Happy Kitchen House

When you walk into the kitchen of this magnificent old house, you can't help smiling, so full of light and colour is it. Turquoise units, yellow walls, a terracotta floor with stencils (which turns out to be painted lino!), skylights in the cathedral ceiling, traditional features left intact and lots of imaginative decorative touches make it one of the most delightful kitchens you could possibly enter. I would not change a thing!

The kitchen is on the middle and main floor of the three-level building, which stands in the upper section of the large and well-populated village of Ano Korakiana. It is accessed up a narrow right-of-way from the top of a village lane giving vehicle access for unloading but not permanent parking. The kitchen door opens from a 'bodzo' entrance balcony, with original stone steps up from the alley. It measures approximately 6 x 5 metres and, amongst other features, displays the old oven hod and a stone sink.

A couple of steps lead up into a hall, from which you access a bathroom (2.5 x 2.2 metres) straight ahead, the main bedroom (5 x 3 metres) to the right and the lounge (6 x 5.5 metres) to the left. The lounge opens at the far end through double doors onto a shared-access 'bodzo' which leads to a yard common with the adjoining property (also for sale - see 'Maestros House').

Also from the lounge, stairs lead up to the top floor, where there is a hall, two bedrooms (3.75 x 3 metres and 3.5 x 2.5 metres) and a bathroom (2 x 1.6 metres). The lounge also has a door into a space which was meant to be a stairwell to the ground floor, but this was never installed. The basement floor, which is partially built into the hillside but nevertheless is dry, comprises two spaces. One is a square storerooom of 28 sq.m., which opens from the alley underneath the 'bodzo' entrance. The other was intended as a separate studio - infrastructure has been completed, but finishing remains to be done.

The studio is odd, as it has separate entrance from the village road through a tunnel-like passageway which runs under Maestros House in front. As the passage (indeed, the whole studio) has a high ceiling, work has been started to create a little gallery above the door to the street, which, with a pull-down ladder and low chair, would make a lovely spot to sit and admire the view of the sea in the distance.

The rest of the studio, which because is is semi-underground has light only from the passage and from a small, high window, comprises a large room with a wide concrete shelf leading to a small room with en-suite bathroom (no fittings installed). The studio is 62 sq.m. in total, and with installation of a staircase it can be linked to the main floor lounge, or kept separate.

The house was renovated in the 1980s by an Englishwoman with a taste for the traditional, and, while she took care of the structure of the building with modern installations, she kept much of the old fabric, like the kitchen features, old stonework, woodwork etc, thus retaining its authenticity. A new buyer might like (for example) to upgrade the bathrooms, but otherwise, I would keep it as it is - a happy house!

For outside space, the house has a walled courtyard at the rear, on the opposite side of the alley from the kitchen entry. Like in the house, this has been kept as much as possible in its natural state, with moss-grown stones and greenery sprouting from the walls - a lovely cool haven for outside dining. In addition, it has a separate plot of land measuring 275.56 sq.m. which is not buildable but is ideal for growing vegetables. To the side of the house and linked with it through the common courtyard, three small plots of land - a total of 361.79 sq.m. - are also for sale as an optional extra. One plot would allow car access directly to the house, and parking outside it.

Paperwork has been checked and no problems are foreseen. The two previous sales, both to foreigners, have full legal contracts.

Price: 170,000 euros

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