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 7....

I can't believe it's already day 7!! I really don't know how you others survive full house renovations that go on and on for months or even years! This is about all I can handle!

I like to complain but really I'm enjoying the process, just not the noise and ALL the mess involved. The bathroom is off a little hall way (don't know if it qualifies as a hallway as it's only about 2m long!), as are our and the boys' bedrooms. As much as I clean up at the end of everyday and keep the bedroom doors closed there's always a layer of dust everywhere.

This morning the concealed cistern for the loo has been installed. I went with the cheaper one, the Valsir, as I have to contain the costs.... Here it is with all my new water pipes.

And here's a quick pic of the tap/door handle with a pen to show you how big it is!!!!!

DAY 6....

Well things do seem to be getting better!

Can't be bothered writing much about it as it's ever so boring but this -

is now this -

....and there was no need to break anyone's (apart from mine that is) ceiling or walls! We decided to change the pipe and the bendy part only. The vertical pipe can be reached from below when/if the neighbours from below want/need to change it!

So now Alessandro and Stefano are back to doing MY bathroom!

Today I went and picked up the tap for the shower and got a surprise! The lever is huge!!! It kind of reminds me of a door handle! It's lovely and it feels very solid and well made but I repeat, it's huge!!! This particular tap wasn't on display at the showroom so was chosen looking at a little pic in a catalogue. Will take a pic later...

In the meantime I have to decide about how to flush my new loo. In the shower room we installed a concealed Geberit cistern. Today Alessandro brought over a similar one made by Valsir. Internally they are pratically the same and he has used both brands successfully in the past. The only difference can be seen in the photo below. Top one is the Valsir and bottom one is my Geberit in the shower room. Opinions? (BTW top one is about €30 cheaper....)

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 CONT....

Day 4 started well but ended not so well!

In the afternoon we discovered a pipe under our tiles that belongs to the flat below! We kind of expected it to be there as when the flat above us was renovated they discovered one of our pipes under their tiles. Actually it isn't just any old pipe, it's the pipe that brings all the water into the house!!! This pipe is old and rusty and looks like it could break any second!! So we suggested to the people down below to change it and they agreed willingly (also to pay for any extras). This is what we did with the guy from above. Problem is that the guy from above's plumber only changed the pipe directly under his bathroom floor. There's also the part that bends and goes down into our wall, which he didn't change. We realised this now as to change our neighbours from below's pipe we'll have to also break into their ceiling!!!

Sorry to bore or confuse you, but what this means is about another day or two of work involving breaking neighbour's ceiling and trying to sort out our main water supply pipe which is hiding up in our other neighbours newly renovated bathroom! AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

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....)

RECYCLE....

Today's Sunday so no builders. Peace and quiet!

Yesterday I took down the Ikea shelves that were in the kitchen. Not wanting them in the new kitchen I went round the house seeing where i could use them. I also had 2 sets of Raan towel hooks and the old ceiling light, Nittio, from the bathroom (once again all from Ikea) to find homes for.

Well, they all ended up in my walk in hall cupboard, which has always been a mess as everything was just piled in there. Now I have a proper light in there, shelves on the wall so I can store light bulbs, sewing stuff, batteries, tools or what ever I want and lots of hooks so i can hang umbrellas, tennis rackets, shopping bags etc ... It's still a bit messy as I still have to organise it properly but I'm happy I was able to reuse these things!

It also means I have a good excuse to buy new bathroom accessories and light!!