Casa Amor

LAST MONTH WE LEFT JACK AND WALTER A LITTLE DISTRAUGHT. THEY HAD TO MAKE A DECISION ABOUT THE OPENING DATE OF CASA AMOR, AS THE WORK INVOLVED TAKING MORE TIME THAN EXPECTED. BUT THEY ARE PROGRESSING NOW, AND MOVING FORWARD AT A GREAT RATE

Words: ELAINE JOYCE

SO, SUMMER or not? High season or not?

“We won’t be able to open this summer,” Jack regrets, “we do not want to make false promises to our future guests! The builder needs more time to achieve the renovation and that gives us more time to select the perfect pieces for our finished décor, down to the smallest detail.”

The boys have chosen Marshall speakers for the sound quality (and also the design!) that will be available in each room so that guests can listen to their music in the best conditions. They are also in the process of deciding on the wifi equipment that will be installed – with the thickness of Casa Amor’s walls and arches it must be efficient and effective. “We are also relying on Zé e Maria, the boutique featured in last month’s AlgarvePlus; thanks to Olivier and Stéphane, we are discovering beautiful Portuguese makers, like Saudade Design who is weaving a huge corridor rug for us, 17m long, in a shade of khaki reminiscent of the Ria Formosa. We also fell for their very pretty poufs, woven in the same style, but this time in blue and cream like the beaches of Armona.”

Currently, Jack and Walter are recruiting talented individuals who will take part in the boutique hotel story – a manager to assist them, a cleaning team, a handy man, a group with barista skills to run the coffee shop and breakfasts, a pastry chef to accompany Walter, and later a Chef and his team for the restaurant; a dozen people in all over the next few months.

Knowing that a happy team creates a happy atmosphere – and happy guests as a result – employees will have annual contracts, attractive salaries, a cloakroom and private areas. If you want to join them, you can make contact via Instagram.

But none of this will be possible without the delivery of the finished building itself, and that is in the hands of the trio – E Obras, the builder; Sena Architects and Guida Gomez, the civil engineer.

“The structural work is almost finished,” Jack reports. “The electricity and water infrastructures are in place, the windows and doors are being installed. In the 14 months since work began, around 75% of the tasks have been completed. Soon it is the turn of the heat pump and solar panels.” Next, the bathrooms are to be installed. Parquet is to be layed. There is the painting, the finishing, and it doesn’t end there. We have to finish the pool, finish the fireplace, finish the platibandas, finish the installation of the Santa Catarina, finish the patio... as we say in Portuguese ‘é quase’, ‘it’s almost’. But we remain confident in our team, our trio –they know how much has been invested in this project. And they are aware of the visibility of our story, not only in the Algarve but across the country, in the world of social media... and in this magazine that we feel part of.”

When it comes to catering facilities, everything is in place. Equipment has been ordered from Olhão company Ibericafrio, founded in 1972, and stored in its warehouse. Jack and Walter took advice from Pedro Lima and fantastic chefs like Adrien Godreau and his wife Mélanie, owners of Amorizade in Lagos, a favourite restaurant of theirs. The installation of the kitchen and the coffee-shop should be finished in June – Walter is eager to get back to his role as pastry chef and Casa Amor neighbour, artist Dora Keogh, says she can already smell croissants!

So, there’s light at the end of the tunnel now, between financial calculations and debates on the colour of the cushions, between the call of the beach and the call of work. Watch this space…