moving windows and doors in walls can be done inexpensively. Cement work in general is inexpensive, but material costs are going up.
Woodwork costs a lot. A. Lot. Shockingly much, in fact. Wood is rare in Yucatan — it nearly all is shipped in from elsewhere. And, fact is, *good* carpentry work is not common. (“good” meaning they use dry seasoned wood not green wet wood, careful fitting and finish, etc.)
Friends tell me I’m better off going to Guadalajara, having doors made there and shipped to Yucatan. They say it would be cheaper and better quality. I can never tell if they are kidding or not, but that may be the beer… I’d like to know who the carpenter was on this house, because the closet doors look very nice. The front door shows gaps, which shouldn’t happen on a door made with seasoned wood.)
The lower figure was if they’d just done minimal things to get a house about that size “livable” and the higher one is what I’d guess they actually spent on improving the house, without appliances and any fancy light fixtures. Again, it is just a guess, but the house is fairly small, but with nice finishes.
This is a beautiful small home. HGTV has a series on living in small spaces and this would fill the bill.
Kudos to the owner, the architect and especially to the artisans who built the vision into a reality.
a few more comments….
to Casiyucateco. i think you might have to almost double that figure. i do not believe for a second that this renovation has costed less than 80 thousand dollars at the very least and probably over 100 K.This according to my experience….and Patti I know that, cause I live in Merida myself and my house was renovated as well. Even in this market I do not believe the house on nr. 1 is that ‘cheap’, probably in the 300 K figure at least, a quick judgement. nr. 2 is definetly more affordable, due to the size of the lot but still not that cheap. The renovation in our home costed us 60 K and we used a very affordable architect (very satisfied with the results). electrical, plumbing. two new kitchens and two bathrooms, pool and palapa and fountain. Our home is cozy, but definetly not as beautiful as house nr. 1 and not as design-perfect as house nr. 2. I am looking forward to more houses (after house nr. 4)
thanks again for this interesting series!
For those that can’t see the video on these pages, do a search for Yucatan Living on Youtube.com and you can view them there. That is, if you can access youtube. Hope this helps.
Keep up the great work.
The newsletter comes with a box and an “x” instead of the video, don’t know what our computer is missing….. Thanks a lot for letting us know we can view the videos on YouTube!!!!!!
Finally moving, Sept 10th we arrive in Merida!!!!!
Thank you so much for such wonderful pictures from behind the facade…
Lucky Jay and Marie. I wish that I were moving to Merida in the next couple of weeks. We are still in the buying mode. I just continue to pour over every piece of information that I can find regarding Merida and the Yucatan. It is indeed paradise found.
Working Gringos – you are the best.
If you find this happening to you, it is because you have Flash not installed or active content blocked as a browser security option.
I am retired and living in Northern California. Privately, I am warming to the possibility of living in the Yucatan. The “Houses Of Merida – Video Two” has increased my awareness of how older reality listings can be updated for a modern lifestyle. My desire to look more seriously has just gone public! Thanks for the inspiration.
Question: Can a person who is geared toward doing a majority of the upgrade work himself, find an unrestricted path when working with inspectors and local building codes? Building Code adherence in the San Francisco Bay Area often seems to mainly depend on an inspector’s particular focus. This can be troublesome, as the goal of upholding important safety standards seems to vanish.
Ever since my first visit to Mexico, about 22 years ago, I have loved the country. I always look at property in Mexico, to see if there is something that I can afford. I discovered Real Estate in Merida about 18 months ago. I have made many trips to Mexico and several to Merida in the past 10 months and find it more and more exciting with each visit. This is a beautiful area with wonderful people and architecture. I have been researching this area for the past 18 months and am currently in the buying process.
Morris,
If you are renovating a colonial structure in Centro Historico, you will have to have a permit from the authorities for any changes done to the facade.
Electrical and plumbing work are up to you, your workers, or contractors. You won’t have inspectors for those things. You will want to do it well, however, if you plan to live in the house. You can find various workers willing to help you with heavy work or whatever. Particularly in this bad economy, there are plenty looking for a steady income for a few weeks or months.
The main inspector of the work will be you. This is liberating for knowledgeable folks and a little disconcerting for those who don’t know how to check the work.
You may want to consider a couple extended vacations or renting a while before diving directly into a renovation project. See how you like the area, the climate, the style of housing and the way work is done (quite different in some aspects from the USA).
Thank you, as always, Casi Yucateco.
Also, Morris, if you haven’t already, read our Building Our House series to get some insight into how things are done here. All of us from “the North” go through a bit of a culture shock adapting to how they build houses here… it’s good to educate yourself ahead of time.
At the end of this article, you will find the links to each article in the series:
http://www.yucatanliving.com/real-estate-yucatan/building-our-house-viii-the-end.htm
Thanks to Gabriel for his suggestion to watch the videos on YouTube. I was indeed able to do so-FINALLY! To – Working Gringos, I do not have Actibe Content blocked and I do have Flash installed. I am able to watch videos on other web sites so still not sure what the problem is, but thanks alot. Atleast I can see them on YouTube.
Great work. Love this site. I will be visiting very soon.
to Casiyucateco and working gringos
yes , even painting the facade of the house requires a permit. originally i was told that it actually requires 2 different permits, if the house is located in the centro historico. one from INAH (instituto nacional antropologia y historia) located across the street on one side of SAMS CLUB on carrettera progreso, and AFTER THAT , a permit from the ayuntamiento. BUT it seems to be enough with the INAH permit (as long as it is a facade work). you will need a photo of the facade (on a cd rom), a copy of the number of the cedula catastral, a copy of the predial payed and a proof of ownership. then you will have to fill a form. it normally takes 1 week we were told…. (took us 4…). then you pay a minimum fee of around 91 pesos. at INAH i was told that ACTUALLY you need a permit from them EVEN if you do the renovation of plumbing, electricity, put a pool in the backyard. i was originally told by my architect that one ONLY required permits for NEW construction (if you add rooms in the backyard) etc. but it seems not to be the case….needless to say, our architect didn’t apply for a permit to INAH when we did our renovation….
i was also told at INAH that you have to have their permit TO PAINT THE WALLS INSIDE THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i wonder if anybody does that….(ask for the permit).
Why didn’t you tell the cost of each home in Merida Mexico.
This home is gorgeous. I love that pool. This would be a perfect home for a vacation rental as well. Self-contained, a private pool, and peace and quiet.