MN Little Italy 12

[SunflowerNeedsSunshine]

Ciao, hello, welcome!

LOL @ rewarding yourself with a Big Mac!

It already has carpets - 60s ones - throughout!! We are living in nervous anticipation of what state we'll find the floorboards when we pull them all up. Hopefully, some/most will be recoverable, though we're trying to prepare ourselves for the worst, and that most will need replacing . It is also beautifully wall-papered throughout with 60s/70s floral prints! But in the first instance we can't pull it down, as it may well be the only thing keeping the 19thC plasterwork up! This house is going to reveal its scary secrets bit by bit, I fear. You are all going to have to listen to me over the coming years moaning about the latest disastrous discovery!

Hmmmm. Too many smileys in that post.

It's going to be stressful and fascinating all at the same time. Will you go for "conservation" or modernization or both?
I love old english houses. They require £££ sadly, I know.

Don't underestimate the 1960s wallpaper, you know, it's all the rage nowadays!

Oh it'd be lovely to follow the progress of your house. And, as we all are quite a bit over opinionated, we can have heated arguments, waving copies of Living etc and Country Living

Well, it's listed (Grade II), so there's a limited amount we can really change, and our natural instinct is to restore it, rather than make it look modern inside, IYSWIM. We reckon it's going to cost us as much as we paid for it to restore it (re-roof, re-wire, re-plumb, redecorate, new kitchen & bathroom, etc).

When I think about it too much, I get a bit faint.

And that's even before we think about the barn conversion.

Eeeeek.

Here in Italy the average quotation for a proper restoration (walls, plumbing, electric system etc) is about 1.000 euros per sq metre. It rises according to the materials chosen, of course.

In Milan. Might be cheaper elsewhere, dunno

That's probably close-ish - in old euros, that is before the euro gained parity with the pound.

But, the way I see it, we owe it to the building to do a good job. It's been standing for over 300 years, even through a huge fire which destroyed the rest of the village in the mid-1800s, so we want it to keep standing another 300 years!

Hi everyone! Sorry for my prolonged absences but I've been crazily busy the last few days and too frazzled in the evenings to log on. Just had a quick read of the last few posts and WOW! Penthe, what a house! 4 bedrooms, so there's room for all of us to stay, no? Lurve the garden too.

I hope you find everything in a retrievable state. What you need to do is organise a ristrutturazione party. Go out and meet a few builders socially, invite them to a huge barbie/houseparty you're going to have but tell them to bring tools, then in the best spirit of houseparties organise a game whereby each builder gets given a portion of the house and the first to finish renovating it wins a case of wine/keg of ale/whatever their fancy is. Then, hey presto! A complete house renovation for the price of a case of wine! Obviously you'll need to keep the beer flowing but make it lite otherwise you're going to end up with wonky lintels.

I also have to confess being a bad mum and not finding out when the bus left for DD's museum trip so poor mite got to school and everyone had already left. I had to take her myself by train. We still got there way before the bus though, it took them just under 2 hours to do Milano-Monza.

Or even Monza-Milano.

Sorry, sleep deprived.

I come on and everyone's run away.

Oh well, back to work I s'pose.

ohhhh, penthe you already talk like those couples on GD: "We owe it to the building to restore it to its original beauty. We are not really doing it for ourselves, we are doing it for the village, for future generations, for England, Europe, the World.."

Oh, I am soooo envious. Can you actually live in it and slowly restore it or what?

No - I am here! Was reading scary thread about what people find when they move into their house!

Awwww, bless you and DD zooming to Milan! [grin[

Do I sound awful? It's true, though. The building is so cool and quirky inside, it feels like a mad old friend.

i guess the survey was good no? are you going to project manage or hire someone? you iwll never want to go to work with a house like that..

Brange, I'm here! But only for 5 mins, as I got to dry my hair before picking dd from nursery. It was a bad mistake washing it now, as I take ds to swimming lessons in the afternoon and with the hot/humid microclima of the swimming pool it they get ultra gonfi . But it was really dirty, so I had too.

at 2 hrs monza-milano. Evil commuters !

Penthe, I agree it needs to be restored with love and care and time.

oh, no, you don't sound awful, i would say exactly the same, it sounds like a cliche but it is true.

on gd i always love the way the house is just so much than just the house, it becomes a metaphor for life. do you have interior pics?

be English and go out with wet hair!

Penthe I would probably say the same things as you and I haven't even seen GD.

i would love to have leather tiles in my bedroom...so sexi...

Leather tiles in bedroom = another unofficial scratching post for my cats.

I still have to buy furniture but am waiting to find something utterly catproof.

No, you don't sound awful. And you are right doing things properly, I'd do the same.

I think that if that's THE house then you need to put all your efforts in (saddo middle class emoticon)

no effing way

You lightweight!