The new year has just started and it's already February! While Angelo works on our project in Pizzo - the wooden and tile flooring now is all done - I am sitting at my desk in Bangkok searching online for some decent outdoor furniture. Calabria has not yet been discovered by IKEA & co and so it is not easy to find cool stuff. Beside having done some shopping in Northern Italy lately, ordering online seems a good solution to save time, but not being able to see and touch what you get and shipping cost to the most distant region of the Italian mainland are the downside. And while we are working on getting the apartments furnished before early summer, I get already many booking enquiries. I am really delighted to see that we get credits for our 5 star rated hospitality. But of course, our potential guests want to see photos! - Photos? But it's not furnished! - However, Angelo sends us on our what's app group (yes, that's how we manage another long distance project) almost daily updates. Although these are not for advertisement, I am posting them today as an update from the project side. And I promise the furnishing will be as nice as in our residence: a mix of old and new decorated with local art. Expect nice shots mid April. For now, please accept that we are at this state:

Dependance: entrance area from the street with view into second bedroom

Dependance: The second bedroom with small balcony facing the sea and restored stone wall

Dependance: living room with passage to the kitchen and restored original stone wall

Dependance: living room and restored original stone wall - I am curious myself how the staircase leading to the attic will look like ...

Dependance: roof terrace detail (wrought iron railing still coming)

Dependance: roof terrace stone bench (wrought iron railing still coming)

Dependance: kitchen not yet delivered but floor tiles look great!

Dependance: open window in the kitchen with a view

Dependance: kitchen will be on the left, passage to living room, kitchen balcony

Dependance: master bedroom with original stone wall and small balcony

The house: Studio Bellavista entrance below left, Dependance entrance upstairs

Studio Bellavista: The bedroom with a small balcony facing the sea

Studio Bellavista: living room with 2 windows facing the sea

Studio: balcony of bedroom facing the sea

All photos by Angelo, shot with his phone and sent via what's app group. Please expect big progress in April and more photos on the way.

Renovation reloaded (November 2014)

We are renovating again an external wall, that was beautiful restored during our previous main renovation six years ago in November 2008. See my post about how to renovate the side facade here. It included a voting by readers, and the result is presented here.

It turned out, the decision we made back then was an error, as the bare stone wall was deteriorating over time and soaked in all rain water in some particular areas. With the result of having humidity spots on the inside which dried out during summer, but let the plaster and paint on the inside constantly come off the walls. That was not a problem in the guest residence as the residence has a different surface on the outside walls, but in our living room on the ground floor, and in the master bath and guest room upstairs.

deteriorating stone wall (July 2014)

The picture (above) was taken during the procession of La Madonna del Carmine in July 2014 and shows at least one of the crucial areas.

Why did we wait so long for the correction?

First it was not clear where the water infiltrated. It looked more like a leak on the roof terrace and on one balcony. But then it became more and more visible from the outside.

Second, we lost many months and weeks thanks to our reluctant neighbor who had to give access to our wall.

after applying impregnation paint, foam is added for further insulation

fixing the foam to the wall with these blue pins

foam fixed

The new method of renovating this external wall: applying an impregnation paint on the stone wall. After that a 4 cm thick insulating foam was fixed on the wall (with blue pins, see above). And at the end, a finishing of colored plaster comes on top.

a glimpse of the new look (December 2014)

A large portion of our first year's vacation rental earnings will go into that wall.... But that is the purpose of renting out our guest residence. The income should help to maintain and improve the residence and to pay the running cost of the house. Hopefully, we won't have this kind of major spending on renovation again any time soon, and will be able to build up some reserve funds. Our project remains a project ... but a wonderful one.

See below the side façade over the years. And now, just in time before some rainy days, we finished the insolation and plaster work.