Here's the Plan

During the past few weeks, we have put together an outline of the work needed to get the house ready to use. We have been very fortunate to find a fantastic person locally to help us coordinate the renovation work. This has benefited us enormously, as she has already had the utilities connected and she knows the local tradesmen. Once we actually start work, I'm sure that we will find her invaluable.

So, here's the outline of what we will do over the next couple of months:

1. Replace the boiler for heat and hot water, re-plumb heating system and complete plumbing work required for the new kitchen and bathrooms.


2. Install a new circuit breaker and perform general remedial wiring work.


3. Strip out existing kitchen and bathrooms.


4. Replace and repair some roof tiles and install new guttering and downspouts.


5. Strip and refinish doors, window frames and woodwork and replace hardware where required.


6. Install new kitchen and main bathroom.


7. Redesign and expand ground floor bathroom to include a shower and room for a washing machine.


8. Strip and refinish floors.


9. Replace or restore if possible the iron gate to the road and install an electric opener.


10. Build a stone terrace and walkway in the garden.


11. Build a bookcase under the staircase.


12. Paint interior and exterior.

While the list seems extensive, it fortunately does not include major reconstruction work. The biggest jobs will be the bathrooms, where we will move a wall, do some re-plumbing and put in new stone tiles; the kitchen, which should be a pretty straightforward fitted-kitchen installation.

Bathroom that will be expanded to include a shower and space for the washing machine:

Main bathroom: everything must go!


A bookcase goes against the wall under the staircase. . .

We're going to Bagni di Lucca in two weeks to catch up on things locally and to pick out the fixtures for the kitchens and bathrooms. We can't wait!

Getting Started

We haven't been back to Bagni di Lucca since we completed the purchase, but things have been happening nonetheless. The plumber, the electrician and the carpenter have all provided estimates for various pieces of work. Of course, we need to do a little more than we thought, but we kind of expected that.

Mostly it's the plumbing: we knew that we needed a new boiler, but the plumber says that we should probably replace the pipes that supply steam to the radiators as they are old and not in very good shape. This is one of those situations where everything is OK now, and could remain so for some time (maybe even for years). Conversely, the pipes could start cracking and leaking tomorrow.

In the end, we decided to go ahead and replace the pipes. It's more work and expense now, but much more peace of mind. Besides, the work involves trenching into the walls, so we would rather do it concurrently with the other work and while the house remains unoccupied.

Luckily, the old cast iron radiators are in great shape, and only need stripping and refinishing. These not only give character to the house, they also do a great job heating it. Apparently they are highly sought after and hard to find, so we're fortunate to have them.

Hopefully the plumbing work on can begin soon, and we're putting together the overall plan for everything else.

At this point we hope to be ready for late summer, but that may be optimistic!

A Map

A map of the villa's location, courtesy of Google Maps and a suggestion from a reader, Jeffrey in Connecticut. You can click on the "SAT" button to view a satellite picture.


View Larger Map

Before. . .

Just before the closing last week, I walked through the house to take stock of the work we will need to do. Luckily, aside from some repairs to the roof and gutters, the house does not require serious reconstruction work.

The biggest jobs will be fitting a new kitchen and bathrooms. Otherwise, we need to clean and restore the floors, strip and re-finish the woodwork on the doors and windows, update the electrics, paint the walls and some complete some other decoration work.

We're hoping to start the initial work within the next few weeks. If all goes well, we could finish by summer, but that may be too optimistic.

First step: clear out all the old junk!