Furniture Delivery

We are very fortunate that we happen to have a taste for antiques in a dead market, meaning we can pick up furniture from the 1700s in good condition that costs the same or a little less than Ikea. I had made multiple purchases of some "recent" (late 1800s/early 1900s) furniture from a dealer in Turin at the beginning of the year, and she had agreed to hold the items until we were ready for them.

Well, yesterday, our furniture arrived! It was a very exciting day.

First, I had to let the local police know that a large truck would be coming. After the cops had spoken directly to the driver about his arrival time, exact size of the truck, where he should park, etc., I also let him know that he needed to call me in advance so that I could alert Umberto. The thing is, the truck he was driving would not be able to make it all the way to our house, and I knew we had about 350 pounds' worth of stuff to shift, divided among 2 pallets.

Of course, he forgot to call me.

Anyway, I called Umberto in a panic once I knew the shipment had arrived. Much consternation all around, since Umberto had in the meantime loaded his truck with items for a different job. Gah! Of course, the local police force knows Umberto, so once I'd explained the delay, all was well.

Two pallets, one over 2 m long, the other over 2 m high

Moving the first onto Umberto's truck

Approaching the courtyard

In you go!

Loading the second pallet, which we decided to separate

Our new china cabinet

The girls' armoire

Storage chests

The china cabinet in place behind the table; the remainder on
top will need a new home, to be found in the future

Girls' armoire upstairs...some assembly required

The armoire is 8 1/2' long and 7 feet tall,
so it comes disassembled; a giant
Ikea project with no instructions

Love,

Alexandra

End of a Chapter

Yesterday was the day we turned in our keys to Via Mazzini. I had previously wondered whether it would be bittersweet, but truly it was only sweetness in my mouth as I left the meeting with the owner's daughter. There was nothing wrong with the place, really, but it wasn't ours, and it didn't have our things in it, and it wasn't to our taste, and somehow it wasn't our home ever despite our 7-year tenure.

Plus, we just love our new home! We'll still see our old landlord in town (although he has sadly gone downhill rapidly over the last few months), and we have such a lovely space in which to continue to enjoy Todi...and where we can host our guests! It's exciting to see our visitors' calendar rapidly filling up over the next 9 months.

The last two weeks have been a ton of work. Aside from the obvious of a basic move, I took the time for a seriously deep clean: dismantling the dryer, taking apart all sorts of things, vacuuming in every conceivable location, windows, baseboards, tops of doors, window trim...you name it, we/I cleaned it. Add to that the unpacking in the new place and the continual moving of items from one provisional location to the next pending the arrival of new-to-us furniture, and you have one exhausted family!

And that is why we haven't blogged in a while.

Love,

Alexandra

"Gru"some happenings

Yes, it DOES take up the entire street

Today and tomorrow, our only road into town will be blocked in order to permit the installation of a rather large "gru" ("crane", which will be used for working on a beautiful palazzo in town). We deliberately chose the bar for our mid-morning coffee to give us front-row seats to the event.

First, the large mounting crane came all the way up to Piazza Jacopone to turn around. It was accompanied by another huge truck carrying the tubular vertical components of the to-be-installed crane. We missed much of this event, but we did get to see the final part put in.

Last piece to be mounted for the crane itself

Up and away

And now to assemble the thing

Jeremy reported that they were installing the counterweights later today, so we're not sure what they have to finish in the morning. I think I know where we'll be having our coffee!

Love,

Alexandra

New Address

Michael with our
first letter to
the new address
(Thanks, Nicole!)

I keep forgetting to post this, but if you want to reach us by mail, our new address is:

Via Lorenzo Leonj 21
06059 Todi (PG)
Italy

Ours is second from the left

To deliver the mail, Elisabetta has to ring a doorbell until (she hopes!) someone answers.

Then she comes inside and places the mail in the individual boxes.

Love,

Alexandra

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