The Sculpted Abode, Part 12: Moving In Just Before the Finish Line | Dubai Villa Renovation Week 9

The Sculpted Abode, Part 12: Moving In Just Before the Finish Line | Dubai Villa Renovation Week 9

Week 8, we explored the custom furniture in production, sculptural pieces designed to belong to the architecture.

This week, week 9, we crossed a new threshold: we moved in!!!

The house isn’t finished, but it’s ready, ready enough to live, sleep, shower, cook, and settle in while it receives its final touches.

Curious to follow the full journey?

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Moving in Just Before the Finish Line

After nine weeks of renovation, we moved back into our home, a confident milestone.

The house isn’t complete, and that’s okay.

The marble floors are still being polished in sections. Our custom furniture is still under production. However, the bedrooms are functional, the bathrooms are ready, and the kitchen — even with its temporary top — works beautifully. The lighting, the blinds, the layout, the silence in the HVAC system: they’re all there.

And so are we.

What It Feels Like

The first true moment of home? Stepping into the bathroom and taking a warm shower.

The vanity drawers are still in progress, however everything else works. The light, the tiles, the spacing, the flow. That one experience shifted something. And the kids settling into their own rooms sealed it.

In-shower marble niche with matching custom soap dispenser and tray, set within richly veined Calacatta stone.

Wall-mounted alabaster sconce on a sandy textured wall above a marble ledge in the powder room.

For the first time, we split them up into their own rooms, they were thrilled. My daughter beamed at her new walk-in wardrobe, a luxury I never had growing up. She spent two hours playing dress-up, thrilled by the independence.

The kids don’t see the snagging around them, just their toys and their own space.

There’s still work to be done, but it’s the kind that builds anticipation, not stress. Our custom furniture is in production, and the rooms are ready to welcome them. The sofa, bed, and master bed are coming next week. They carry meaning, designed with our family’s rituals in mind — from lazy afternoons with the kids to bedtime storytelling — each piece feels like a promise of a meaninigful life.

Why Now

We planned the move assuming the home would be livable. But the tipping point came from our elderly pets. Our 13 years old dog struggled with mobility in the apartment. Our cat, used to nightly garden strolls, was restless, kept waking us up. They weren’t coping, so we came back. It was the right decision. Not just for them, but for all of us.

Our cat drinking from the sculptural marble powder room basin, with carved marble birds on the vanity and warm alabaster sconces above.

Our senior dog walking across the marble floor as afternoon light casts soft shadows on the wall.

Detail of the Calacatta and Carrara herringbone marble floor.

Pros and Cons of Moving In Early

Moving in just before the finish line isn't for everyone. We’re hands-on. We don’t mind minor works happening around us. But for some, this transition could be frustrating.

For us, it actually clarified the final stage. Being present sends a message: we’re home. And it’s time to finish all works and get out.

We’re sleeping on new mattresses and using our old sofa and dining set until the custom pieces arrive. We’re cooking with a temporary lacquered wood surface on the kitchen island while the final stone is being fabricated.

And we’re fine with that. The house doesn’t need staging to feel like home.

A Living Space in Progress

The sheer curtains can wait, we’ll finalise those once the furniture arrives. A few joinery pieces and final skirtings are still in progress, paused to protect the marble polishing underway.

But the essentials? They’re in place. The reworked layout, the HVAC upgrade, the soft-glow staircase sensors, everything that defines the experience of this home is already doing its quiet work.

In progress, Carrara staircase with curved ballustrade.

View of the mirrored joinery in the walk-in wardrobe, featuring full-height arched doors with recessed marble handles reflected in the glass.

The Calacatta floors catch the light exactly as we imagined. The rooms connect with ease. The lighting adjusts as planned, and the staircase glows at night without a single switch.

The design holds — and it holds us.

Site Activities This Week

• Final snagging and deep cleaning across key areas

• Staircase sensor lights tested, adjusted, and locked into place

• Marble wardrobe handles installed in bedrooms

• Garden clean-up in progress, previously used as storage for construction

• Tesla charging port installation underway

• Final commissioning of AC system completed

Our cat spending the day in the office.

Calacatta marble pieces wardrobe handles laid out on cardboard, before installation.

To avoid disruptions on site, we now take the pets to the office with us. Our cat naps contentedly beside me as I work, and the dogs rest quietly near my team, perfectly at ease.

Looking Ahead to Week 10

The kitchen marble installation begins. We’ll also begin fixing the final skirtings and receive the last few pieces of joinery. The final design elements are now in sight — rugs, curtains, and accessories. Everything that brings warmth, not clutter.

This isn’t the closing chapter.

It’s the start of a life well lived.

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Experience the process. Watch how a vision becomes a home, week by week.