Outside In

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As the frequent reader already knows, we renovate from outside in.

Here is an update of the work done on the balcony. It is probably finished by now.

Do you like the diagonal finish?

It happened like this:
My husband asked me last week around 10pm at night, if I want the tiles on the balcony laid diagonally or parallel?
Me: Mmh, do I have to make the decision tonight?
He: Yes, they want to start with this work tomorrow.

For your information, we have bought the tiles more than ONE year ago ! Also a decision that needed to be made quickly at that time ...

So I took a paper and a pen and drew the balcony (I know the shape by heart). And as it is not even and a bit round, the architect recommended a diagonal finish. In Italy quiet common.

I know it is common for small rooms as well to make them appear larger. - So, why not. My drawing looked okay.

And here is the work in progress.



PS: we are all wondering if we still like the blue tiles we bought a year ago... (There are more blue tiles for the terrace! Larger ones.)

Nobody is Perfect

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When you do a renovation you want to do it perfect. Like a perfect cake or a perfect picture. But you are not perfect, nor is a renovation. - Especially when you follow the renovation work from far far away like I do.

So the above picture stands for the first wrong decision we made. Or for the first decision we did not make.

We saw the granite stone plates on top of the balustrade of the terraces. We did not like it much, but said, okay, we can life with that. Not too bad. Why change it when it is already there. And more granite plates were laying under the roof. They were bought by the former owner who wanted to renovate the house but did not finish. We did not realize that these pieces were for the windowsills and door sills. Somehow we knew, but apparently we forgot about them. Then, do you remember, we bought these wonderful blue tiles for the terrace that looks like the Calabrian sea and the sky at the same time? - Now our Calabrian sea has to end at these door sills. They look like my grandfather's tomb slab. They do!

I hope I will be able to life with that (of course there is worse in life!) But we could have easily ordered new sills in a more neutral tone, some broken white tone. I hope I will not think about graves or wrong decisions whenever I walk over these sills. It looks Especially when the stone is wet, it looks ... stop!

Look: In the next picture it seems not too bad. It shows the actual status of the renovation of the roof terrace.


You might say: hey, it is not too late, take them out! Now!
Sigh. Tough decision. I am not on site to realize the actual effect. Maybe it is not too bad after all.

The good news is, that we will be on site in about three weeks!!!! And then I will know more. I can't wait to see everything in person, although Angelo emails us half dozen pictures every day. GRAZIE! BTW, these two pictures were mailed by him today.

Vietri Tiles

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A couple of days ago we went to a company that sells all kind of tiles and of course the famous Italian ceramic tiles that are so popular at the Amalfi coast and in Capri. You can find Ceramice di Vietri online at Francesco de Maio and from Fornaci d'Agostino. They are affordable and so beautiful.

On the way back home in the car, Angelo, my father-in-law, said: You know, the owner of that company is the sister of the wife of your notaio, who is the brother of our friend Franco... maybe he can give them a call...

I like that. I mean the importance of the family-friend-relationship-thing in Italy that is even more important here in the South.

As I was not able to get any picture from the above links I am happy to have found via Katie-d-i-d this just recently posted picture of the Capri residence of Fiona Swarovski - what a coincidence.



We were actually looking at these emerald tiles too, maybe for a bathroom. - So, I am glad to have found this picture because it gives me an idea how it could look in a spacious living area. Although we have been thinking of putting terra cotta tiles in our living area, same as it is now. We might be able to re-use most of the old tiles and add some new ones of the same style, all together in a certain pattern.

For the terrace and balcony, that need to be done first, we choose a waterblue tile from Fornaci d'Agostino from the Emozioni serie. Its colour and surface looks like water and reflects the sun like water. Yesterday, I brought a sample tile back to our house and put it on the terrace.... It is difficult to tell from a tile of the size of 30 x 30 centimeters if it will look good on a surface of 70 m2... I hope we made the right coice!