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  

Before and After Stuccoed Ceiling

The damaged stucco on the ceiling BEFORE renovation

The stuccoed ceiling AFTER restoration

 

 

Angelo has replaced the stucco rosette and border with some ready made stucco elements that matches the original one. In fact it is much more elaborated and very beautiful.

 

 

update: But that was not the end. Check out what surprise Angelo had for us. Hint: colour!

 

If you are interested in more impressions of our stucco repair / replacement work, click on the label 'stucco'.

Mesmerising Bathroom

I am staring at these pictures... and I feel mesmerised... The sinks are mounted with their beautiful chrome stands. When you look at the floor, these big round blue circles ... do they try to hypnotize you too ??

"water proofing"

The bathtub from China

This bathtub came all the way from China (via Germany) to South Italy. The price justified the shipment. But we probably forgot to buy some special accessory (tubes) that cost in Italy almost the same money we paid for the whole bath tub. I guess, I need to visit Beijing soon, not only to catch up with old friends but also to buy some hard ware for the bathtub.

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PS: the voting for 'how to lay the parquet' is closing soon. I think we have a winner: version C (the mix). 

More Progress in the Master Bath

While I was buying a rice cooker in Bangkok, on the other side of the world Angelo had finished tiling floor and walls and even installing the shower and other bathroom equipment in our master bathroom.

Have a closer look (click on the picture if you do not see it): the water is running !!!

The blue battiscopa

What a beautiful finish. The blue battiscopa - the skirting board - was choosen by CC and when the order has arrived, a discussion started, whether these tiles - that are originally not meant to be used as skirting or baseboard, but rather as an elegant finishing on top of wall tiles - should be used on top of our green wall tiles and other white tiles as baseboard instead ... However now, we are all convinced that these blue tiles look perfect. (Even if they are so thick that they will be certainly dust collectors, I do not mind).