Milestones

Today, Angelo sent those pictures you can say they show milestones in our renovation work:

The flooring of the entrance is done !

I am glad, we found enough original tiles and could avoid a mix with another pattern. However, it was just the right amount of tiles to lay a kind of floral carpet. For the "gap" we added travertine that now looks like a border made on purpose. - When you now enter the main door and go straigth upstairs, you do not pass any dusty renovation area anymore!

The ceiling of the large living space is done!

This ceiling was hell of a work over several weeks that Angelo managed all alone. I only grated off a  few cm2 of old layers of paint with a small special knife to uncover the former fresci. Not much was left to lay bare, but it gives this space the appropriate old palazzo atmosphere. More about the ceiling and its construction in another post.

More milestones: Please have a look at my ABOUT page that I have newly added to the blog. Also I am happy to see that my blog hits this month an all time high visitor record. Thank you!

mansarda bianca

la mansarda bianca - our white attic

I am so proud of my idea of a white interior ... and of Angelo and CC to turn it into that stunning result !

The doors lead to the blue terrazzo with the blue ballustrade.

It was hard work !

This is how it startetd:

the ceiling:

CC at work: the beams needed grinding and painting

all the small fins needed to be fixed left and right of each beam

the flooring:

All done by Angelo alone - super job ! Mille Grazie !!!

And last but not least  BEFORE pictures:

This was the unfinished attic a while ago... 

Renovation: restored shutters

Some days ago, a small transporter drove down the alley and parked in front of the house. I was picture taking, and we had not yet delivered the entrance doors, when I saw some workers hauling a heavy door. Beautiful finish, antique looks ... WOW, I thought, what a beautiful entrance door ...

When they were hauling this door up the stairways to the first floor, I learned that this is not our entrance door, but one of the three restored window shutters !

You see, I am not the best informed person on the contruction site ...


The next thing you see, is the attempt of the workers to fit the shutters to the right window ... but at the end it turned out that still two of them are not measured accurately so the windows cannot be opened (see picture above).


This shows how beautiful it will look at the end (when small corrections are made).

We had decided to restore just three of the many shutters. Three that were best preserved. And we decided to paint them with wood color to show the original wood that is of high quality. The other shutters are all newly made and lackered white - less expensive then the restored ones.

And if one day the brown shutters will ever appear too dark we still can paint them white.

update: golden chick on ebay - or how the lady of the palazzo starts to flog the family silver

The auction for my object d'or (I posted yesterday) is now open for bidding here on ebay.

What does it has to do with our renovation project?

Two things:
1) the workers are now - lets say - on winter holiday, ... so nothing much to write about (this post can fill the whole)
AND
2) we have run out of money ... which means - we not only (see 1) sent the workers on winter holiday - but also need some cash.

So why not start to "kill a golden chick" ?!
Next I flog the family silver !!

Don't worry, we will survive - on a high level: with an empty, unlivable palazzo! - pity? - scherzo - the project (and blog!) just will take longer !

Back to my sale, the object d'art:
This shapely modern art sculpture is made in Thailand by a Thai artist. The object is of golden lacquered bronze(?) and black stone (probably black marble) - It is 30 cm high, 25 cm long and 18 cm wide. It is quiet massive and weighs 4.8 kilo. - The black stone pedestal measures 8 cm wide, 9.5 cm long and 10 cm high.
Starting price 39 Euro, shipping worldwide, ends 19.12.08 21:30:00 CET/MEZ.
More details on ebay.

Yes, this will buy ONE more hour work on the palazzo ... (IF after all!)

Before and After: Facade

before (2006) main facade

after (2008)

 

before (2006) from the side

after (2008)

Didn't our architetto deliver a nice job ? Complimenti !
I am very happy with the result. It looks great. Not overdone, in my opinion. Just appropriate and very well matching the main facade.

But, ssh, can you believe that we have a neighbour who wants us to move the rain drain ?! (It is facing his ground.) Maybe there is an old South Italian superstition behind his wish?

Mmm ... it should not disturb us to enjoy the overall result.
We are almost done ! ... from the outside.

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More Facade Before & After posts:

 

before and after facade from above

before and after facade from seaside

 

See all renovation posts BEFORE and AFTER.

Before and After: Seaside Facade

The patient before in 2006 - a little cleansing and colour is necessary:

And voila, after the treatment in 2008:

Well ... it's a new face ... I have to get used to it ... it might take a while. Not sure if I like the blue over the windows. Maybe a bit too much colour for an old lady? Hmm, the pinkish rouge before was suiting her very well... also the grey balustrade had charm. I guess, this is how you feel after a beauty surgery: is it still me?

While restoring they found blue colour over the windows and the architetto thought to use it again. If we don't like it, we could overpaint it. We agreed. Only now, I see the result, but the scaffolding is gone... How funny!


Update photo 2009:

 

 

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More Facade Before & After posts:

 

before and after facade from above

before and after main facade from piazza (front)

 

See all renovation posts BEFORE and AFTER.

Una Pianta di Limone and Dolphins

This morning I was greeted by a pianta di limone, a little lemon tree in our garden !!! Bellissima !!! I feel overwhelmed! It is not only a sign of spring, it is a mile stone in our renovation process! We have our first inhabitant: My little lemon tree! This is so sweet of my in-laws ... Grazie Lidia, Grazie Angelo!


This little lemon tree is a special one: "Questa pianta è una qualità di limone che fa sempre fiori e frutti in continuazione. Come vedi dalla foto c'è un limone maturo altri due in fase di crescita e fiori su altri rami." - This plant will always carry fruits and flowers, like in the picture! - And I confirmed via email that my little lemon tree can be planted right there in the corner of our tiny garden.


But this was not the only surprise that Angelo had sent me over night. The other pictures showed dolphins seen from our terrace yesterday! They can be seen quiet often at that time of the year. ... Oh, Calabria sounds like paradise... (I uploaded the pic in small size, because you hardly can recognize anything.)