Facade: before & after picture update

It is February, the sun is shining and the oranges are growing in neighbour's garden. Below it is our palazzo that stands together with this picturesque church at a small piazza with no name in the historic center of Pizzo.

view of Palazzo Pizzo, chiesa del Carmine and the bay with beaches of Pizzo

Now, below, this is an old picture of February 2008, when we just started the renovation and restoration. The old windows have been taken out already, the old doors are still in and we had some sample of coloured plaster painted on the facade. The roof is not tiled yet. The walls of the facade show cracks and damages. However, I love this picture. It shows a charming old house and a calm sea with sunshine. Oranges are growing in the neighbours garden and the church makes it even more peaceful. This picture is my screen saver since three years.

BEFORE: our house in February 2008

But Angelo complaint. After all the work he had supervised and done, I could update my screen saver, he said. So, I asked him to send me an update, same perspective please - and that's what I got:

AFTER: our house in February 2011

New plaster, new colour, new roof tiles, walls for window frames repaired and new windows mounted, new window sills, new entrance doors, new  zoccolatura (skirting board), new iron grids for ground floor windows, new roof rail and rain gutter,  restoration of "fake" stucco windows, re-painted balcony rails, new bell and name plate, installation of a second street lamp from the commune, dismounting of a flood lamp (for the church), rewiring for the lamps  .... - I think, this is it. For the exterior. But one old thing we reuse: the former green metal letter box plate.

 

 

You might also like these Before & After posts:

 

before and after facade from piazza

before and after facade from seaside

 

See all renovation posts BEFORE and AFTER.

Photo source:  photo nr. 2 was taken from a window of an apartment in a neighbouring house that was under renovation three years ago. But since this apartment now belongs to a foreigner who was not in Pizzo, Angelo had to climb on top of the roof to get a similar perspective. Mille Grazie ! 

I thought this is funny: Palazzo Pizzo Team on skiing holiday

the interior, finance and construction team of Palazzo Pizzo (from left)

We took a week off and met in Switzerland for a skiing holiday with family and friends. In this picture above you see from left: me, myself, my husband CC and his father Angelo, our major help at Palazzo Pizzo.

I thought it is a very funny picture, not only because we were all wearing helmets, like construction workers, but also you can tell who is in love with GREEN bathrooms, who's idea was the RED bathroom and who painted the entrance hall in APRICOT. Can you ?!

And if you ever happen to go to Klosters, don't miss the Berghaus Alpenroesli, it is such a beautiful and romantic spot for lunch or dinner:

two pictures above via Alpenroesli

However, now we are all back at work. Angelo drove down to Pizzo and I am awaiting updates soon. I will keep you posted, a presto.

flooring progress at primo piano and other plans

primo piano corridorio

with entrance to the red bathroom (front left), further kids room and tiny bathroom (far end)

sunshine from the piazza comes in via a small balcony

barrier-free flooring thanks to perfect pavement

the stair rail painted white with refurbished wooden hand grip

stairs are leading down to main entrance (with apricot coloured walls)

Before Angelo left Pizzo to meet us for a skiing holiday in the Swiss Alps he sent me these pics that I just found after our return. He is driving down to Pizzo these days to continue the flooring and painting.

We, husband, son and I, have scheduled our next visit to the South of Italy for April in order to decide on kitchens and other items. Maybe we even have to include a trip to Sicily for the nearest and newest Ikea outlet, opening March 9 in Catania. It's a 3 hours drive "only". (So far the next Ikea is located in Bari, a 4 1/2 hours drive). However, we probably could find everything we need in the region between Vibo Valentia, Filadelfia, Maida and Lamezia. But still, Ikea is known for fair quality and good prices and if they deliver to our door step, we consider buying mattresses, kitchen parts and other items there.

Kids Room Ready To Move In

Timber flooring finished in our son's room:

I like this photo best:

parquet meets marble with shadow of the balcony's balustrade (please note the exact same level!)

Here we recognize in which room we are:

the one with the sunny side up ceiling

panels are laid half length offset, every second row is same 

I don't know the right term in English for that pattern, in German we call it "englischer Verband" (English formation), when the panels are offset by half length. This formation looks organized and calm. But it could also be laid irregularly what is call "Schiffsboden-Verband" in German (ship floor formation) like the parquet on a boat deck. This would underline the natural touch. However, since we do a "long distance renovation", we forgot to discuss about that detail.

The above picture shows the entrance to the tiny bathroom and a bit of the restored old original window shades (in our house they are mounted on the inside). The wood seems more reddish here than above due to another light situation. - What a difference the flooring makes! Now we can unpack the furniture !

photo source: all by Angelo sent in this weekend

A Friday Post

I finally managed (by myself!) to download all the photos I have been shooting with my mobile phone in the last months. So today, like some other blogs do, I just wanted to share some photos on Friday - and they have nothing to do with the house project, but with creativity.

You might know that we have moved to exotic Bangkok (and doing the long distance renovation online). So, sometimes my fruit plate looks like that:

juicy yellow mangos, old yellow lemons and yellow-orange papayas

I took the picture as I thought that one day, I want to paint this still life !
And today my fruit plate looked like this:

yellow mangos, sweet & sour green mangos, yellow-orange papaya and lemons

And I am proud to announce that I just started an oil painting class and have been throwing myself right into portraying (first time!). Here is the proof:

Happy weekend to all of you !
And Happy Chinese New Year of the Rabbit (it started yesterday!)