progress in the stairway: stucco repair and new lamp

The BEFORE situation

Angelo had set up a scaffold and decided to repair the stucco of the ceiling in the stairway of the first floor (primo piano) by himslef, paint the ceiling and walls and hang the lamp he and his wife have found on a flea market near Venice.

during repair

after Angelo's artistic job !

during repair

(here he bought a similar piece of stucco and adjusted it)

and after Angelo's artistic job !

(actually, I cannot see that something is not original)

the beautiful ceiling after repair and paint - wow !

(who's father or father-in-law is able to do that ?!?!)

and here comes the above mentioned lamp - an antique flea market find 

the only thing, that I have to do with this luster, is that I have chosen the location for it

(not sure if you remember my posts about the small 'original' lamp that I wanted to keep in the main entrance, here and here)

this is the picture I have received today:

the scaffolding is gone and a second lamp is mounted on a wall in the background.

I cannot wait to see the walls and rail painted and the wooden rail handle mounted !

It looks now much more liveable!

This is the other lamp - again not my choice, but a good choice - it's a simple round Murano glass wall lamp. It hangs in the stairway that leads to the attic. The wooden panels above the lamp is from the flooring. It will be used as a small path. More about the attic coming soon.

Shrinked window

Usually, when renovating or remodeling and it comes to windows you would tend to enlarge a window, if possible. In our case, the window of the smalest toilet (the one that hangs on the outside), was large enough - before the renovation.

But look what happened with the new window (before, during and after) :

It shrinked !

Somehow it is less than half of the before size.

However it has a very bold frame.

How time flies - with capers

Over the weekend I checked my photo files about our palazzo. That means I had to go through summer holiday files of four years ! And we do not have just one summer holiday file per year. It was quiet a lot ... but of course very enjoyable. Not only to see the progress (the slow progress!) of our renovation project but also to see our child grow.

I found these funny photos below, that we apparently took every year. I call the serie "capers harvest on our terrace" (capers = caperi).

caperi August 11, 2006

This picture was taken when we saw the house for the very first time.

My Italian mother-in-law - always having space in her handbag - is collecting capers with our son.

This is still at the very first visit to the house in August 2006.

One year later: July 2007

Meanwhile the house is ours.

But we have not started the renovation yet.

Still harvesting capers ...

... and enjoying the view (summer 2007)

March 2008: renovation in progress

The terrace is the roof of the second floor and needs sealing.

The caper plant was taken out and the balustrade paint plastered.

Tow years later, August 2008 : uups ! A tiny caper plant popped up again !

The roots must be very stong and resistant.

Not good for roof and walls underneath. Water could infiltrate. Special treatment is necessary.

Three years later, August 2009 : Done !

No more capers. New tiles and security grid.

Although the tiles are beautiful and the iron grid is necessary - I still can't stop thinking that I like the charme of the old dilapidated condition - more? This is one of the difficulties, I think, when renovating. How to stop dilapidation without changing the character of a building or interior too much.

To get a broader picture, I am posting the sea side facade before and after:

August 2006, not our house yet

Sea side facade March 2008

August 2009

The palazzo from the sea, 54 meters above sea level

Some readers might know my sea side pictures. But since I am posting for almost three years and the renovation progress is so slow, some of you might have forgotten about the "look". Here are some more before and after posts.

*

Balcony : stunning !

Stunning is the view and stunning are the tiles !


It was our biggest worry that we had made the wrong decision with these blue tiles. They were not cheap and I thought they might draw off too much attention from the spectacular view.

But look at the result !

I am so impressed myself - the pictures are stunning (maybe more than reality).

The blue tiles underline the impression of floating between sea and sky !!


Of course the different position of the sun let the tiles reflect their blue color differently. In direct sunlight it might appear a bit kitschy - but I am calling it "Amalfi style".



And here are some "before" photos, when I tried to picture with one single sample tile the effect of light and reflection :







Shopping source: these waterblue tiles are from Fornaci d'Agostino from the Emozioni serie

And the finish is diagonal, which suits a rectangular balcony shape best:


Next time I will present our roof terrace. Very "Amalfi"...
...

mixed wrought iron works and some before and after pics

Even if I risk to bore you with my posts about wrought iron, I need to post one more time about that subject. I need to summarize for us what we have at our Italian home so far. There are a lot of different designs, but also patterns that are repeated. Above an older sketch of mine and below some pictures:

BEFORE : my favorite - in the appartment for guests.


AFTER : this rail needed to be higher for saftey reasons. The craftsman repeated the "S" style that we have allover the house. (I liked it right away when I saw this picture for the first time. But in comparison with the old before picture I realised the modification and would have prefered it more simple. - And the windows, inside white outside brown is another subject... Yeah, I am difficult, sorry. I should not complain with such a view!!!)


BEFORE : the facade and its windows and balconies with different wrought iron before the renovation


AFTER : the facade after renovation (with colored plaster) - the balcony rails are painted black and the windows got new iron grids which repeat elements of the arch over the main entrance and the "S" from two of the balconies.

Better details in the next pictures:





BEFORE and AFTER : renovation in progress, the old rail on the left was replaced by the rail on the right (already by the pre-owner)


The new rail is not only used for the balcony in the first floor (piano terra) but also for the garden floor (semiinterrato) where we will have the appartment for our guests (small left picture).



This is another tiny seaside balcony. I have no information about its renovation, wheather it is just painted black or if it was adjusted to the other balconies
by adding
some "S" like these ...
... to become
like this:




On the inside of the house we do have iron stairways railing, again with some "S" design






On the left is the craftman's drawing, the proposal for our garden doors. And we decided to do it that way and not as I have posted before.
No scrolls, no "S". Just classic and save.