Restoration Diary

[Doug]

Ah, yes indeed we were busy lassie, and with my best Sarah Pallen accent, "you betcha, dere were a lot of people dere to watch and spread da word that the Americans have landed". And we hired a local chap to help, so that probably helped things too.

All the electrical and plumbing is complete (in the middle of the move). Only remaining items to connect electricity between both apartments so we only have one Enel bill. Also, they'll add new wall vents in the soggiorno for the gas stove.

The movers finally arrived yesterday and on time at 0800. First half went well and the last half was very wet for the guys. I increased my tip a little for their misery in the rain, on those 58 steps. We have both apartments full of "stuff" now. I must say that 8 hours of rapid fire Italian from numerous sources was quite tiring and KNOWING THE LANGUAGE IS THE BEST TOOL YOU HAVE FOR ANY PROJECT AROUND HERE. I was short a that tool.

I leave for Roma at 1030 and we return together on the 20th to deal with it all.

Here are some captions for the photos Lesley, I see I've exceeded your max file size. You can beat me about the head when we return:

1. Truck with container enters the village. Only the daily buses are this large.

2. The event brought forth watchers

3. I love this pair. That is one of the two dogs that oversee life on the piazza.

4. Here's where 4 guys were needed together with our heavy rolltop desk. Remember it was raining steadily as they trudged those steps. I'm happy there was not a single dropped item or injured mover.

5. I have an idea how to spend our Christmas holiday. Questionable whether we'll be ready for New Years guests given all this!!

Ciao,

[Italy4me]

Great photos and report, Doug!
Have a safe journey home - and see you back here again soon.
If you need an hand with anything, just let us know - the old man might be old but he is surprising fit and capable when it comes to lifting and shifting.
Lesley

[Di]

I'm very proud of Doug and the way he handled this job all alone. I'm sure his Italian improved by leaps and bounds and he and everyone else involved helped move a giant weight off our shoulders. Angelo (our master builder) and Antonello (our architect and geometro and Tony, our intrepid agent, were all as patient and helpful as could be expected dealing with Americans so many miles away and (as my Dad used to say) as nervous as a cat. Now for the fun stuff. I will create a final before and after set of pictures once our Christmas trip is complete. Then I can keep going recording the events in the lower apartment!

[billy]

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the adventures of Di and Doug and am pleased to hear that there is to be a continuation of the story ie. the lower flat.
All the very best to both of you,
Regards, Billy.

[Doug]

We thank you Billy,
After we get an armadia and sofa, the big ticket items are done with the main house. In truth, our bank accounts have asked us for a breather. We'll not likely tackle too much in the lower flat for 2 years when we move there to live. At that point, we can do more DIY things, and for contracted projects, it will be better to manage them in person vs. from 9 time zones away. We'll also be speaking better Italian.

The two biggest challenges for us have been 1) language barrier and 2) distance. There is only so much reliance one can have on people like Tony Hackett to handle translations and contract negotiations. We made it, but it certainly would have been easier and "prettier" if our Italian had been 50% better. Looking back, just about every little problem we encountered can be traced back to communication trouble. Calabrian testa dura had parts to play here and we learned from that too. There comes a time where you stop wasting your breath and go about things a different way to get what you want. When the time comes, we'll probably go to northern Italy for a better heating stove and to places like Cosenza and Salerno for better selections of goods. I mention those because any town bigger scares the bejeepers out of me!!

So long. Di will do the big before/after posting after the New Year.

Doug

[Niamh]

Well done Doug and congratulations to you both on a successful move !!
Perseverance and patience paid off in the end.
See you both at Christmas we hope.
We look forward to that.
Ciao
Niamh

[Andy&Kath]

I have to agree with Billy. I have found Doug's (and Di's) adventures highly entertaining due in no small part to Doug's ability to describe the situations with a great sense of humour. A few years back there was a book called 'A year in provence'. Perhaps Doug & Di should consider writing 'A Year in Calabria'.I have no doubt it would be a best seller.

Andy

[elgian]

Ciao a tutti, and to Doug and Di especially.

Doug, thanks for the ISP info in your post of the 30th nov. For some cyber-reasons, the system hadn't warned me of new posts on this thread for a while. It was only Andy&Kath's latest post that triggered an alert message into my inbox. Glad to see that you managed the move with flying colours, including large lorry and supervising doggie.

I'm still laughing at Doug's Italian locks. Needless to say, Elaine and I have made a habit of locking ourselves out of our home, here in Durban with all these "Italian locks". So, instead of becoming experts in breaking-in into our own home - which resulted in frequent damage to the doors - we've resorted to burying a set of keys in a secret place in the garden. For the one door, we just leave the Yale (bored or cylindrical) lock permanently on the latch and use the mortice lock only, while we have no solution for the other door because it is too thin to host a mortice lock. Needless to say, we did the same thing in Scalea, exactly 24 hours after we had a new Abloy lock installed ... our electrician cum locksmith turned out to be good at picking locks, although he destroyed a credit card in the process.

Your solution, therefore, is to replace the Yale lock with a mortice lock. Best of all, would be the use of a real "Italian lock". This would be a security mortice-lock by Antonioli (Antonioli), where there is NO latch and the keyed cylinder controls many bolts: a variable number of horizontal bolts that slide into the door-jamb, plus two vertical bolts sliding into floor and door lintel. I tried to convince our electrician-locksmith to fit one such beast but, as you aptly pointed out, he is a "Calabrese testa dura". On the other hand, I'm from Piemonte and, as the old folk-song goes:

"I calabresi hanno la testa dura
ma i Piemontesi gli fan la sepoltura",

albeit the original version is about Francesi, rather than Calabresi.

ciao

[Di]

Hi All,
A lot of you have already seen the results of our restoration in person, but for those of you who didn't or who are new to the Forum, we need to finish what we started here.

The only way I know how to do this is to keep replying to myself and add 5 more pictures, so keep going down the line of messages if you want to see all the pictures.

Thank you to everyone who helped and encouraged us. It meant more than you know. Di and Doug

Here's a link to our blogspot if you are interested in further tales:Il Terrazzo Italiano

[Di]

Here are the before and after for the Bath and Living Area:

[Di]

Next up the stairs to the Kitchen:

[Italy4me]

We have had the pleasure of seeing the restoration first-hand and it is absolutely magnificent!
The attention to detail I suspect was Di's blood, sweat and tears and the workmanship is astounding (I just love your windows and doors) - the photos don't really do it justice but are great to see.
Thanks for sharing your journey, it has been great to watch it all come together
Lesley x

[Di]

We seem to have the most photos of the Kitchen:

[Di]

The last of the pics:

[claire tudge]

A beautiful and sympathetic restoration well done you guys

[bella_ciao]

Hi,
Thank you, Di, for your very interesting and comprehensive account of your restoration project. Between you, Doug and the builders the result is something of which you should feel very proud. I especially like the way you have managed to keep both the interior and exterior authentic and have achieved a cosy, homely look, along with the high spec. fittings. It just shows what can be done if you put your mind to it - even from a distance! I don't envy the bit where you had to transport that lovely furniture along all of those steep steps, though! I have followed the account with interest and shall miss the step-by-step updates and photographs. So........is anyone else involved in a similar project and willing to post their project (& pics.) on the forum??
All the best to you in your new Italian residence, whenever you eventually move there.
Best regards,
Frances.

[ENGJMAX]

It`s just Brilliant !!!

WELL DONE you guys, I am so happy for you, I am sure everyone on the forum wishes you both the very best, your restoration has been a great inspiration to us all.

very best wishes to you both and I hope you enjoyed Christmas in Italy?

John

[Doug]

Originally Posted by Italy4me

The attention to detail I suspect was Di's blood, sweat and tears a
Lesley x

Well Lesley, you are very close. Di is the talented planner behind all this for sure. Sweat? Well, it's usually mine. Blood? That comes from our bank account. Tears come from us both that we are not there yet.

It's two years till we move there unless the Obama administration gives us early retirement incentives like the rumors talk about to help the US thru this economic mess. The typical American "buyout" of employees is $25,000 or $18,000 after income tax. That would be 13,333 euros at today's forex rate. We'd have to sharpen a pencil before considering such a deal, but the siren cry of Calabria is getting louder by the day.

On the lower flat, I think we'll try to do more DYI on that one like we are used to. So if Billy drops by to visit, we can offer a glass of wine and a paint brush! We'll be there in May, but hopefully we can try some recreation for a change and less running around to stores and suppliers.

Cheers,

Doug

[Di]

Well,

I just noted that Doug said the "sweat" was usually his. Hmmmmm....

[Di]

Hello Restorers,

I just have recently been enjoying the luxury of cable TV (i.e. having more than 4 stations to choose from). I've been way behind the curve on lots of things. One of my discoveries is HGTV (Home and Garden TV). Here is a link their website which includes an interesting blog called "rate my space". Lots
of ideas here:Living Room Designs - Decorating Ideas - Rate My Space