So there we sat - deal done, the brothel bought, surrounded by tons of miscellaneous crap what the bloody hell to we do now?
Tidy up a bit for a start but deep down there was the nagging feeling that something more fundamental was required.
The site consists of two buildings which for ease of reference we shall hereby refer to as buildings A and B, and a substantial outside space some of which is roofed. Building A consists of a concrete ground floor and a traditional timber first floor. Currently downstairs consists of two bedrooms both en suite (that sounds far more refined than it is in reality) two grotty toilet/showers and a small vile kitchen. Upstairs has been partitioned with cheap wall into 4 bedrooms (two ensuite). All in fairly rank condition.
Building B has four foul bedrooms on the ground floor and three on the first. All are in various states of disrepair.
The outside area consists of a roofed pool room (that’s 8 ball not swimming) with quite a nice table and a covered bar area with some tables and chairs. The rest of it is space a couple of cars and an area that the previous owner used as a rubbish tip. Delightful!
The basic plan is to deck over the entire outside, put professional kitchen facilities in the downstairs of Building A and convert the first floor into a dining/drinking area. The downstairs of building B will be converted into a private dining/meeting room, ladies loos and two offices, while upstairs remains three bedrooms for staff or myself when I am unable to stagger home.
It’s all very well in theory but I am confused as to how to build the deck and new roof. I want a traditional Lanna (northern Thai) style look but know nothing about how to achieve it.
Luckily Rachel, a short while ago, met one of Chiang Mai’s leading architects and when we approached him he was very amenable and offered to help. Khun Deng, came to the site with us and instantly understood what we were looking for. Knowing time was short (because we need to get open for high season) and money tight (because it always is) Deng and his team produced a design in record time. A big, big thank you to them all and as you can see from the impressions in look pretty damned good.
