19 November 2010

Making a House a Home

Our house came with walls, floors, a toilet, bidet, shower pan and a bathroom sink…and a few bare light bulbs. Typical for a house in Italy. It is a slow process but our house is becoming a home piece by piece. Our budget is limited and we have ideas for our house that may require several years to bring to fruition but it is now a comfortable place.

We have a working kitchen, a table and I recently helped the delivery man carry a large wood cabinet for dishes down several narrow streets to our house. This is such an improvement that we recently had our first guests for Sunday pranzo.

Our kitchen before and now.

I have installed a shower box so that so that we aren’t washing the entire room each time we take a shower. We have a washing machine so we don’t have to make trips to Potenza to wash clothes.

Our bedroom is actually starting to look like one. Since I installed shelves we can now hang clothes in our closet and we have night stands to accent our bed. No more sorting through piles of clothes on the floor everyday for something to wear.

Friends have generously given us a couch which we carried down those narrow streets to the house. I am becoming very familiar with this activity; perhaps a second calling for me in the delivery business. We still have bare walls, a few bare light bulbs and many ideas of what we want to do. This is a process to change a house into a home and this is just the beginning.

Piano, piano…

7 comments:

wayne said...

How about some more before & afters?

Rosaly said...

I love the process and admire your patience :)
Would love to see more before and afater pictures too!
Good luck!!!

Bryan said...

Other before and after photos may not be as dramatic. Perhaps in the future.

Leann Grace said...

Bravo zio per il tuo tavolo! eh eh. Piace "night stands to accent our bed" you're a real interior designer ; ) Amo le fotografice (?).
PS:
Sorry I haven't written an email back yet....It takes me forever to compose a decent paragraph in Italian and school is eating up my time. :p I will though : )

Bryan said...

Carissima, grazie per i tui complementi. Anche noi piace i comodini (night stands).

We look forward to more of your practice in italiano.

carol said...

hey Bryan,
It's so funny how we vicariously enjoy each others' sojourns in Italy.Hopefully we'll catch up with you and Valerie in Italy next year. The kitchen looks great. Are you planning on staying permanently?

Bryan said...

Carol - It is fun to see how others' experiences with life in Italy. This house is our home, we are here as long as possible.