Stepping Up

As the main entrance to our future home the front door had no real entrance step … just a few old bricks on their side and a broken stone base to the door frame. This had to change!

We ordered two new steps from a local mason made from ‘Pietra Serena’, a beautiful smooth grey stone available locally. 

Two steps with matching risers were quickly prepared and are now installed. Each step is milled from a single piece of stone 10 cm thick, the main step weighing over 140 kg and the smaller top step well over 60 kg.

We are delighted with the result and our front door, once stripped and polished, will make a suitably grand entrance to our new home … welcome all!

Meet Basil

Of the many ‘quaint’ items that came with our house this one immediately caught our eye …

… an unusual china Dalmatian dog! 

Slightly boss eyed, it soulfully pleaded for adoption … almost crying out not to be discarded! 

But where to keep and what to do with such an unusual collectors piece? Any ideas?

As can now be seen … the answer is not as easy as might be thought!

Certainly not destined for pride of place in our future living or dining room … rest assured we will find a special corner somewhere for our new mascot that, for obvious reasons, we have already christened “Basil” … 

… welcome to our rather mad family!

Getting Plastered

The last couple of weeks the ground floor apartments have been totally transformed as all the walls have been plastered …

A thick base coat was sprayed and leveled over the prepared walls, with all trunking and services fixed … before two smoother top coats were applied and polished by hand.

Where possible original features have been left exposed such as wooden beams, the brick arch and some of the stones set in the main load-bearing walls.

As the top plaster coat dries all the rooms look and feel much bigger and brighter. Definitely looking more finished now … soon ready for decorations!