Bathrooms

I know you've seen some of this before, but I couldn't resist showing the bathrooms again. They really came out great.

The upstairs with its grey and white tile:



The expanded downstairs bathroom, with new laundry area and shower, also came out well.



Next post, out to the garden. . .

Bedrooms

We've made each of the bedrooms a little different from each other, but they share an understated and comfortable look.

The main bedroom with its rich wooden furniture. . .



the simplicity of the second double bedroom. . .



and the coziness of the twin bedroom. . .


More to come. . .

Kitchen and Living Room Photos

As promised, but a little late, I've taken some pictures of the house that is now 98% finished. We are terribly pleased with the result, especially the kitchen.


The main living room is spacious and inviting.


The room facing the river with the large fireplace has turned out great - an especially comfortable room for reading and relaxing.

I will save pictures of the bedrooms upstairs for the next post.

Settling In

We arrived late Friday night to find the house and garden in great shape. Almost everything is done inside and out. In the garden, the landscaping is complete with new lawn, flowers and shrubbery. We found the inside in the same condition, with everything spotless and complete.

We've spent the first few days here shopping for various odds and ends, including some rugs, pictures and other various decorative items. I think we're finally about shopped-out, which is good since we've also just about tapped-out the wallet!

Now, we're looking forward to a few days of nothing but rest! I will post some new pictures soon.

Zipping Around Town

I'm considering getting one of these, as I think it would come in very handy for tooling around town.

Plus, Vespas are cool!

Of course, there's always the danger of falling and breaking my arm (or head!).

And then there's this potential image factor to consider. . .

An Extended Stay

Tonight we leave for a two-week summer holiday at our newly renovated villa. We can't wait to see how the remaining work has turned out, especially in the garden, where the grass should be laid and the flowers and shrubs planted.

Originally, we thought we would spend this time helping to finish up the renovation work (really watching, actually) and getting everything in order, but our project manager and crew have done such a great job of getting things done, all that's left is really some finishing touches.

So, instead of running around trying to get things done, we can spend two delightful weeks picking out and hanging pictures, shopping for antiques, eating and generally loafing about. I view this as fantastic news, as it will give us an opportunity to really enjoy our new house, and besides, I really need the break!

I will try provide updates and photos during the next two weeks, but the mobile broadband signal is sometimes a bit dodgy, so wish me luck.

A New Bridge

Our house is not the only place in the neighbourhood under construction. Work began earlier this year on a footbridge across the Lima, only a few dozen metres from our house. Although they started work in the spring, things appear to have come to a pause, as we did not see much progress between our last two visits.

You can see the base of the bridge under construction in the picture below on the far right. Our house is at the far left, still half white, half-yellow.

The other side of the bridge will connect here:

When finished, the bridge will span the river at this point.

You will notice that the not much water currently runs through the riverbed. I am told that they have reduced the flow by closing a dam further up river so that they can complete the construction. They have also filled in a lot with rocks and built a barrier across it (below). Before, this area was filled with rushing rapids.

Supposedly, once the water flow is restored, this will again become rapids and the barrier will form a waterfall. I hope this happens soon, as the sound of the gushing water in the river is a great feature of our house. We would like to enjoy it!

Retail Awareness

We found that furnishing and outfitting a house from nothing has brought the added benefit of giving us a thorough knowledge of where to buy stuff all over Lucca province and the surrounding area. We found some of the places by accident, but thankfully our project manager/translator/nanny steered us to most of them.

In the course of our quest for sofas, tables, garden furniture and book-ends, we've shopped at high-end furniture shops, DYI stores, low-end furniture shops, antique shops, garden centres, flea markets, junk stores, electronics super stores and everything in between.
From Mondo Convenienza and Che Meraviglia for indoor and outdoor furniture, Brico and OBI for DIY, and Mercatone Uno for a little bit of everything, it seems like we have visited every big-box Italian retailer. And, of course, Ikea. We've even wandered through the Altopascio Mercatone Uno so many times that the furniture lady recognises us!

We've also found things in unexpected places. After looking everywhere for mattress covers, we finally found them in Esselunga, the supermarket. And we found some really great framed Puccini opera posters in a market stall on the streets of Lucca.

For all the fun, shopping for household items did present us with challenges, especially with language. With only a few shop employees speaking English (naturally enough), and my Italian remaining problematic, communicating exactly what we wanted did not always happen smoothly. However, persistence usually paid off, and through a combination of fractured Italian phrases, English and lots of hand gestures we managed to complete quite a few transactions.

Most of all, the experience proved a big confidence builder, both in using the language and in gaining the ability to accomplish what would be routine tasks at home in a different and sometimes intimidating environment.

Landscaping

Although we have done far more work (and spent much more money) on the garden than we originally intended, we do not regret it. The stone patio makes all the difference in the world, and I cannot wait to see the lawn.

Of course, to properly complete the garden, we must now decide upon what plants and shrubbery to plant. During our last trip, the landscaper brought a number of samples for us to see and choose from.

Unfortunately, our indispensable project manager / interpreter was not there when we discussed the options with the landscaper, and my Italian remains pretty rudimentary despite all of the lessons, so we're not really sure exactly what we chose in the end.

I'm sure we did get across that we wanted red and white flowers, and we're pretty sure about the shrubbery and hedges, but we will wait with great anticipation to see what we actually get.

Outfitting the Kitchen

I have always wanted to outfit a kitchen from scratch. The thought of creating a fully equipped kitchen with complete new sets of matching plates, pots, pans, glasses, flatware and cooking utensils fills me with great joy.

I thought I might do this when we moved into our new flat in London a couple of years ago, but truth be told, most of our existing kitchen stuff was still very good, plus we liked it, so I settled for augmentation rather than complete replacement. So, I have been looking forward to setting up the villa's kitchen for months.

The big day finally arrived last Saturday. We had previously scouted out a couple of stores for this purpose, and ultimately decided that Ikea in Florence was the best place to make the purchases. Not being a regular shopper in Ikea (we had only been to the London store once, and even that was a reconnaissance mission in anticipation of a visit to the Florence store), the selection, utility, quality and overall attractiveness of the kitchenware at Ikea impressed me.

The shopping experience turned out to be everything I expected and more! In the end, we filled up two full giant shopping carts of stuff (I wish I had taken pictures) and spent far more than I thought we would. It was great fun.

Sunday morning we took a trip to another store to pick up a few odds and ends we didn't get at Ikea. Instead, we ended up filling another giant shopping cart with more stuff, and dropping another few hundred euros.

We spent Sunday afternoon unpacking, unwrapping and putting everything away in the new kitchen. Luckily, not only did we not completely fill it up, we have room left over for more stuff should we desire (I'm hoping not!).

One More Big Change

Before we left last Sunday, the painters started work on the outside of the house. What a difference it makes!

I am pleased to say that the colour came out as we expected. All of that wandering around matching paint chips to buildings seems to have paid off.

Here's a view of the work in progress from across the river.