Apartment Update...

Plastering is a very specialized art that we now know as the German word: "Verputzen"

You can see the bamboo sticks within the cement

More cement and more bamboo

We had to tear back all of the cement, bamboo etc. all the way back to the original wood in the ceiling before beginning to put up the new board cover, and before plastering.

Cement and Bamboo, just from the Bathroom!!! (That original lovely green carpet has come in quite handy :-)

It has been about 6 weeks now since we first got the keys to our apartment. Originally, I had thought it would take about 6 weeks to be in tip top shape, but we are a little behind schedule :-) When we pulled the wall paper off the wall, we had no idea that it would require a total re-plaster.. We also had no idea that before you could plaster, you had to take every bit of old paint off the cement walls. We also had no idea that underneath the 100 year old cement, there might be some rotting pieces that would require an additional step of re-boarding parts of the ceiling. It sounds (and looks) MUCH worse than it is, but it has definitely been an interesting experience. ESPECIALLY, trying to figure it all out in German.  Despite the extra time and extra work, we are very excited to see the final product! On a side note too, it was fascinating to see that behind the walls, were handmade Bamboo reinforcements throughout the entire apartment. When we took it down, it smelled like cinnamon (either it was some toxic copycat or some type of spice used back in the day - very interesting!!!)