These are some pics of our new house. I didn't want to show outside shots for safety reasons, but we are near a busy intersection of the city, just blocks away from the castle and cathedral. The house came fully furnished. There are still a lot of repairs to be made to it but we feel very blessed to live here.
Shot of the castle taken a few weeks ago from another spot.
My favorite room of the house: the kitchen. Most Italian homes for rent don't come with kitchen appliances, so we were overjoyed when we first saw it.
Terrace/patio. I would like to start trying to keep a few plants alive out here. We'll see how that goes.
Refrigerator and freezer in camoflauge.
This is a typical fixture for Italian sinks and cabinets. The hotel had one, too. The underside is open, so you can put wet, clean dishes on the racks to dry. Saves on counter space!
Our living room. *sighs* Any tips on color coordinating furniture and decorations for a PINK room would be greatly appreciated. I do like the black and white photos of European sights as well as the AC unit in the corner. Summers here get very hot and there is no central air conditioning. Luckily, all the windows are big and well positioned to create cool cross breezes.
The wooden shutters roll up by pulling on a rope that is beside every window. When they are closed they block out most of the outside light, so it is easy to sleep in. :) The shutter can also be pushed out if you want more air but not the sun. Many people hang a line in the window to dry clothes. We may do that for a few of the windows. We don't have a dryer. Brett braved the attic yesterday to make a dent in all the dust bunnies. (Think Monty Python bunnies.) There were already lines hanging up, so he cleaned those areas so we could hang clothes up there and open the attic windows to aid in the drying process.
None of the rooms connect with each other, just the hallway. The family that used to live here had children and left many toys behind.
Random sombrero on the wall.
An Italian rarity: closets! Technically, these are wardrobes, but since they were already here, I'm calling them closets.
The spare room was a child's room, so there is a already a playpen and kid size closets to use, whenever that day may come.
Both the attic and basement are huge. Dirty and junky but huge so storing their stuff and/or ours won't be a problem. The above picture is the basement. We don't really know the back story on that...
Door/Covering to the basement. The word for basement is "cantina."
Brett's future man cave, a.k.a. the attic. Those are wooden beams. The guys were very impressed.
The laundry line before it was cleaned. The area is still dirty, but I don't have to dodge cobwebs or worry about tripping over broken bricks and dishes.
The bathroom is pretty ordinary. It has double sinks, a shower with wonderful water pressure and hot water, and a bathtub, which needs some serious scouring before any soaking will take place. The only major difference, other than the classic bidet, is the toilet handle/button, which you have to push, but that is common here.
Our garage. We moved the table and Brett parks our new '86 VW Golf in here. It is a tight squeeze! We basically walk sideways along the walls to get to the washer in the far left corner.
The washer is high efficiency. It uses very little water and takes 2 hours and 22 minutes to wash a load. It is a slightly smaller load and we realized today that, because of limited dryer space, we should only wash one load a day. The wash basin beside it is interesting. The washer drains into it, but the basin doesn't have a drain. The water just seeps into the stone.
Tomorrow, the landlady is coming over so I can show her a few things we have questions about. In a recent post, I said that sometimes I acted as though I understood even if I didn't. Well, I've learned the hard way, that is NOT a good idea! The other day, the landlady wanted us to come over to her house at a certain time. I thought she was confirming something else that I had told her. Later that evening, her niece who speaks English, called and said her aunt had been waiting for five hours for us to show up. After that, I'm really not looking forward to tomorrow. At the very least, it will be a day of charades.
