PART 123: It might be interesting to share how we pulled off living in Italy for part of the year. I will post some steps and what we are learning along the way.
We love every minute of it, and what was once a dream is our life!
We live in Tuscany in the Fall, then back again in the Spring, and in California for the rest of the time (in a previous blog, I explained why we live in Italy only part of the year).
Step 1: As we explore areas in Italy, we discover some gems worth sharing. Some are well-known tourist magnets, and others are lesser-known but always amazing.
Let's stay close to home this week and concentrate on renovating our house. What happened when we needed bathroom and kitchen tiles to match the house's design?
We went chasing after tiles.
Step 2: The kitchen floor mystery
We have standard brown tiles in our kitchen, which are commonly found in many older Italian homes. The tiles are simple and the color complements the wood tones in the room, so we thought they would work fine.
When we started installing a new kitchen and removed the old one, we discovered the original terrazzo flooring underneath the brown tile. We were surprised to find out that it had been tiled over. Initially, we considered stopping the work to reveal the original floor. However, upon closer inspection, we noticed missing sections and the design of the original flooring was not to our liking. So we moved forward.
After two days, the new kitchen was installed.
We wondered if we could change the flooring sometime in the future if we felt like tackling that project. We consulted with our contractor, who assured us that he could tile over the existing floor, resulting in three layers of flooring. However, the increased height would cause problems with the fireplace drawer and the threshold in the adjoining entry. We could a lso take out the present floor to the level of the original terrazzo.
Ultimately , we decided that we were already overwhelmed with the renovation process and that the current flooring was fine.
Sometimes, it's best to avoid getting carried away with renovating a historic house.
Step 3: The kitchen backsplash
A domino effect can take place when renovating a historic house.
At first, we had two projects: create a new bathroom and transform a bathtub into a shower in the main bathroom. Simple enough. But as the work progressed and we began living in that space, we discovered other areas of the house to renovate, starting with the kitchen.
The domino effect began when we decided to swap out the existing kitchen for a new forest green one, which worked well with the wood-beamed ceiling but not the existing tile backsplash.
We had to rip out the tile backsplash and find something that matched the room's new color scheme.
We were new to Tuscany, so we were unsure where to go. We started at the local home improvement store in our town, but we didn't find any tile that would work for the kitchen.
Step 4: The Search
We drove to Grosseto, the nearest city with an industrial center, and visited several bathroom specialty shops and tile stores. We ended up in an exclusive store that sold high-end shower stalls, vanities, sinks, and faucets. As we were about to leave, my partner spotted their tile display on the back wall.
Although their tile would exceed our budget for covering a large area, it was affordable for a backsplash. We devised a design on the spot, ordered the tile, and picked it up 10 days later.
Having green as the main color shade in our kitchen was unexpected, but we are happy with the result.
The point of this story is that we learned that investing in high-end tile for a visible area like a kitchen backsplash can be worth it and may not break the budget at all if it is a smaller area.
Step 5: The new bathroom
We needed to select materials for our new bathroom while we were in California. Luckily, we have a reliable and honest contractor who made some choices for us, which would be confirmed once we returned to Tuscany.
Once we returned to Tuscany, we went to our local builder’s supply and, with our contractor’s help, found some great modern tiles that would fit well with the sleek design of the new bathroom. He had projected a budget which allowed for some choices, so we were glad when we found a great tile design at a local business.
That was one of the easiest decisions we made during the renovation.
Step 6: Renovating the old (main) bathroom
We needed to make some decisions regarding our main bathroom, which is covered in 1980s-style solid white tiles from floor to ceiling. The bathroom also has an old-fashioned embedded mirror above the vanity surrounded by a swirly design tile frame. The floor is covered with plain brown tiles similar to those used in the kitchen.
We considered the following options and questions:
1. Remove all the existing tiles and start over.
2. Keep the existing tiles and find new ones that harmonize with the existing ones.
3. What type of tile to use for the new shower?
4. What do we do with the off-center embedded mirror once we replace the vanity?
After careful consideration, we decided to keep the existing tile in the bathroom and give it an updated look by tiling the shower with materials that would harmonize with the existing tiles. Additionally, we planned to update the lighting, mirror, toilet, and vanity. For the off-center embedded mirror, we stumbled across a solution.
During our visit to Tecnomat, a store similar to Home Depot or Lowe's, we found some great white tiles for the new shower that matched the subway-style tiles in the same bathroom.
We also discovered an illuminated mirror large enough to cover the embedded wall mirror and swirly tile design above the old vanity and long enough to center it above the new vanity.
Looking back, we realized it would have been better to visit Tecnomat at the beginning of our renovation to see what they offered before spending so much time in specialty shops. Tecnomat has a huge selection of tile as well as other materials and specialty items that can be ordered.
Step 7: When to leave well enough alone
Renovating a historical property is a learning process. It's important to decide what to change and what to leave as it is. We don't need to do everything at once, and we may choose not to change some things at all. By holding back and letting the house reveal what our priorities are, we can experience life in our new home in Tuscany without undoing any work that we did.
More next time.
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I enjoy your blog, Mark.