Colour Testing for the Masterbath and first Results

/
You might remember my wild mesmerising Vietri tile combination in our master bathroom (and here). There were doubts if it should remain like that with white walls. Or whether we paint the walls in a deeper blue at the same hight as tiles end behind the sink and toilet. - Let's try it out we said:

greenish paint from the 1st colour testing in the  living room

Although, we had a deeper blue in mind, I saw during the colour testing in the living room, that the greenish paint would perfectly match the wall tiles in the masterbathroom. If we would not use it in the living room, we could use it up here.

view from further away

But the floor tiles are totally different and the contrast to the wall would be even bigger than it is already now. That's why we had already bought a blue colour sample to try out in the bath. It is the same metallic antique type paint we are using in the living room.

metallic "antique" blue paint

Nice try. But the metallic effect is too strong in this bright room and the blue does not really match the floor either. Angelo had to cover the trial again with white paint and find a new solution. We did not dare to ask him to do a "spatulato" wall. This is a traditional Venetian finish. Originally made with chalk powder, oil, natural glue from animals and natural pigments. Nowadays, acrylic or vinyl resin is used, but it still requires a lot of work. But Angelo proposed it himself!

spatulato finish 

This is the only photo Angelo has send from the wall. I guess, at that time the other walls were not finish or the room was still too messy to shoot a photo from the entire room. 

bathroom ceiling

But we have ceiling photos. It is a light blue, but not as light as used before in the piano terra for the ceilings of the entrance #37, the kitchen and the window's niches. I asked him to match the blue a bit with the blue of the wall tiles. I think he used the same hue as used on the ceuiling in the corridor in front of the green bathroom. And this is perfect!

bathroom walls and ceiling

A white stucco border was added on top of the mid-hight tiled wall and runs now around all walls. The colour of the ceiling is taken down on the wall to form an app. 20 cm wide border. This reduces the felt hight and is supposed to make the room cosier. This blue border is also limited by a stucco border, that is however a bit wider than the first stucco border. Inbetween the walls Angelo used the same "pearl" white or grey paint as in the living room. The grey colour is supposed to look warmer than a plain white.

I am myself curious how the wall looks behind the bath tub and on the opposite site! Angelo, please send more photos!

Colour Testing for the Living Area and Results

/
While I was still in Italy, we had to decide on the colour for the living area - which includes dining and kitchen since it is an open floor plan. We wanted something bold, something mediterranean. CC first thought of an orange-red, as we found this colour under a white paint coat and thought this might make sense. However, while in the room, we sented a red colour would distract too much from the beautiful sea view. "We should adjust the room colour to the outside landscape and use a blue or turquoise instead", we said.

So, we went to a shop in Vibo Marina and looked into the colour palette:

The colours (left) are mixed by a machine on site and you can even get it in smaller pots to try out the result.

We chose two different turquoise blue, one more bluish and one more greenish. And for the cross-beams of the ceiling a rosty brown-red.




Here we go. Angelo has already done the two blue-greens for the wall and the brown-red for the ceiling beams and borders. Both colour areas are limited by a white stucco border.

colour testing result number 1

No... First, the ceiling border is too dark, too strong, too bold. Second, although we liked the blueish greenish walls, we felt it's too cold. It was April and it was still fresh outside and even more fresh inside the house. So we said, we better go for a mediterranean orange or a sunny yellow that, hopefully, will increase the felt temperature by maybe 1 or 2 degrees.

In Vibo Valentia we went to Enel Arena and chose some yellow and orange toners that were to mix with a certain quantity of white paint.

The new paint (left) is ment to give an antique effect due to the method of brushing unregular short strokes onto the wall. It also has some metal particles in it which was not really what I want, but it reflects light, and why not give it a try since Angelo was keen to work with that colour.





colour testing number 2

First, Angelo had to prepare the wall - again - by covering the previous blue colours (from the testing number 1) with white paint, wait another day for drying and then finally try out the new sunny yellow. Also the ceiling border got a lighter colour. It looks like flesh taint - or lets just call it "peach".


So, how about that orange like yellow? - And how do you like my two new chairs that I got for "free" from our antique dealer?

Colour testing number 3

But wait, we got another more yellowish yellow ! And note, that the wall above got a "pearl colour" paint!

Colour test number 4

Or should we use the orange paint on the left wall? - It was the kind of orange-red we found underneath a coat of white paint while restoring the walls. - My mother-in-law matches quite well with the wall that day...


We decided to stick with that brighter yellow, sunny and warm. Colour number 3.

light blue in the window niche

And since we are into colour testing. How about some light blue? Angelo still has some left over paint. It looks good in the window niche.

The light blue window niche from a different angle.

Angelo in action

Angelo is known to like blue... And since there was more light blue paint left, he continued to paint the ceiling, but only where no fresco was found. 

AFTER: ceiling finished, walls painted and prepared with tiles for kitchen

view towards dining and living area where the ceiling has some rudimental frescos


Now, we could muse if it looks good or not to have the yellow paint only until a hight of approximately 130 cm - and why not overall. I think, there are three reasons why to do it that way:
  1. The ceiling is quite high, maybe 3,50 m - With two or even 3 different colours and borders it "shrinks" a bit.
  2. The open space is kind of a "tunnel" with a length of 13,50 m and width of 4,50 m (before there were three diffrent rooms separated by walls) - The way the space was painted should open up the situation.
  3. I learned that an old Italian palazzo in the very South of Italy, sourrounded by more old houses and the sea, cannot be renovated with a Northern European thinking or even more with a modern taste. Of course you can add this with accessories or furniture later. But every single room needs some basics that reflects the Southern atmosphere, or something very Italian, or even old fashioned from passed centuries. Be it the floor, the walls or the ceiling. - When I am in this house, I want to feel the difference to other countries and cities, not only outside in the narrow alleys, also inside the house in every single room.
  4. In case we would need to re-paint the walls in a couple of years, we can think this over again... But the years will add cracks and marks, the colour will fade and patina will come and make it even nicer. 

The result of the ceiling - a work by Angelo

This ceiling of our living, dining and kitchen area, as seen above, was a work of several weeks by Angelo who laid bare the frescos - or what were frescos in the past -  with a special cutting tool. This worth a separate post with more details (coming soon).

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!

Ceilings: Some lighter blue paint

/
Angelo tries out a lighter blue in another corridor
(all three panels are painted in the same hue)

the light sky blue in comparison to the other recent bright blue

for comparison of hues and for orientation - both are corridors 

The story behind:

This morning, very early around 6.15 am, I saw these pics in my mailbox. Angelo had written last night and was asking about how I like the new light blue, that he had tried out (surprise!), and which colour I would like better.

Remember, he is addicted to blue colour paint and obsessed with painting the walls and ceilings colourful - and then surprising us with the result.

First, I had to ask back - via mail from Bangkok - whether the light blue in the first pic is one or three different hues (I could not tell). Later, Angelo confirmed from Italy, that it's only one light blue hue and that he and Tonino, his co-worker, like the new sky blue. Also my husband, on business trip in London, joined the discussion by mail and said that he likes the new colour too, but I should decide.

Due to the time difference between Europe and Asia, I was busy with other things (egg cleaning the fish pond) and for some hours not at the computer, while, meanwhile in Italy, Angelo, probably waiting with a paint brush in his hand, couldn't wait any longer and just sent me a SMS text message on my mobile phone:
"I am still waiting for your reply. See my and CC's mails." 
Wow, now, a new medium got introduced to our long-distance-renovation-project: SMSs.
After a quick look into my mails, I wrote straight back: "Light blue! Va bene. Grazie e buon lavoro!"
I did not even know that I can send a text message from my prepaid Thai SIM card to Italy.
It worked. Only a few seconds later, his reply : "Good choice!"