La stufa - the wood-burning stove

It's been a while since I've blogged, mainly because we haven't made any major changes to the house. But today we finished installation of a wood-burning stove - a perfect moment to update the blog.
The stove has been quite a challenge, especially since we're now pleased not be living in building dust and consider ourselves off-duty from building work. It all started with some frightening gas bills and a kind neighbour donating a 70s-era stove. I saw it and fell in love. Okay, so kitch wasn't the original style plan for the lounge, but I know this cute little stove will become a cult classic.
Roscoe wasn't 100% sold. That is to say, he dragged his feet every step of the way. I overruled him on the practical arguments: (a) it'll be relatively easy to install (he'd prefer an open fire), (b) it's relatively cost-free to install and cheap to run, and (c) it's a surprisingly efficient option for heating one or two rooms (much more effective, apparently, than an open fire, and less poluting than other fuels). But winning the argument and actually getting him to take the initiative on installing it were two different things.

First of all, we had to decide where to locate the stove and its chimney. There must be a recommended max length of chimney for these things, but people here seem to do all sorts of meanderings with their stove chimneys. There are two reasons: the logistical challenge of adding a 20th century stove to a mediaeval house without too much interest in aesthetics, and then the bonus radiator effect of those chimney metres that fall inside a room. In this way the stove is made to heat more than one room. Ross protested than fumisteria is a precise science and we needed a specialist in to design and fit our chimney. I was keener on the suck-it-and-see local philosophy - I mean, if it doesn't work we can always change it, right?
We didn't want to play around with the front façade of the house, and the back of the house is so tall that we would have needed a prohibitively expensive scaffold to install the chimney. But we didn't want to puncture the up-to-now-waterproof roof either. The ingenious solution was to take the tube out the wall of the lounge into the stairwell, then out the wall of the stairwell into the terrace (as per diagram above). Thus, we avoided perforating any floors or roofs and made our job easier.

All in all, the pieces cost about €150. The plain sections come in 50cm or 1m, but we had to order the 45° bends specially - I guess this stove is quite an old model! The spinning steel smoke stack was quite expensive too, but it helps pull the smoke up and keep the rain out.
The pieces just slot together quite easily, and are fixed to the wall with collar and rigid screw system. Even though we had to remember our Pythagoras theorem to calculate the measurements (yes, really!), it all worked out quite simply. There were some problems when we realised the effective sizes weren't what we expected and we had to hunt down a couple of extra pieces, but the actual installation wasn't as bad as I expected.
We chose to install it now, in August, because we're off work, and it seemed like a good idea to make big holes in the wall while it wasn't snowing. So after today's test run, I guess we won't use it for a few months. In the meantime we've got to find lots of pine cones and buy some dried-out wood for our winter fires.

A quick update on the rest of the house:
- We got a local workman in to help plaster the spare box room ready for a guest in June. Along with a donated bed and improvised wardrobe, it's quite cosy in there now.
- I filled and painted the untidy old stair risers. There wasn't much choice of colours in matt gloss paint (I'm sure that's a contradiction but you know what I mean), so I settled on forest green, which matches the hall tiles (see pic).

- With the help of our local sawmill, we put up a really heavy solid 3m long stained pine shelf in our kitchen with a light hidden under it. Helps the lighting and space probs in the kitchen no end.
- We changed the dim wall lights in the cantina spare bedroom to two halogen track lights, and then rented out the room. One of the track lights we moved from our bedroom, while getting a matching one took some effort, as Ikea had discontinued this fab product. With some language difficulties I managed to get one from a German Ebayer after months of trying. The halogen lights (6 in total) really brighten the room with a more daylight-like light.
- Finally managed to get the sail up to shade the roof terrace. We needed to fix a high, strong support at one of the extremities of the terrace for a corner of the triangular sail to hook onto. In such a windy position, this was easier said than done, and first attempts were taken out by the wind. Finally got a big wooden post up there, held on with steel cable.
- After the big earthquake (which thankfully did nothing to the house) I had time stuck at home and dedicated myself to gardening. Now we have many more plants and trees up there, as well as two sunloungers ordered from the UK, and it's heaven.

Housewarming time!

Goodness, haven't I got behind with my blogging! Not with the house though - I've been super-dedicated to getting things done! In fact, we've come so far that it's time to declare an official housewarming - also our anniversary of moving in.
I'm sorry to say the camera is playing up, so you'll have to believe me when I say it looks gorgeous! Photos will follow when I get around to sorting the technical probs.
Big news: we did get a tenant for a month - an American traveller. It worked rather well and we'll look to do it again. The guest suite stood up to the challenge! For our tenant's arrival we had to get some rough edges sorted...
We didn't have time to paint, but we did fixative the walls so they wouldn't leak dust. We had to get the doors of both the bedroom and the guest bathroom properly finished off. The bathroom had a sliding door cavity, but no door at all, just a curtain. So our biggest expense of recent months was a basic veneer sliding door at E250. I don't like veneer doors, but having failed to find something else, I gave in. It was probably easier to fit than something adhoc. That said, fitting the sliding door inspired a fair bit of bad language on my part!
There were other bits and pieces - door handles, a hook to hang my bike from the ceiling, light fittings, shelves in my record-player-unit-cum-dresser, and I even managed to fit a friend's old door to our cantina (by which I mean the part of the basement which is still like a garage). This is more surprising than you may think, when I explain that the opening was a rather unusual 165cm high!
I finally got around to tiling the landing between the basement "guest" floor and the ground floor. As well as the drilling out and filling in with cement that I'd already done, this involved several more days of work. The old tiles are a chore to fit - they're 4cm of solid dust to cut through! After laying them in cement to the right height and level, I had to wait several days before grouting. The tiles then looked great, but I was still left with an ugly 10cm of rough-edged gap at the bottom of the wall. It was so deep I had to fill it with cement (with the unlucky side-effect of sandiness, causing the cat to use the area as a litter tray), and wait for the cement to dry before I could come back and plaster. While I was at it, I noticed that the stair risers in that part of the house were really broken and messy too, so I set to, scrubbing off a surprising quantity of black gunk, before plastering those as well.
Conclusion: satisfting to me, but probably doesn't look like quite as much work as it was to anyone else!

Little steps forward

The big steps forward forced by Roscoe’s parents’ visit have led to renewed vigour for home improvement. Every day I manage to get another little job on its way, and it feels good!

I found some wide skirting board in a DIY shop in Rome – almost all are 7-8cm in Italy, so I was really pleased to find some in the older style which I prefer. I bought it unstained and used the stain which the carpenter had used for our windows. These hot dry days are ideal for painting on the roof terrace – well, ideal for drying, if not for the painter! I bought a kind of box saw for cutting at 45° and so far I’ve used the skirting to make the architrave in our bedroom – a job which everyone said I’d need a carpenter to do. It looks quite good. I’ll continue with more architraves and skirting when the wall painting is finished. We may have to compromise on narrower wood for the skirting, as the wide stuff is twice as costly.

I stained a cheap pine table while I was at it, and then waxed it with coloured beeswax and it’s really rather nice now. That’ll eventually go in the kitchen, but for now we’re taking advantage of it on the terrace for dinners up there.

Pleased with the finish of the table, I did the same with an old piece of packing wood to make a hall shelf for keys and things. I rather like that it’s a bit irregular and has some old nail holes.

Our terrace “sail” has gone up – this is a triangular sheet with karabiners attaching it to the external rail. We can move it around as the sun moves.

Our wardrobe – or lack thereof – has long been a frustration to me (though Roscoe seems quite content to use the floor). As I probably mentioned in earlier posts, Roscoe isn’t good at shutting wardrobe doors, and there’s nothing I find more frustrating. So the hunt was for an open wardrobe of some kind. I found a rail – normally for halls – in Ikea, and combined this with a simple shoe rail (which I also stained to make it match our wood colours). Along with some hooks on the wall and some clothes “bins” for Roscoe, it’s quite practical and pretty. Now I just have to save up for a big dresser – we’ve got loads of household towels and bedding on top of our clothes and desperately need somewhere to keep them tidy.

The walls are looking livelier thanks to a productive Saturday. Some basic pine frames (yet again, stained by me with our ubiquitous walnut shade) mingle with bright scarlet ones to show off before-and-after photos – it makes us remember just how far we’ve come! Then, in the echoey lounge I wanted some fabrics. The windows have shutters so don’t need curtains, and the floor tiles are too pretty for carpets. A neat solution came in three wooden frames that I covered in bold African fabric (a present from Roscoe’s parents). The frames (thanks again to Ikea) are big and square and deep and have drawn a few nice comments already.

I found a neat gadget in Lidl to hang my wine glasses upside down from the kitchen shelf. It’s nice to get the cardboard boxes out of the kitchen.

Our main bathroom has finally started moving forward again. Above the sink, I needed to plasterboard in a false ceiling in which to insert a halogen light (they need clearance above the fitting – so not good for solid ceilings like ours). Fearing problems with moisture, I painted the pieces of plasterboard many times with fixative. I’ve never used plasterboard before and it’s probably not the best job in the world, but it sure makes me happy to see the final shape of the room. I guess we’ll see how neat it turns out after plastering (I’m not attempting this myself, but waiting for a chap to come next week!).

Meanwhile I’ve still got to replace the tile that got broken off to fix tap problems. This means detaching the taps, so the sink is out of order for the duration. And then there’s still the question of the undersink unit. Latest thinking is to DIY it, using wooden shelves covered in tiles. I suspect it won’t be easy. And then, finally we can paint the bathroom, then the architrave and get the mirrors put up around the sink niche. Oh, I can’t wait to have it finished.

The basement bedroom with its big antique bed hasn’t been used since we got the kitten, as the room doesn’t have a door (think how surprised you’d be if a playful kitten suddenly pounced on your toes in the middle of the night). But we’re having visitors soon, so we’ll have to face the question of doors once more. We had managed to find the perfect solution – an old door, frame and all, from a dealer for €200. We got it all the way back on the roofrack only to discover it opens the wrong way. Doh! (I’d checked that the left to right bit was right, but it was nailed shut for transport and I didn’t click that it swung inward rather than outward. Didn’t I feel stupid!) I hoping the dealer will take an exchange.

Meanwhile I got another door from a house that was being knocked down nearby. It’s in terrible condition, full of nails, spiders and woodworm, with whole bits missing. We’ll see. It might end up going back to be demolished, or it might work for a while. At least the style is right – it’s exactly the same as those from our house (and, ironically, in rather worse condition than our house’s old doors that Roscoe chucked out at the start).

Continuing the theme of weird and wonderful old bits, I bought an interesting old unit on Ebay. It used to house a record player and records, but I want to use it for clothes and jewellery. It’s a rather fab piece, with a bit of curiosity about it. I’ve been replacing the missing shelves and handles to make it practical once more.

And last but not least, the best job I completed recently was in the cantina – the room of the basement that we’ve kept as a storage space. This is a rough, low-ceilinged concrete room housing the boiler and all our building junk – a surprising amount by now! It had so much thrown into it that it was impossible to move. And I wanted to move the junk from the little spare room in there. The only solution was shelves and many of them. I got wonderfully strong, simple, cheap aluminium shelves from Ikea – Hyllis for €8.99 a piece – thoroughly recommend them. But how could I put my many shelf units on an uneven cement floor? Luckily our kind neighbours lent us a pneumatic drill and I had fun learning how to use it. The cantina is now much more accessible! While I was at it, I drilled out the broken floor on the landing going down to the basement (after having twisted my ankle on it a couple of times!), and have now to tile this.

Bathroom before and after

This is the (tiny!) space we decided to make into a bathroom on our bottom floor

First it needed the floor lowered and the wall straightened out, then a sliding door cage was put in, as the hallway is tight

After plumbing and electrics were laid, I got started on the tiling

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Today

Today

Before & after: the study!

The space that's now our study was originally walled off as a bathroom, between what's now our lounge and kitchen. We knocked down the wall in this picture.

It got worse before it got better! The walls were all shapes, so Roscoe spent many hours with a pneumatic drill taking them back to vertical. All the old pipes were lead and broken, so would have had to be replaced anyhow.

The study as of today! Yes, I know, it's not the tidiest, but let's face it, it's only going to get worse... We bought unvarnished wood and the carpenter gave us the same stain he had used on the windows so we could create the study to match.

It's a game of cat and mouse in our study... Needless to say, at least one member of the family settled in right away.

It's been ages since I blogged, and there's lots to update! Most importantly, our first guests (Roscoe's parents) survived their two weeks visit. The house is officially road tested! Although they did suggest we buy a vacuum cleaner for the extreme quantity of dust in the house...
With a lot of last minute elbow grease, we managed to get the second bedroom sorted. The antique bed has not, as yet, fallen apart. (We slept in it ourselves to be on the safe side!)
More details to come soon, but to ease me gently back into blogging, here are the pics of our latest, dare I say, success?
Converting the old bathroom into a study was one of the hardest choices we made. Roscoe was convinced of the idea, and he brought me round. On paper, it means losing a room, but his passion is to open up the space - so the study is directly off the hall.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

The tiling marathon has been completed!

Faced with the fear of Roscoe's parents arriving and our spare bedroom still being a building site, we finally knuckled down to the tiling/plastering. Three backbreaking days of tiling later, and I never have to lay another herringbone terracotta tile. This was the last room in the house to be tiled (I think there's a step somewhere that still needs done, but I'm trying not to think about it). They still need grouting in the gaps between the tiles, but they look quite nice anyhow.
This bedroom has a door onto the street and, to limit the dust in the house, I set up my workbench and tilecutter outside. By the third day, I was the attraction of the village, with several neighbours dropping by to judge my progress. They seemed bemused to see a girl tiling: "You're doing it? By yourself?". I think my reputation just got upped a level to "very eccentric foreigner". Nonetheless, the compliments and encouragement did keep me going through the long last day of tiling.
Now I must apply myself to transforming the antique bed into a comfy night's sleep. I'm certainly learning new skills!

Advice needed - mosaic centrepiece in bedroom floor

Okay, so we're still going. We took a break after - disappointingly - not finishing for our Easter deadline. This was mainly due to work commitments for Roscoe, and house fatigue on my part!
But now I'm ready to press on for a few last weeks of hard labour before our first guests arrive. The main job is still plastering and tiling the remainder of the bottom bedroom, and of course the dreaded painting. The plastering is most of the way to done, thanks to some weekend work by Roscoe, and I'm preparing to lay into the tiling.
BUT, it's a very weird shaped room. I plan to do, as elsewhere, a border of the terracotta tiles, and the rest in herringbone layout. I also want to add a centrepiece of 30cm x 30cm mosaic (which I bought a while back). But where should a centrepiece go?
The obvious answer is "the centre", but in this room, I'm really not so sure, as it's got two zones. The physical centre doesn't feel very, er, central.
Design guides suggest lining a decorative piece up with the centre of a door. Great, that makes sense. But this room has two doors on opposite walls, and they aren't lined up. On the plan above I've drawn a central axis, and then an axis from the centre of one door to the other. Is this where the mosaic should go? Should it be straight to the long axis, or to the one between the doors?
About the room: it's very rustic (a euphemism for having no straight walls) and will be a twin bedroom for guests. It's about 5m x 2.5m (measurements in the drawing above). One of the doors comes from the hallway, and the other leads, via a metre-deep arch, to an external door. I don't expect the external door to be used often.
The photo shows the mosaic surrounded by some of the main tiles. Do let me know your opinions and past experience.