Now I have to live with this ...

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Our windows are ready!

Look!

What is this?

Who has chosen these shiny hinges?


Oh, no!
Nobody has asked me to choose hinges!
I would have never chosen this colour! Not this shape!


Oh, no!
Was it a language problem?
I don't even know if hinges is the right word in English... (maybe cardine in Italian?)

Or was it a trick to get rid of these ugly pieces?

Oh, I am so stupid to not have though myself of this!

Big mistake! Big mistake!

We have discussed about colour and material and shape for the window frames, but that was it.
Windows need hinges and handles... an important detail!!!
Now I have to live with this...
... maybe I can paint them white?... every year.... sh*t!

Windows, windows... we have around 24 windows ...

Did I tell the other story about our windows?
That we had to order the windows in two different colours? White for the inside - and brown for the outside, because our architetto claimed that this is a restriction from the commune?
Pah!! Mistake!
This summer we learned, that white window frames for the outside is historically totally correct for palazzi in the historical center of Pizzo. Brown is more for the area around Serra San Bruno, mountain region...
No, this is not funny!

Okay, I have to admit, that maybe white windows might not look that great on our facade as we have white plaster like a second frame around the windows (see picture). So a brown window frame (or green or grey, also allowed by the town council) might look a bit less pale. We will see.

But not these window hinges and handles!
Big mistake: to not pay attention into details!

Another mistake (from my point of view) was the granite chosen for the window sills.

Living with or without IKEA

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When we moved to Bangkok (Thailand) with 2 suitcases only, I had to setup a household. Bangkok has never seen an IKEA shop. And I had the problem to find my kitchenware, dishes and bed linen around a town with never ending traffic jams. How I envied the colleagues that have moved to Singapore where they had a one stop shopping weekend at IKEA and they have been setup with their household.

When I moved to Beijing (China), I moved into a fully furnished house (mainly furnished with IKEA items). However I appreciated to have IKEA around. It was a 15 minutes drive to the biggest and newest IKEA in Asia. Sometimes you need a chocolate powder shaker or a nice new bathroom floor mat or just lingonberry sauce.

Now I live in Stuttgart (Germany). And today, I decided to go to IKEA to buy some storage containers for toys and clothes. This requires to drive on the German Autobahn... about 30 minutes. Somehow I am not used to drive fast anymore. Everything over 120 km/h makes me brake out in sweat. Mercedes, Porsches, Audis are over passing like rockets ... finally I reached IKEA and I was surprised that it is packed on a Monday morning. Maybe I did not get the special breakfast voucher buy one get three.

I did not find what I wanted - the toys container, yes - but IKEA has no air-tight containers for clothes and I did not remember the name of a clothes-rail I used to buy (Ryäkösnix...? nor its product number) as the lady at the information counter requested.

I wondered about some rattan products made in Vietnam that used to be cute tourist souvenirs from a South-East Asia holiday and now, going global, are to be found at IKEA for 50 cents.

After having filled out my application for a Family Card (with no significant advantages), I bought some lingonberry sauce and went home. Maybe my next IKEA trip (if there is one) will be more fun.

But, I could use an IKEA to complete my palazzo household (one day in the future). My new neighbours, in Pizzo (Italy), bought some stuff at IKEA. And when I asked them where they went (I actually hoped, they will tell me that a new IKEA has opened not far away), they said, they went to Bari... from Pizzo, this is a 3 hours drive, one way ...
'Oh', was my answer.
No more complaints.

There are 15 IKEA outlets in Italy. Mainly in the North. Spain (mainland) has less. France has some more. Germany has 3 times more IKEA shops than Italy and 2 times more than Sweden. Interesting.

I think IKEA is still new in Italy and not that popular as it is in Germany. Italians have a lot of well-designed and affordable furniture and like the classic style. Even young people usually decorate their homes with antiques, combined with some modern classics. And nowadays added with some Scandinavian clean chic items by IKEA.

PS: In China, I saw once a room decorated with stuff from IKEA, mainly in white, in an Art Gallery. It was an installation. It could have been anybodies room anywhere in the world. Globalisation. Uniformation. Levelling.

PPS: Where is your next IKEA? What was your last IKEA buy and experience?

Precipitevolissimevolmente !

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When you want to say 'as soon as possible' in Italian language it might be too late... because you will not be able to finish this word of 26 letters in time: "Precipitevolissimevolmente finish the facade and install the windows!"

Is this maybe the secret behind la dolce vita, that this word is just unpronounceable ?

Does 'as soon as possible' just does not exist in the Italian every day life?

Ah, it is not that romantic, of course different expressions are possible, egg prima possibile.

The history of precipitevolissimevolmente (hey, slowly I can remember it) and the longest Italian word can be found here (in Italian).