DAY 30....

37 days ago Alessandro and Stefano, my 2 trusty workmen, began work in our little flat. We had a really horrible bathroom and an out dated kitchen to renovate! Today was the 30th working day and also the day that they packed up ALL their tools and left!!

Here's what went on today in the mad rush to finish....

Stefano had to sort out the problem with the shower enclosure being too tall....


But after nearly all day in the bathroom he managed to install it and honestly now that the extra tiles are grouted and the other piece of glass is up it is hardly noticeable.

Salvatore went and picked up all the wood for the washing machine cupboard. Not sure when I'll be able to make it but I'd really like to do it asap as that will be the only storage in the bathroom at the moment.

In the kitchen it was go go go all day!!! The worktop arrived!! Poor guys that had to carry it up a lot of stairs, it was sooooo heavy! And it was soooo hot! It was great watching them install it. But OMG the "glue" that they used took my breath away!! As well as the 2 main pieces for the units, they had to make the breakfast bar thingy and the peninsula that divides the kitchen from the dining room. I am so happy with the end result!

Whilst the worktop guys were busy making my kitchen lovely, the 2 delivery guys turned up with the dishwasher and my new fridge (the right one this time!! - I checked it before they installed it!!). So at this point my little flat was rather crowded - me and 6 guys!! Luckily by lunchtime they had finished, leaving only Alessandro and Stefano!! So then it was a matter of attaching sink and tap (love it), the oven, cooker and touching up the plaster around the peninsula.

So here are a few pics of my nearly finished kitchen....




There are still lots of things that need doing or finishing. I'll try to do as much as I can before we go away on our summer holiday down south. But first the kitchen and bathroom need a really good clean (as does the rest of the flat) then I can start putting things away! I can't wait!

p.s. will take some pics of finished bathroom after cleaning it tomorrow!

DAY 27....

Tiling in the kitchen has finished!!

Apart from the grouting on the left side....

I really like the overall effect but.... once all the tiles were up we realised that 1 tile is a different colour!! See bottom right tile in the pic below.

It's not a big deal as it will behind the cupboards but that one tile is the sample tile that i brought home from the tile showroom. It's the colour that I chose. It's a more creamier white where as the ones that I have are a colder starker white. I don't know if this is good or bad yet. I guess we'll see tomorrow when the kitchen is installed!!

Stefano is in the bathroom as I type putting up the remaining tiles that I picked up this morning.

There are so many "little" things that need doing before tomorrow morning when the kitchen arrives. Alessandro has to finish doing the wiring, fix some of the plaster, put in the down lights, touch up some of the paint on the wall etc etc...

p.s. ONE MORE SLEEP....!!!

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....

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 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 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 16....

Still waiting for the gas man to come.....

Stefano has been busy tiling!!

And Alessandro has been making more holes in the kitchen walls for the power points but is anxiously waiting for the gas man so he can go ahead with moving the pipes!!

DAY 15 CONT....

Good news and bad news today.

Firstly the bad news. After taking off the last of the old tiles in the kitchen Alessandro was going to sort out the wiring and the gas pipe. The wiring wasn't that much of a problem (just some trial and error pulling on the wires to see where they came from and where they went!) but to deal with the gas pipes we had to turn the gas off at the gas meter. Well we couldn't. It was completely blocked! If it broke whilst forcing it we'd have a big problem on our hands so we had to call Italgas - the gas company. They'd send someone out straight away if it was an emergency - eg. a gas leak, but since it wasn't an emergency someone will come in the next 2 days. So that has slowed us down a bit and also means someone has to be in the house at all times ready for the surprise visit from the gas man whenever that may be! Oh, it will also involve more money. That's the stuck gas tap on the left....

Once all the tiles were down we also discovered that the strangley shaped wall in the corner of the kitchen could be partially knocked down. Sounds like good news but it's not as my new kitchen has been built specially to go around that stupid little wall!! Oh well, too late now to change it! BTW, Raimondo called yesterday and my the kitchen has arrived, so I guess that's part of the good news!

Here's the wall. The right half of it is completely unnecessary. We discovered it used to be the old flue.


Now the good news. I went to the bathroom show room for the umpteenth time, this time to take back the shower drain (Alessandro already had one), to change some other piece of the loo drain and to see if they had some sort of support for the sink. Apparently my wall and the few big screws supplied with sink won't support the sink all on their own. The supports that Sandro showed me in the catalogues were either ugly, too expensive, needed ordering or all three!! Then he went to the store room, came back with two nice chrome supports, winked at me and told me he's giving them to me in exchange for the shower drain, which cost about a tenth of the price of the supports!!! So I guess my infinite number of visits to the showroom in the last month or so has been worth it! ;)

And things are progressing well in the bathroom. The shower base and bath are now in! And tomorrow morning the floor tiles are going down!! Yeah!!

Here's what the kitchen looks like "nude", with all the tiles gone!!


This is what we found behind the sink unit. Interesting place to put a tile like this when all the other tiles were plain!!

DAY 14....

This weekend was spent doing non house related things. Although Sunday evening I did have to make alot of space for my goodies that arrived this morning! Yeah!! The truck driver/delivery guy was really stroppy but that didn't matter! It was like Xmas!! Poor Alessandro and Stefano had to carry everything all the way down our drive way and up a flight of stairs to where the lift is, although not everything fitted in the lift so that meant another 2 flights of stairs! Anyway, this is what my dining room looks like at the moment....

Actually the bath has now been moved to the living room, which is also full of boxes! This morning I emptied and dismantled the lower part of the kitchen! Glad to see that go! But now we are without a kitchen! Take away pizza sounds good for this evening!

As expected things are taking longer than planned. I was hoping all would be finished (or nearly finished) by early next week as I'll have both boys home then!! This afternoon after 4 o'clock (you can't make noise from 2pm to 4pm) I'm going to take off the kitchen tiles. Then tomorrow Alessandro is going to start putting up the dropped ceiling. In the meantime Stefano is sanding the walls in the bathroom and making the support for the bath!

These are the tiles that I ordered for the bathroom floor which looked just like this in the showroom under the bright showroom lights....

And this is what they look like in the flesh!! When I opened the box I thought they were the wrong tiles! But it's not a problem as I actually like them even more!! They are a browny olivey grey colour if that makes sense.

DAY 13....

The only part of my plans for the bathroom that was really undefined was the corner cupboard for the washing machine.... The builders were just going to continue the existing wall up to the ceiling but weren't sure how to finish it off and make it look "nice". All their suggestions didn't convince me but I was told they were the only feasible solutions. Well after a sleepless night trying to work out how to do it I came up with a feasible and aesthetic solution!! It was hard enough explaining it to them, pointing and doing little sketches, that I'm not even going to try and write about it. But I will say that they are going to make the wall, tile and plaster it and I am going to make and fit the cupboard! I just hope that my carpentry skills live up to my expectations!!! In my head it's going to look fantastic... (fingers crossed again please!)

Here's the wall going up....

And the shower area has been water-proofed.... (that "stuff" smelt bad!!)

And the first layer of plaster went on....

In the meantime in the kitchen I got to work emptying all the overhead cupboards. Threw alot of stuff out too! Here's a pic of kitchen before (taken in 2003).

Then we took the cupboards down and moved the fridge into the living room right next to the sofa!

The tiles looked like they were just resting on the walls!! We managed to pull them off with our fingers!!


They were stuck on with blobs of what looks like flour and water paste!! At least it'll be easy to take the rest of them off on Monday!!

Tomorrow the workmen aren't coming around which is fine with me!! I have to do a million other things. 1 sleep in a little bit. 2 do lots of washing. 3 prepare Alex's bags (which means rush out to the shops and buy all the things on the list that I still haven't got! Bad mummy!) as on Sunday he's off camping for a week!! ....plus lots of other things.

Then on Monday at 8:15 my goodies are arriving! They were going to deliver them today but that would have meant having a bath, shower, loo, bidet etc sitting around the flat taking up our precious space!

DAY 12....

Finally the last bit of wall has been filled in and smoothed over ready for the tiling. Tomorrow I'm hoping all my "goodies" are being delivered! Yeah!!

The bathroom still looks very unfinished as it's all grey and messy but really alot has been done. Here's some photos to show the different stages...






I'm not quite sure what's going on in there at the moment, but I can hear alot of noise!! I don't dare open the door!! Will update later!

DAY 8....

Even on Saturday morning Stefano (workman) was here at 8 o'clock. I hate getting up early on the weekend! Today is also the first day of the boys' summer holidays!

Anyway, we now have fully functioning water pipes in the bathroom. At the moment the drains are going in, which also means that this evening my washing machine can be hooked up temporarily (until Monday)!! I've done some handwashing during the week but am in desperate need of the washing machine for sheets and towels! Guess what I'll be doing on Sunday!

Salvatore went this morning to IperCeramica to pick up the kitchen tiles which are now down in the garage! I'm still eagerly awaiting the arrival of the bathroom tiles which will be needed this coming week!

Will take a pic of the bathroom this evening when the workmen leave even though there's not much to see. In the meantime, here's a pic of the plants in the kitchen to add some colour to this blog!!!

DAY 5....

This morning was spent trying to find a solution for the pipe problem. It now seems to be under control. We still have to break the ceiling and wall in the bathroom down below. And as for our pipe that goes up, we'll just change the piece as far as we can go. Neighbour from above assured us that when they changed it the "bend" was in ok conditions. Let's hope he was right, otherwise we'll have to destroy his lovely new bathroom floor to fix any future leaks etc..

Here's a pretty pic of the offending pipes!

Stefano is now busy digging the "paths" in the cement where the new pipes will go. Drilled cement sure does make alot of noise and dust!!

P.S. Decided on the big white glossy (bathroom) tiles for the kitchen! Sending hubby to pick them up this weekend!

DAY 4....

I'm glad to say that the last brown tile has gone!! This morning Stefano and Alessandro transformed the bathroom from this -

to this -

Even in this messy state it looks so much better without the tiles!!

All seems to be going great with bathroom. I went to the showroom this morning and my "goodies" are starting to arrive. Shower base, bath and taps are there already! The rest should be there by Friday at the latest Monday (even though I'm sure it will more like Wed or Thur which is fine anyway). Other good news is that the existing divider wall that was there before (the shower cubicle wall) can stay and will be part of my built in cupboards. We were afraid that once the tiles were taken off it wouldn't be strong, but it's very sturdy! So that's saving some time and money.

Am still playing around with different ideas for the tiles in the kitchen. One idea is to have these big tiles laid horizontally. I like it. The workman thinks it won't look good and it'll look like a bathroom floor! But hey, it's my kitchen not his! (fingers crossed....)

DAY 2 CONT....

Just another pic of the bathroom. This is how I found it when I came home this evening. Great workmen also swept the floors in the entrance, hall and living room! Okay, it wasn't spotless but it was lovely not coming home to find mess all over the place!

I meant to say earlier, we used the new shower this morning! It was wonderful! Although it will take a little getting used to showering with transparent glass doors! Used to showering in that horrible brown cubicle with opaque plastic doors, it felt like I was showering in public! :D

Alessandro (workman) called this evening to say that there's problems with bath taps! They were meant to be here by now but they are still somewhere in northern Italy and won't be delivered for 2 weeks!! I don't know if things like this happen all over the world but they sure do happen here. Now I'm starting to worry about all the other things that are due to arrive next week (plus Monday is a public holiday!). I think tomorrow I'll be calling around checking! And calling a courier to see about getting the taps delivered directly from the factory (more money but worth it if it will speed things up)!!

WE HAVE TILES....

This morning I went to Sandro at Valentini showrooms and chose the tiles!!!

I don't know whether I feel relieved that I have finally chosen them or panic stricken thinking that I've chosen the wrong ones!! So, after all this here are the tiles that we're having... Comfort Living from Marca Corona .

Floor tiles - 45x45cm Olive. Wall tiles - 60x30cm Ivory. They are much nicer in the "flesh" (I hope). Here are the two colours shown separately



As for the kitchen he couldn't get me similar white tiles for such a low price so tomorrow I'm going back to IperCeramica and ordering them there.

I also ordered a new radiator for the bathroom.