DAY 26 CONT....

Well I didn't get my fully tiled kitchen but we're nearly there....

Missing still 12 tiles on the right side and also 12 tiles on the left. Alessandro is still confident all will get done in time.

I've been attacking the bathroom door as we're leaving the original frame but changing the architraves. So I've been out buying all the necessary wood and nails, scraping away at the old paint and generally covering myself in dust and pieces of old paint! How glamourous!!

p.s. 2 more sleeps....

DAY 26....

Yesterday was Matteo's birthday!

It was a really hot and sunny day so we and what seemed like nearly all of Rome headed out to Lago di Vico (about an hour drive away). We had lunch at a lovely restaurant that overlooked the lake. Just as we finished there was a sudden summer thunderstorm which drove nearly everyone back home!! We resisted and after the storm the boys had a swim in the deserted lake!! A lovely day away from our dust infested flat!! (grazie a Paola, Valerio e piccolo Dario!)

Okay, back to the renovations....

Finally the kitchen tiles are going up today!! Yeah! Well, they have to as on Wednesday the kitchen is being installed!! Hopefully by the end of today I'll post a pic of a fully tiled kitchen....

I LOVE VINEGAR....

Bath problem solved! Phew!

I didn't use any fancy products, just good old diluted vinegar!! Perfect! I'm in a better mood now!

BEAUTIFUL SMOOTH WHITE WALLS....

and a not so beautiful smooth bath....

You probably can't see in the pic but my bath is covered in dirt that just doesn't want to budge. I've already cleaned it and a lot of the dirt has gone away but it's still feels rough and it's not lovely and smooth anymore! >:-( I'm going to soak it in some warm soapy water then see if it'll come off ....

Wish me luck!

DAY 25....

Oh poop! No tiling going on today.

Stefano is finishing off the untiled part of the kitchen. As I said before, he's a perfectionist, so I'm going to have the smoothest walls in Rome! This morning he also drilled holes in the bathroom floor for the bidet. Alessandro will be here after lunch to do the plumbing bit!

There's alot of white dust floating around as my walls etc are being sanded. The boys are home too so are walking back and forth making sure that every room has it's fair share of white dust!!

I'm going to see if I can convince Stefano to paint the dining room as well! That would save me from doing it!!

DAY 24....

New day, new problem, well actually 2....

First problem - we couldn't find the drain for the sink! It was meant to be delivered the other week together with all the other stuff. And it's on the list that the delivery guy gave me which I also signed!! I should have checked all the stuff better.... So once again I had to go and visit Sandro at the bathroom showroom. Just as I arrive, a delivery guy walks into the shop and says to someone that there's a special delivery for Peta! Perfect timing!! My long awaited for taps (sink and bidet) have arrived!! Sandro also sneaked another sink drain into the bag with the taps. Sshh. Problem 1 solved!

Second problem - my lovely sink is attached to the wall and I don't really like the way you can see the supports. Originally I thought that they could be set right under the shelf parts of the sink but it wasn't possible. From above it's okay as you can't see them, but from far away or low down (eg. when you're in the bath or sitting on the loo) you can see them. Problem 2 NOT solved.

See the pics below....

Taken standing.

Taken sitting on the loo (on the closed seat that is!).

See what I mean? It's meant to be a floating sink. Do you think it's a problem, is it worth worrying about? Or is it fine as is? Here's another pic taken standing back.

In the kitchen walls have been sanded and given the first coat of white! The tiles have been brought up from the garage and tomorrow Stefano is going to start putting them up!

I still haven't decided about those pendant lights. I'm going to have a look on ebay....

p.s. 5 more sleeps (until kitchen arrives!)

DAY 23....

Is it normal that one can get excited over the fact that the loo is attached AND it flushes? Probably not...

The bath tap was also installed today, as was the radiator/towel warmer.

Holes where drilled in my lovely dropped ceiling. Problem being the size of the holes - only 7.4cm diam. Workmen's hands were too big to get through to reach the wires so who ended up balancing on the ladder doing it? Moi!

The missing tiles were meant to arrive today or tomorrow but of course they are still sitting in the warehouse somewhere in Sassuolo (northern Italy). After many phone calls we managed to arrange for a delivery for Tuesday, which was the best they could do.

Today I also ordered the wood and mdf for the washing machine cupboard. I'm getting it all cut to size so it will be ready next week sometime. I'm going to wait until the bathroom is completely finished before I start on the bathroom cabinet as I'm still not sure how big I want it.

I'm not quite sure what will be going on tomorrow, maybe some tiling in the kitchen?!

p.s. 6 more sleeps.... :D

DAY 22....

Seven more sleeps until the kitchen arrives!!

Today I bought the downlights from Leroy Merlin as the dropped ceiling is up and ready! I just have to decide exactly where I want them as tomorrow morning Stefano will install them.

I was also looking for the small pendant lights but with not much luck! I didn't see any that i liked at Leroy Merlin or Ikea. I then went to a "snobby light shop" to get some ideas but they were waaay too expensive (very lovely but unjustifiably expensive!!). Then in a "normal light shop" I saw some very similar to these ones in the pic below, maybe they were even smaller (7cm diametre) which is good, but... they're not that cheap either and I'd have to order them - 15 days! Actually I don't really know how much to expect to pay for proper lights as I've always had cheap Ikea ones!


Here's a sneak preview of the loo! I had to warn the kids not to use it as it's just resting there!!

DAY 21....

"The Gas Man! - part 1"

It was last Tuesday when I called Italgas who promised someone would come within the following 2 days. Nothing. So today I called again. Before getting put through to "operator 219", a recorded message told me that all calls are recorded for safety reasons. Fine with me. So after explaining it all to "219" sounding as desperate as I could, he asked me if I could smell gas. No. Then he asked again. No. Then he asked to talk to the one of the workmen. And what did he ask Alessandro? Could he smell gas! No! And again CAN YOU SMELL GAS? Only at this point did Alessandro understand what was going on and answered that yes there was a small gas leak. It seems that only in cases of gas leaks they can send someone around in such a short time and being a recorded conversation he couldn't say so. "Operator 219", wanting to help us out (it must have been my desperate voice!!) had been trying to suggest with an unseen "wink wink" to say there WAS a leak! In an hour we had the gasman in the flat!!

"The Gas Man! - part 2"

So finally he arrives. All he had to do was fix a stuck tap! To cut a long story short, he managed to take the tap off, fill our whole flat with gas, set the gas alarm off twice, muttering to himself the whole time about how on earth is he going to fix it etc.. and in the end Alessandro had to help him to fix it with a simple bolt. Scary to think that in real cases of emergency people would have to depend on him!!

Anyway, this morning Raimondo came around to check the kitchen. All seems okay except we have to move the gas pipe about 15 cms. No big problem, especially now that we can turn the gas off!! Delivery of my much awaited for kitchen has been confirmed for Wednesday the 24th am! The "worktop man" is coming over Wednesday afternoon to measure up and then back again three days later to install it!

Stefano has been working on the dropped ceiling....

And Alessandro has been grouting....

And I've been looking for lights....

These are just 2 types I saw at Ikea. Not exactly what I'm after though.

DAY 20....

The tiles are finished! The tiles, not the tiling! We need 13 more tiles. Hopefully they'll arrive on Thursday. In the meantime the left hand side can be grouted and the loo and shower enclosure can be installed.

Today in the kitchen the electric motor for the out side blind was put in. The beginnings of my gas meter cupboard can be seen below.

This hole was made in the kitchen wall near the gas meter as required by Italgas (not for spying on the workmen on the building next door...). Tomorrow we'll have to paint the area around the hole on the outside as big chunks of plaster fell off the wall whilst Alessandro was drilling. We are 3 floors up!! Luckily no one passed by below!

Tomorrow morning Raimondo, from the kitchen shop, is coming by to check on pipes and wiring, then if all is good, the kitchen will be delivered next Tuesday. So that gives Alessandro and Stefano a week to get the dropped ceiling in, the tiles done, the walls painted and whatever else needs doing done! I can't wait!!!

KITCHEN LIGHTING IDEAS....

Alessandro has gone to buy the materials needed for the dropped ceiling. I have to decide where I want the lights....

I've seen loads of pics of lovely BIG kitchens with lovely lighting. I just have to see if it would work with my tiny kitchen. Here's a reminder of how skinny the kitchen is.


There will be 3 under cabinet lights plus the light on the range. I was thinking of having a row of recessed spots running length ways and then 2 small pendant lights hanging down on the other side over the worktop / "breakfast bar" whatever it's called. Just did a quick "photoshop" to show you where it will be....

Here's some examples of the combination lighting (spots and pendants) in huge kitchens that I found at Trends.

This one above just has the spots but I love it!

Then to fill in the gap above the overhead cabinets I'd like this kind of lighting...

I'm sure all of this is way too much for a small kitchen.

DAY 19 CONT....

I think I am really really going to appreciate my new kitchen with dishwasher after having to wash the dishes in the bath!!!

DAY 19....

Today is the first official day of summer! And it's really hot!! Too hot!! But the work must go on....


Stefano finished tiling the left side of the bathroom and has started on the right. My washing machine has once again been hooked up so I can do a week's worth of washing. This time it's in its very own cupboard!! Nothing got done in the kitchen today but they did hook up my cooker so we can eat in tonight! Unfortunately that means washing the dishes in the tiny sink in the shower room!

Tomorrow is Sunday! Yeah!

DAY 18 CONT....

Well I thought alot more tiling was going to get done this afternoon but Stefano and the tiles weren't getting along. Quite a few tiles broke as he was cutting them to fit around the bath and the shower. Luckily we'll be able to use alot of the broken tiles in other places around the window and the door. Good thing about Stefano is that he's a perfectionist. The end result will be great! It looks finished in this pic but there's still the right hand side wall to do.

As for the kitchen, the walls are ready for tiling!! And you can now see the floor. Tomorrow they're going to hook up the cooker so we can at least make coffee in the morning! This morning I went out for coffee and cornettos. Tomorrow is Salvatore's turn! ;)

I also have to make a little cupboard to house our famous gas meter. So tomorrow I'll have to invent some way to do that! Was thinking of making a frame and having a panel instead of a door that would attach with magnetic strips!!???

BTW we now know that if it's not an emergency, you can't count on the gas man!! He never showed up!!

DAY 18....

Workmen are on their lunch break so as always I've gone and taken some more pics! Tiles are going up, not without some breakages....


And the kitchen is starting to look more like a room again....

DAY 17 CONT....

Finally the kitchen is ready to be plastered. Yeah! But as you can see we have no where to cook or wash!!

And the side of the bath has been blocked in ready for tiling. The area inside the cupboard where the washing machine will go has also been tiled but I don't have a pic of that!

I had to call Sandro (from the bathroom shop) as we don't have enough tiles. I was so thorough with measuring everything so I don't know how it happened. I'm going to blame it on Sandro as he had the plan of the bathroom and calculated how many square metres were needed. I know I should have double checked.... Anyway this means that I have to wait a week for the extra tiles to arrive! Stefano will tile all the important areas (where the loo, bidet, sink and shower will go) and leave the "unimportant" areas to last.

DAY 17....

Tiles on the bathroom floor are now grouted. Stefano had to do it twice as the first time he cleaned too much of the grout away leaving (what I thought was) a too deeper groove. So he redid it and now it looks better and I think it will be easier to clean. Am I too fussy!?!

Then he put the tiles on the wall behind the bath and now he's gone on lunch break!

Seeing as the gas man didn't show up we've decided to go ahead anyway. Before the kitchen units are installed he'll have to come and fix the gas tap but in the meantime Alessandro managed to move the external gas tap just by bending the pipes. Let's hope he knows what he's doing...

I now have scaffolding at eye level. Oh well, it'll give me something to look at when I was the dishes (or load my new dishwasher) when the kitchen is finally finished!!