Ironworks

One of the two poles moves
to the other bracket, and we can
thread a clothes line through the eyes
for when we want to hang laundry.

(Here's the other bracket). When
we don't have laundry and want to
enjoy the view, the poles stack neatly
beside the chimney.

We have been fortunate to find three different blacksmiths, who do very different work. One of them is doing the basic fall-protection railings, and we haven't had the chance to get to know him. The second is Francesco, who is a real problem-solver. He'll be doing our custom-built vent hood, and has already done our home-designed laundry system. We're hoping that he will bring a structure to support our firewood in the boiler room tomorrow. In other words, he's a technical, structural metal fabricator, and is a fantastic addition to our Rolodex. He's reasonably economical and delivers quite quickly, so we're very much fans of his.


And then there's Marcello. Marcello is a true artist, and is larger-than-life in his expansiveness, his ego, and his fragility. We hired Marcello to create some of the more visible works in the house, as works of art along with meeting the basic needs.

He's a lovely fellow, and has been more than happy to share photos of his work in progress. It's been a real treat to open up my devices to find his latest installments.

For the living room; he chalks the pattern onto the metal
table so he can keep the layout

He has a jig to make these as consistent as possible

More pieces!

He has four or five different jigs for
different sizes of curlicues

A finished leaf

A leaf in progress, plus Marcello

Adding the veining

The first shaping happens under
a hydraulic mallet

Adding curvature

A starting point for leaves

All ready!

And here is the finished product:

There's also the fall-protection grating on the way up the stairs. What used to be vertical prison bars is now this:

Oh! And Marcello also made the shower curtain rod for the guest bath. We wanted something to work with the general flavor of the space, but since the tub is narrowish, I thought we should have the rod curve outwards to give more elbow space while showering.

Love,

Alexandra

Moving...or not?

Funny story: Michael was getting a package delivered to our new address, but the delivery man "knew" where we live and didn't bother to read the written address...delivered it directly to the old address. Note: must let all the delivery people know personally that we're moving!

We've been working insane hours to get everything out and the apartment ready for some judicious repainting. After seven years there, at least a few of the walls need some work!

Over the past few weeks, we've been making multiple trips a night to take boxes and containers and mattresses to the new house. Last Saturday night was the first night Jeremy, Michael, and I slept over. Since Jeremy's plan is to sleep in a hammock whose attachment points have not yet been created, the poor thing was on the floor. That said, it was very much like camping, given the lack of doors and general privacy. But it's all ours! We feel so lucky. We can see the moon rise (at this time of year, anyway) from our bed, as well as the dawn's colors. Yes, I'm inadvertently waking at dawn every morning.

Florence finally got her bed, so she was able to sleep over last night, and James brought his mattress over.

Yes, there are still a lot of boxes, but we're just so happy to be here.

There are a lot of developments to report:

1. Florence's bed-under-the-stairs is done!

2. And Ashley's bed has arrived







3. We are getting interior doors (still no handles!)

This is a period door which came with the house

4. We have our wrought-iron fall protection gratings! (Covered more in another story)

In the living room

As seen from outside

5. Michael has his office set up (except for air conditioning, which is hard at the moment)

Michael's lair

6. We have most of the light fixtures
7. The kitchen works!

Yes, there are boxes
and china everywhere...

It's a stacked set

The panel on the right is removable, allowing them exploration
time while we're at home

8. Florence and Jeremy constructed "bunnygate" so that we can contain some of the inevitable mess, as well as put them to bed at night.
9. The washing machine and dryer have arrived, and will be hooked up soon

10. We have boxes everywhere! It's extraordinary how much we have to put away (and how much more furniture I can't wait to buy and/or have delivered).

Love,

Alexandra

More steps and railings

I've forgotten to take photos of the new steps into our utility room. Until now, it was a series of crumbling dirt (?) ledges that were a death trap. We asked Umberto to pour a decent set of steps so we didn't have to fear for anyone's safety during maintenance and when we went to get wood.

As usual, they did a lovely job.

The big excitement for today was that the balcony's railing came back, having received a spit and polish. Everyone was very excited up until they realized that the balcony is a bit higher than they'd remembered, and this time gravity would be working against them.

Hm.

Time to pull out the sawhorses and raise them to the maximum height. Time to pull out the ropes. Time to pull out the extension ladder and commandeer one of the electricians to help. But! They managed to get it up during one of the hottest days of the year, and we all had to applaud. It looks so much better, and the anti-rust treatment will protect the iron for the next few years.

We also had our self-designed laundry system that arrived today. Our goal was to keep our beautiful view uncluttered when there was no laundry, while allowing laundry to dry on our terrace as necessary without the encumbrance (and inconvenience) of racks. The solution was a pair of poles with eyehooks that will allow a cord to be strung and tightened. One pole is permanently mounted and the other

has a bracket on either side of the terrace: when not in use, it stays next to its twin on the chimney side. When in use, however, it moves to the opposite corner. Since the washing machine hasn't yet arrived, we can't yet test it out, but we're hoping it works well. The same metalworker who did this has also completed the skeleton for the made-in-place vent hood. It looks great!

In other news, Luca has been working hard on the final drywall applications, and will be trying to get everything done before leaving us for his vacation. We were somewhat dismayed to see that he'd collared our vacuum cleaner for his own purposes, but I didn't have the heart to get annoyed. I never liked that vacuum, anyway...

Enrico has carted off a few windows that have warped and will be reshaping them, as well as continuing to paint the interior doors. The electricians have been continuing to hang light fixtures and generally piddling around.

In the meantime, we've been creating punchlists and have been having a great time supervising, as well as moving bits and bobs when we go back and forth.

Love,

Alexandra

The move

Well, okay, not really. As in, we'll be staying in Via Mazzini for the time being.

BUT

We did have a man with a truck come and the rest of the family schlepped while I directed and nursed my ankle. I did a ton of cleaning, as well. It's amazing how many times you have to mop a floor in order to remove construction dust, and I won't claim to have finished.

The living room, still with plenty of boxes

All the large pieces of furniture have been moved, along with the majority of the boxes from Atlanta. The sofas are now at the upholsterer's, so we're hoping that they'll be done fairly quickly...not likely, given the fact that this week is a big holiday week and he's (fortunately for him) perpetually behind. We'll see!

The table in place!

The guest room offers ample seating, but no bed

The boys' room needs a bit more
furniture

Anyway, I captured a few shots of the move so you can see what it's like to do a move of 150 meters in small-town Italy.

Books in the girl's room

 After lunch, Michael and I made a few trips to the local recycling center to take care of a lot of debris. A trip to the wine store was also indicated, but only because it was in the area.

The drill was to walk between the two houses,
loading at one and unloading at the other

Yes, the truck IS that small

Love,

Alexandra