Do you know how big of a role does football play in Italian men's life ?

That big:

- our 6 m high TV antenna -

I am filing this post under the label "Now I have to live with this". BUT I am NOT going to live with this. Either out neighbour is going to sue us, or I am going to buy a metall sew ! - was my first reaction.

I wrote a post and saved it as draft, because I cannot publish something I am too emotional about.

So I slept over it - one night - two nights ... now it has been almost four weeks. It kept me from writing about other nicer things a lot. But now, this thing needs to be introduced. 

My husband explained to me, that the antenna needs to be six meters high because of the mountains behind Pizzo, and in order to capture some channels that he would not get otherwise - some football channels.

Got it?

Italian men's first priority in life: FOOTBALL.

Italian men's sense for aestetic, that is very high, comes after football.

It seems that I am the only one in the family who disapproves this ugly monster antenna.

Italian women probably are used to this technical support for their husband's hobby.

Even my little half-Italian son seems to not understand me.

He said about the photo : "Wow! How cool! Looks like a space station's antenna !"

(He is 6 years old)

Well, I hope it must be possible somehow to move that thing to the left (close to the wall of the house). If one sets a foot on the terracce it should not be the first thing to see. It needs to move. I will keep you posted.

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update: it was possible to move all to the left! :-)

looking for mosaic tiles and sharing news

While looking for mosaic tiles for two of our bathrooms I searched up and down all available online catalogues of SICIS and Bisazza and I googled images of particular series by these well-known Italian mosaic manufacturers. - Until I got frustrated by the price I would have to pay for tiling floors and walls with these luxury products!

And then, I found another brand: trend

I have not yet checked out their price level, but think they must be more affordable, since even Lamezia airport has a huge mosaic on a wall made by trend. And an entire hotel's fassade in Cosenza is tiled by trend. The pictures of these two Calabrian references are not that great, therefore I have choosen different references - especially for a kids bathroom:

stipes by trend mosaic

'electric wallpaper'

a blue hotel bathroom in Austria

for our bathroom next to the church ?

red mosaic tiles for our guest bath ?

(red Diesel store in London / green Diesel store in Stockholm / mosaic by trend)

too much colour for a not so morning person

this last one looks a bit like LEGO - but it is still mosaic by trend

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And then I came across more references, international ones, from Asia :

Buddha statue and temple in Thailand brightened by Orsoni gold mosaic (part of trend Group)

pool of the Library Resort in Koh Samui, Thailand by trend

pool of the Oriental Hotel, Bangkok by trend

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Aahh, this is a sign, I thought.

This should be our company providing us with mosaics for our bathrooms.

Some of you may know that I LOVE Thailand.

Thailand has been our home for five years.

And then there is this NEWS I should finally share :

We are moving back to Thailand !

And if you wonder what will happen to our palazzo in Italy?

The palazzo will be our European home base !

Sounds funny, right? But it will be that important for us. More than before.

And everyone who wants to see us in Europe would have to come down to Calabria.

It still feels so unreal to me, but we are going to live in Thailand again and I will blog from Thailand and we will continue our renovation out of Thailand. It worked somehow out of China, it worked from Germany and it will work from Thailand.

And I need to take a closer look at this mosaic manufacturer !

Source: all photos vie trend Group, founded in 2000 in Vicenza, Italy

sun shade sail

Beautiful sun shade sail by Stacks & Stacks (via remodelista)

It fits nicely into this lovely little back yard with banana trees and bamboo.

Wishing you a sunny weekend !

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Kitchen accessories by IKEA

I like this kitchen island by Ikea (a big "accessory")

There is this wooden board to swing open and have breakfast.

The island consists of DACKE table (above) ...

... and DACKE trolley

 I want one or two of these metal shelves (but the fixing is not that pretty).

after dish washing a "drying shelf" - very Italian

another "work space saving storage shelf"

Below samples about how the metallic shelves (all GRUNDTAL) could be combined and how they would look like:

Here, I also like this UTBY shelf under the workspace

Not an accessory:

a simple minimalistic kitchen with cooker and sink. Ideal for a small budget and small space (just a fridge to add):

Unfortunately, there is no IKEA in Calabria (and I am not getting paid for this"ad").

One more accessory (not by IKEA):

A wooden board covers the stove when not needed and provides additional working space for a small kitchen. Simply move it to the side when cooking.

Small kitchens

As I am looking at small kitchens - kitchens that are like pantries, linear kitchenettes, minimalistic kitchens in living areas - all over the internet, I have found some pretty inspirations. Those pics I am filing and sharing here:

When you want to hide this kitchen, just unfold the large folding doors.

However this kitchen does not need to hide with its beautiful mosaic walls.

Camouflage: the kitchen melts togehter with the living area by using the same colour scheme. Having enough space on the buttom allows not using overhead storage and a more elegant look.

 

Using bold colours on the wall behind the kitchen brings the focus back to the kitchen. However, the long red shelf instead of overhead storage cupboards let the kitchen not appear like an ordinary kitchen. The kitchen's furniture is part of the living area.

This bold red shelf has a second function: it is the fume hood. Cool !

An vintage orange kitchen with inox fume hood and shelf for drying plates. 

(I am attracted by all kind of inox kitchen accessories!)

A flickr find: orange smeg in small kitchen

traditional metal kitchen in modern ambiente

 

One piece: sink, working and cooking

a walled kitchen (from a tile catalogue)

a 'living in" kitchen

During my research (for our own project) I liked more and more that cooking and living are melting together. Especially in small spaces it helps to have no harsh separation between cooking and living. I like when these two areas blends into each other.

There is only one rub:

to get this trendy look it is better not to hang overhead cupboards. But in small spaces this is a waste of storage space - unless you do not use your kitchen for cooking that often ...