maison mk

renovations (2)

With the concreting, plastering, painting, tiling, etc continuing (and almost finished), the end of our little summer 'pause' is approaching. How we can cause such a mess to just change around the spa area & add a shower and a hamam astounds me ! Still, we are now in the final stages & then the big clean commences.

As always when chaos is at its height, I decide to do something very important that may, possibly, be something that can be finished. This time, i will mainly be grinding coffee ! In Morocco, as any riad owner will tell you, trying to actually finish a job is almost impossible.

For example, you want to put a screw into a wall to hang a picture.

Stage 1 - try to find the tape measure (which is lost / missing the first 20cm / etc/ etc).

Stage 2 - all pencils / pens missing (despite buying 100 pens).

Stage 3 - get the drill (which has no plug on the end, so fit a plug. Obviously there will be no plugs, so go and buy another one first).

Stage 4 - fit the drill bit (double problem here - no drill bits, therefore go to the shop & buy yet another bit, and then no chuck key to tighten the bit into the drill).

Stage 5 - drill hole, finally!

Stage 6 - find the missing rawl plugs.

Stage 7 - no screws, buy one.

Stage 8 - can't find the screwdriver / screwdriver snapped in two pieces / use the oyster knife or sabbatier carving knife.

Stage 9 - pop the screw in the wall.

Usually you give up around stage 5, but this is an incredibly common frustration of  trying to achieve the simplest little task on the great 'things to do' list !

tea pot people

I wanted to get some little, cute covers for the teapot handles when we serve mint tea. Pauline went out and, deep in the souks, found these slightly terrifying little people. Some people say that in the night they run around the kitchen &  scare the fruit & vegetables...we just don't know.

still shipping...

we are still behaving like a small branch of DHL with the amount of stuff that is still heading over to Marrakech from the UK. The clients all think it is all complete, but i still continue to add finishing touches that i really want to offer people.
We have another 200kg's going out on Saturday - shipping list includes 12 tins of paint (the Moroccans don't really do accurate paint mixing!), 5 bathroom curtains (currently only a voille between bedroom & bathroom, in one week there will be an optional thick curtain), 25kg of coffee beans (best i've ever tasted from the Algerian Coffee House in Soho - important to me to have the best whenever possible), 4 directors chairs (for our butler picnic - think Out Of Africa with white china, bejewelled umbrellas, flowing silks, etc out in the Moroccan countryside), champagne buckets, plus 40kgs of bits & bobs - vacuvin stoppers, curtain rings, lighting, cable clips, table legs, etc, etc, etc.

maison mk marketing...smashing !

Here is the stand that we have at a few village fairs in the UK to tell people about maison mk. This was in Barnes in London - held on a freezing, cloudy and rainy day, in July in the middle of what is jokingly called 'summer' here in England. Lots of interest though - Marrakech has really taken off with the British & lots of people seem to like what we have done with the design & ethos of the hotel.

Sadly, this is what happens when you are forced to take evasive actions on the fast lane of the A3 and scrape the entire side of the car down the crash barrier, on the way home from the fair. All side panels destroyed, both tyres burst, alloy wheels crushed,all suspension broken - waiting to hear if its a write off ! A bad end to a good day....

renovations

OK, we are now closed for one month during July so that we can make some improvements in the riad. It brings back all the horrible memories of noise, dust, concrete, hammering, rubble, floods, etc that we were so used to in 2007.  But we are changing one of our treatment rooms into a hamam (a traditional moroccan sauna / steam room) where you can have fabulous ancient treatments performed by our hamamist, hamamer, hamameuse, ....or whatever a person that works in the hamam is called.

no... lets be crazy & build the new wall parallel to the old wall, makes a change from all the wonky angles that  we tried before!

We are also adding a dedicated manicure & pedicure area and also a shower and changing  room.

things to do list...

Anybody that has come within 20 feet of me in the last 2 years knows that I have become obsessed with the great 'things to do' list. It is still alive, but we are beating it into submission &, in an attempt to remove an easy item from the great list, I ventured into the pool to pick out some pearl decorations that had ended up on the bottom. What should have been a 2 minute job turned into a 40 minute job - every time i dived to the bottom to pick up the little disks, the crazed thrashing of my arms & legs wafted them across the pool & out of reach. With the help of the duck, and two of the staff generally pointing at the pool, the three little disks were removed & another item was ticked off !

Cushions...cushions...cushions...

Apparently, according to Peter & Keith, our interior designers, you can never have too many cushions ! I beg to differ - we have managed to fill half a room with ours. That is a pile about 10 metres long, 5 metres wide & half way up to the roof ! Peter & Keith are still producing more in a cushion frenzy in the workshop in Winchester. Sad thing is, they're right - it looks gorgeous when the whole riad is dressed in its glad rags. Just another 50-100 cushions to go (and we should be unable to open the front door any more)!

The Square...

Just back from Marrakech & finally took my camera out to take some photos. However, ran out of time (as always !) so just had time for a few snaps. The main square was as lively as ever with its snake charmers, story tellers, etc, etc. maison mk is only 2 minutes walk away from the square.

Hammam on its way...

We are heading into summertime in July when temperatures go crazy - 140 degrees not uncommon ! So we are taking advantage of this by closing for one month to do all the changes & renovations that are impossible to do when clients are in the riad.
The biggest change will be to move the gym upstairs & install a hammam (traditional sauna / steam room) and a dedicated area for manicures & pedicures, and also a shower room & changing room. This will further  enhance the spa facilities that we are currently offering.
Hasna, our beautician / masseuse, has been a huge hit with the clients. One client has had 5 treatments in 3 days & still wanted more. Another client, very experienced in receiving massages all over the world, said that it was the best massage she had ever had ! So we continue to offer more services on the spa side of the riad.

happy fridge...

now that is what i call a happy fridge. Veuve Clicquot champagne, Cristal Champagne, and home made chocolates.....mmmmm