Mixing Vietri Ceramic Tiles

mixing and playing with tiles

The main kitchen is ordered and will be ready in about two months - just in time for our summer holidays. Now, the next step is to decide on tiles for the kitchen walls. The kitchen is modern and open to the living area. But since our over 200 year old house is located in the South of Italy in the historic center of a pittoresque fisher village, we should add some mediterranean atmosphere to the modern kitchen moduls.

Something unique that you would never find in another place, something that you would look forward to see in your seaside home. Colourful tiles from Vietri (near Salerno) or from Sicily - yes! But how could we decide on one design or one colour? They are all so beautiful!

This is when I remembered the beautiful effect of mixing antique ceramic tiles.
Here my favorties samples:

wild mix of antique tiles in the kitchen of Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce (D&G) in Portofino

mix of antique Vietri tiles by Antica Ceramica in the kitchen of Villa Thun in Capri

more antique ceramic tiles outside Villa Thun, Capri via Elle Decor

modern mix of antique Vietri tiles in a 18th century villa in Positano realised by Lazzarini Pickering Architetti

kitchen and dining area of same Positano Villa
(geometric effects and patterns stand ahead of colour effect)

fresh mix of colour and pattern on restaurant wall at Verdura golf resort in Sicily

After this presentation I had my husband convinced that we should look for a good mix of tiles instead of one single design only. And this is what I did then on Sunday: google, print, cut and puzzle ...


cut and paste with paper tiles

I had "analysed" the different mixtures above and found that they all use 20 x 20 cm tiles and that although many different patterns were chosen, half or more of them where independent designs, only few tiles where just part of a pattern of four tiles. This is quiet interesting, since although sometimes more than eight different tiles were used for a wall the overall effect was still harmonious.

Our supplier, Callipo in Vibo Valentia, has a good selection of Vietri tiles, thereof Francesco de Maio is our favorite manufacturer.

Since I am not familiar with Angelo's computer, I did "cut and paste" in a very traditional way. I printed the pages from the downloaded de Maio catalogue and cut with sisors the tiles we liked. This even worked out better, as I can now easily move little puzzle pieces and check out the best effect. As we need 7 m2 for the kitchen, and the minimum order is 1 m2 per design, we might order these seven different designs we had chosen above.

And, if one is undecided between wallpaper and tiles, I just found this solution - it looks like a tiled wall but it's not:

wallpaper design by wall and deco via Spazio Casa

This is not a solution for wet areas in bathrooms or kitchens - and regarding the price (98 Euro/m2), you better go for real Vietri tiles, maybe not the antique ones, but antique pattern newly manufactured are available for less, depending on the design and colour.

Progressing, Unpacking and the Bar

We are progressing. Half of the house is now ready for furnishing - but the other half is still dusty construction. Although we are closing doors between ready and non-ready areas, the workers (and ourselves) walk up and down between clean and dusty areas. So by now, dust is mainly everywhere... but we are progressing. Here in photos:

the blue bathroom got flooring:
restored terra cotta tiles previously used in other areas of the house 

We also finally got flooring in the entrance:
restored old tiles with floral pattern previously used in a room in the first floor

we visited an antique dealer in Vibo Valentia to look for some wardrobes and commodes since we need to store clothes, bed linnen, towels etc somewhere - the above wardrobe is French, but we bought it nevertheless

ahh, the kitchen... la cucina.... the planning seems endless, but it's coming

the guestroom looks like this now... no matress yet, but tons of cushions...

it took us 3 days to find all parts and screws and to understand how to mount this bunk bed

unpacked boxes awaiting to be thrown out

If you take a closer look, you will see, that the boxes are from three different moving companies! Why? Because we have been moving a couple of times and there are boxes that are almost waiting since three years to be unpacked and some were even packed more than eight (!!!) years ago. No wonder, we are sometimes surprised about what we find inside...

it seems to take ages to unpack - maybe because I can't take my eyes from that view !!!
Just now, during my little phototaking break, CC comes upstairs to take me to the bar for an espresso ...

11 am espresso at the bar
(I always take espresso macchiato, with a spot of milk)

Angelo kept working. We bring him an espresso from the bar, also one for the carpenter who is having appointment with us now on site.

12 am another espresso at the bar
(this time CC in company of a friend and the carpenter)

Finally, our first tartuffo ! CC and I shared one (it's almost lunch time)

Katia and Pino
 
The piazza is like the living room of the village, you always meet someone you know!

La vita e bella! Especially when the sun is shining warm on you, the sky is blue, it's 12 am in Pizzo and all the churches bells are ringing, with the view over the sea ... it feels like you have yet reached paradise. 

Top 10 Impressions from the Renovation Work

In the last five days I have taken many pictures from the house and the work progress. Every day, I am on site measuring, looking into details, unpacking, helping whatever I can do. Yesterday, while showing friends around, I realized that I have some new favorite spots that I want to show you too:

My first favorite spot is the small sunny piazza infront of the house.
Here, at the main entrance three generations of (future) inhabitants are posing happily.

Angelo's art work at entrance #37

more stucco and paint art work on ceilings

my favorite bathroom in the vaulted cellar


good news: we found enough original floral tiles for the main entrance

measuring and calculating the floor space in the vaulted cellar (seminterrato),
we will have natural oak wook parquet since Angelo had insolated the floor perfectly.
It is difficult to say which is my favorite floor, but I really like this unique basement!

father and son at work in the living room
we bought stucco deco borders for the walls and sample colours to try out the effect (soon). Can't wait to see the trial paint on the walls....

my favorite room for the moment is our guest room with view into orange trees, the yellow of the ceiling is so warm and friendly - even the chandelier, that is not really my taste, can stay.

interesting perspective on the primo piano - the door frames turned out nice!

My favorite spot for the view is our balcony on the piano terra

Of course there are many more beautiful spots in the house, but these are the top 10 of the last five days. More is coming. 

Impressions from Pizzo

Pizzo view from above

Today is the forth day after our arrival in Bella Italia. The house looks spectacular, we are very happy to see everything in reality. It even looks better than in the pictures Angelo has sent!

So far, we have been super busy and efficient. We could call our holidays quasi "vacation on the building site" and "vacation in building centers" (Ferien auf der Baustelle oder Ferien auf dem Baumarkt!).

I am also very happy to be in Pizzo. The weather is great, we have incredible deep blue skies and a fantastic sunset last night. I met some old friends and very nice new people. I realised that I have not posted about Pizzo, the village itself, for a long time. So I am going to intruduce you (again) to the centro storico of Pizzo with some photo impressions:





Impressions of Pizzo copyright Suzie @ PalazzoPizzo