update

Wow, more than a month has passed since my last posts (about the bathroom) and my yesterday post (about the stuccoed ceiling) !?

Our "contactor" Angelo, my father-in-law, has been back in Northern Italy for a break.

In the meantime, I have been busy setteling into our new home in Bangkok. We found a lovely appartment and moved in beginning of September :

new Bangkok home

In October, our son had his first break from school and we decided to visit our old home in Beijing, China for the first time since we moved away two years ago :

old Beijing home

 Now, we are all back on track. Me in Bangkok and Angelo in Pizzo. Last week, he "pushed" me to decide on the tiling and equipment in two more bathrooms, since he wants the bathrooms finished before the parquet laying. Of course I have thought about these bathrooms a thousand times and had many pictures collected in my files. But when it came to the selection of sinks, I realized that I do not have the exact measurements of the walls and the distances between sink and toilet etc. Also we had never finally decided on tiles or mosaic. So can you imagine, how I felt? Thousand of miles away from the construction site. My husband in the office and busy with other things. And Angelo who does not want to see mails and mails with my brainstorms, but just clear instructions?

It is a challenge ! And it's fun ! It is a project that distracts me from my (sometimes) boring day to day life. Although I cannot say that I my day to day life is boring yet, after having moved just three months ago to South East Asia. Probably it will never be boring. But for someone who has worked fulltime for almost 20 years, it is like a fun job ! I wonder what I do, when we have finished this project ?! But probably there will be always something to do ! I even might convert it into a B&B for holidayer from May to October.

Have you noticed the door got big bullen nails (borchia f., borchie pl.) !? (photo below).

And look, we got a door bell and plates with our names ingraved ! So you could ring the bell and if I would be home, I would open you the door and offer you an aperitivo... 

 

 in progress: Italian home  

no title

a "still lifes" photo by Angelo

This is Angelo's bike in front of our main entrance door. Apparently he drive his bike every morning from Vibo Marina to Pizzo, about 4 km along the coast (is the coastal road open again?). The above photo he sent to me with the message that the door is almost finished. The only thing that is missing are the borchie ("deco nails") for the lower part.

cancelli di ferro battuto

Another - good - result of long distance renovation:

Our iron gates, cancelli di ferro, are ready for mounting.

When I received an email this morning with the above subject and attachment, I was holding my breath until the attachement opened ... and I was so relieved when I saw it ! What a surprise!

What ? Surprise ? We had the draft of the design and agreed on it (below). Why surprise ?

WAIT - that's not the whole story.

Apparently, after we had agreed on the design, the 'artist' got inspired by my posts about iron gates (here and here). And he got a new idea. He wanted to integrate some design pattern that appears in our basement.

Maybe similar to my photo editing (below).

Okay, fine, we said. But, please send us a new drawing to make up our mind - soon.
And we waited and waited.

Yesterday, we asked again: "How about the new design?"

And here came the confusing answer:

"The gates are ready for mounting!"


"Scusi ?! What about the drawing ?! What if we do not like the design?"


The last message send out to Italy yesterday night:

"Please send photos immediately before mounting !"


So that's why, this morning, I am happy and relieved to see the gates made after the originally agreed design.

No extra pattern, no sweet curves, no flowers or hearts or "s".

What a nice surprise !

Now, let's wait how they look fixed - coming next.

wrought iron doors - part II

Since we knew that we need to think about wrought iron doors, I always took pictures on our trips to Italy when I saw an interesting design of wrought iron work, no matter for doors, archways or windows.

Since we talk doors, I will post doors first. The following pictures are taken by myself or taken from the WWW, mainly via flickr. (You need to click on the pictures for better details.)

Let's start with Italy:

Iron gates at the Colosseum in Rome - very simple but colossal




Two small iron gates at the Castello degli Angeli in Rome. The first one is a very pretty small two wing gate.



Venice and an impressive iron door gate on the canal.


A beautiful watercolour impression by Donna Coreless (via flickr): iron portal in Venice



Sarzana, near La Spezia in Liguria: this is a very beautiful little medival town with lots of antique shops. These shops are protected by tall two wing iron gates that are leaned against the outside walls during the day when the shops are open. It is a very simple and elegant solution for wrought iron door gates. I also could picture these as a solution for us.



This is a little church in the middle of a forest in Calabria. When the church is 'closed', the altar is protected by this simple round but pretty two wings gate. I like the idea of having a more dense structure until mid hight.



This iron gate with simple "s" decor opens up to a garden in Seminara, Calabria. Seminara is famous for its unique ceramics.



This is an old iron door in Monteprandone, Marche via flickr (by pizzodisevo).



This door has a plane iron part at the bottom. This could protect from rain (splash water) and dirt. The decor is not special but the position at mid hight and upper end are interesting. Although, here, I would prefer arrows at the end.



Last Italian photo shows how the iron gates are fixed to the wall or stone door frame. The inside doors open to the inside and the iron gate or door opens to the outside.




More doors:

An iron door in Honfleur, France via flickr (Rudy Vega)



A castle door in France



A gate to a secret garden via flickr (by visionsbyccat).



Beautiful entrance to a church via flickr (by Sator Arepo).



Are very elaborated wrought iron gate from the 16th century (Germany?).



'Merletti in ferro battuto' - fine lace in wrought iron, via flickr (by piesse/patrizia)



And if you have followed me this far, I thank you and say bye for now with this beautiful impression:

'Iron shadows' via flickr (by Simon Monk).

Black Magnetic Chalkboard

I love this big black magnetic chalkboard sliding door by Christine Lane!

My sister has a big black magnetic board till the ceiling in her kitchen.

And I want one as sliding door for my son's playroom.

It will be fun to stick his drawings on it instead of just filing them somewhere. It will be fun for him and his friends to draw on it. It will be fun to play teacher and student. It will be fun to write poems on it. Maybe in Chinese characters. It will support our creativity and be decorative at the same time.

I researched chalkboards on google images and found so many nice ideas. Sfgirlbybay did a peak worthy chalkboard round-up.

Get inspired and DIY !
Get magnetic primer and chalk paint in green or black.
Make a bold statement on a wall in your home office, entrance, kitchen or kids room or loo. Let guests leave a comment.

Entrance of Front Hotel, Copenhagen via hyggehouse