Before and Afters - for my Fabulous Swedish Friends, Peter and Marie!

One of the things that I love the most about our job is meeting great people! Every time we are getting ready to meet new people I always wonder, what are they going to be like? Will they like me? Will I like them? Will they love Chelem like I do? I have to honestly say my feelings get a bit hurt if they don't love my little village.

A few years ago I started corresponding with a client from Sweden, Marie. She had never been to Chelem, but had traveled in Mexico extensively in the past. As we kept emailing back forth she found a house on the Mayan Living website that she wanted to buy. The house was right around the corner from me so I knew the area like the back of my hand. The problem was that she wanted to buy it sight unseen and it needed ALOT of work. I tried to discourage her, sending her links of other homes in the same price point that needed less renovations. However she was adamant on the one she wanted......I learned later that when Marie makes up her mind about something that there is no needed trying to change it:)

Long story short, she and her husband Peter bought the home without ever seeing it. Doug and I sent photo after photo of all the work that needed to be done, but, it didn't matter, this was the home they both dreamed of.

I'm sure that you can imagine how nervous I was when they flew in from Sweden to see their new home. Marie and Peter were both thrilled! They loved Chelem, they loved the local people and they loved their house, YEA!!!!! The very best thing about it all was how much we loved them, they are absolutely some of the coolest and best people we have ever met, Doug and I felt that we had known them forever. They feel right into the groove of Mexico, practicing their Spanish, eating local seafood and understanding that they weren't in Sweden and things aren't done the same here as in the country they came from.

We introduced them to our Mexican "son" who does most of all construction and repairs for us and they treated him like family. They discussed what they wanted done, pricing etc, all in Spanglish and then started upon their renos.

Every winter they come down for a few months to languish in the sun, have a few beers and enjoy life. This winter they weren't able to come due to some health issues and we miss them terribly! Because we haven't seen them I wanted to dedicate this post to them and show you some of their before and after pictures of their beach cottage.

This is what their dream home looked like when they bought it:

This is the front of it today:

A "before" side view:

And after:

The kitchen before:


And after:




One of the bedrooms, look at the walls......



Actually the whole ceiling and roof had to be replaced!

Master bedroom after:

The back of the house before:

And a peek through the new sliders in the dining/kitchen area after:

And another peek:

Their new living room, with arches added to separate the space:

Marie and Peter have created their own personal paradise for very little money, Peter said he spent about $20,000 USD including new wiring and plumbing, wall in the backyard the pictures above and a back yard terrace. In his words, "it's almost free!"

We miss you guys terribly this year and hope that you will soon be here to enjoy our little slice of heaven with us!

Here is a picture of Theo and Ursula's home right across the street:


Your other neighbors directly in front of you:


Theo and his new puppy Bob, wanted to tell you "hi" and saludos:

And of course I know that you want to see the beach!

Here is the ocean at your entrada:

And a pelican relaxing in the sun:

And to my blog readers here is photo of Peter and Marie, aren't they gorgeous! We just love them!

Marie, we are sending you our love and positive thoughts! We can't wait for you to be back so we can catch up and have a cold one! Until then we are just "Chillin' in Chelem."