To preserve the Old: Colorful Tiles

One day in the palazzo, I was wondering how the tiles under the layers of dust would look like... downstairs I found an empty plastic bag and opened the only water tap we had in the basement. Then I carried the water in the plastic bag upstairs and spread the water over the tiles in the future bathroom. With an old broom that workers had left I roughly brushed the floor, took pictures and went again to get water for the dusty tiles in the next room.

This is the flooring of the future bathroom, 'before and after':




The flooring of the master bedroom - before and after some rough cleaning:




The dusty floor in the soggiorno, living area - before and after some rough cleaning:




Only in these three rooms of the primo piano (first floor) we have this kind of colorful tiles.

The tiles of the future bathrooms (first 2 pics above) had to been taken out to install the piping and to reinforce the floor (full bathtub will be heavy). Also not all the tiles were in good shape. So at the moment we are not sure if we will lay the tiles with the flowers back into the same room or rather use them in another smaller bathroom downstairs. In any case:

I cant' wait to see these floors restored !

Successful fellow blog in Calabria: Bleeding Espresso

'Michelle Fabio, an American writer and attorney leaves the Anthracite Coal Region of Pennsylvania for her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy, falls in love, gets two dogs, writes to her heart's content and begins bleeding espresso. No really.'

I can't say it in better words, so I let Michelle introduce herself. She and her blog are located in the small village Badolato in Calabria, just on the other side of Pizzo.


I discovered her blog when she left a comment on mine. Since then I am following her writings with interest. She is a talented writer who has besides writing a broad interest in many things like travel, literature, culture, history, politics, Italy & Calabria, photography AND cooking !

She also writes among others for
About.com as a Guide to Law School,
Guarda! a weekly column for Italy Magazine,
easyJet, the airline's Destination Guide to Lamezia Terme, TomatoCasual.com and Italian Notebook.

The latest news is that her blog Bleeding Espresso entered the final of the acknowledged 2009 bloggies awards in the category 'best european blog' !

Go here and vote for Bleeding Espresso, the blog that promotes Calabria, as 'best European blog' ! (Hurry, until February 2nd only !)


It is now almost a year ago, when I was in Pizzo and phoned Michelle, my Calabrian fellow blogger. We said we will visit each other one day, or we could meet in the middle, in Serra San Bruno.
Michelle, when you win this blog award, you and P are invited for tartuffo ice in Pizzo! (and if not: you are invited the same!)

interiors in photo art

To post about problems with renovation work is not that sexy.

But today I came across this beautiful photo (above) and I thought it worth to share it ... it is such a beautiful duvet ... and the tapestry on the wall is so noble !

And there was this other one. The same fabric of the curtain, probably silk, is used to decorate the wall ! The primary colours blue, red and green give a fresh touch.

And this black and white photo reminds me a bit of my basement: the stairways and the piles of tiles on the right... aah, excuse me... the lady looks like she needs to have a word with the bricklayer...

And may I introduce you to 'Mrs Sleepless in Renovation'


All photos via LUMAS


* = * = * = * = * = * = *

And because of the special day today please allow me some special words to all my friends and readers from the U.S.:
Congratulations to your new President Obama and to your new first family! I saw pictures from the inauguration and I am full of joy and hope !

Natural Spots on Natural Stone (black slate)

For our new bathroom in Germany we have chosen to use black slate tiles (type: Brasilian Rio Negro or Mustang, 60cm x 60cm x 1cm) for the flooring. We have them already since almost six years in our kitchen, our actual bathroom and guest toilet - and we are very happy with the quality and the look.

Today I learned that all the spots and marks on my new schist tiles - that I hoped can be somehow removed - have a natural background - as its a natural stone.

I never thought that the brown spots and the brown 'scratch' might be from iron accumulations. (We have not had this before). Even the brown big spot that looks like from a foot print is not from rubber band or chewing gum, it is natural! Again iron. Also the spots that look like some acid had dropped on one tile are apparently 'natural'.

The answer from the craftsman surprised me that much - well, I ordered natural stone, so if it's natural, everything is fine - that my brain got totally blocked and I did not say: well, I did not order multicolor schist tiles (I found them via google later today) or better: this tile would not pass quality control, if I would be in charge for purchasing in your company...

On Monday the natural stone tiles will get an impregnation with special schist oil. I am afraid that the spots might pop up even more - the craftsman said no.

Or should I see it from the other side: Lucky to have some special natural stone tiles, with iron accumulation ? Almost as exciting as a snail fossil ?

My recommendation if you use natural stone in a relatively small area:
- lay out all the tiles in front of you,
- cleaned of course with a wet towel,
- and choose one by one regarding the texture and colour and maybe not so beautiful spots,
- which one you want to have in front and which one you prefer hidden e.g. under a sink.
- Especially schist tiles (Schiefer Fliesen) are delicate among the natural stone tiles (Naturstein Fliesen) as cutting and laying them is not easy at all. So take the most recommended and experienced floor tiler (and even this is no guarantee for surprise free flooring!)

--------------

UPDATE:

The story took another turn today (4th Feb).

After not feeling happy with the slate tiles and talking to a lot of people - including some experts and our architetto - we wrote to the company a letter (copied to the owner).

This morning the owner and the middle man (who told me that everything is natural) came to my house for further inspection of the flooring. The appointment was settled at 7 am because I wanted my husband to support me (somehow some workers seem to respect 'housewife's' ideas less).

The owner was charming and sovereign, no need to explain much, he saw the situation and he saw our other slate floors and then decided to exchange 4 of the tiles. However not all of the claimed ones, as the iron spots can be cleaned with an iron sponge (why didn't the middle man solve the problem that way in the first place?). Two tiles that will be taken out have micro fractures and two have major damages (splitting-offs) at the borders. One of the damaged tiles is the one that has lots of strange spots. So I am very very relieved !!! Although there will be a delay of the finishing of the bathroom and more dust. But I am happy.

What am I doing

I can't stand to see that my last post is older then a week!

Today I read an article about twitter... and that it is cool and apparently interesting for a lot of people to just write a short message (140 digits for twitter) about what they are doing.

So my 'twitter' message would be:

I am now going to clean up my 'construction field' (in Germany) because a worker's boss is coming to check on the work (I have some complaints, so cross your fingers....)

And I am announcing some posts about Feng Shui on my other blog 'in China' (I will provide links here) - soon!

What is a post without a picture? So I am providing a picture of my son taken this morning: instead of going to kindergarten he wanted to observe the workers. From this he probably can learn more then in a (German) kindergarten ... That's why I allowed him to have his breakfast on the construction site. Like a real worker!