Almost ready to start....

For those who may have been wondering where we were last month…,

we have been working frantically to get the last things in and around our future guest-house done, and I think we have finally succeeded!

I hope you will enjoy getting to know a little bit more about our last mentally and physically exertion,

and maybe your curiosity will be so big that you can’t wait to visit us next spring.

That would be for sure, the biggest satisfaction for us.

At the moment beautiful windows and doors are dividing the interior from the outdoor area.

All the floors incl. the under floor heating are placed to crown it all.

In the breakfast room we choose to use the beautiful old cotta floors we saved during the works, and in the rest of the house, we choose for the material of naturally stone Travertine.

The colours are between white but because of the naturally accent the result itself is soft and warm.

Travertine, similar to limestone, is comprised primarily of calcium carbonate and is a smooth and porous stone characterized by its rich creamy hue. Small amounts of new minerals may grow from any impurities in the original rock, resulting in coloured streaks and veins giving rise to variations in colour and appearance from light creams and beiges to walnut.

Tiles are cut from blocks either vein-cut or cross-cut to produce a different and appealing, surface appearance. Travertine tiles are marketed either with the holes unfilled for a more rustic and antique look, or the holes are filled with a tinted epoxy resin and honed to give the surface a solid effect.

Our Travertine floor is included with little holes, to keep the result as naturally as possible.

The rooms are now , with their beautiful light colour floors, olive green windows, and old roof from cotta stone and beams in balance with contrasts and light.

Around the house we have sowed the grass, and hopefully, with the help of the rainfall yesterday, soon we will have a fresh lawn.

The first plants of Salvia, Margarita, Achillea millefoglia, lavandula, Passiflora, Clematis, are planted and even a little three of eucalyptus.

At the moment the painters are inside to finish the job.

Next month we will move in, and very soon we hope to have our new website online and plenty guest willing to come to visit us from the first day of 2009.

Our job is almost done.

The last 2 years we tried to focus our energy on positive thinking even if there were plenty of obstacles to be taken while walking on our road.

Being persistent was rather a need as a luxury.

It’s really true that success is a marathon, not a sprint. You have to keep every day your eye on your goal, keeping working towards it and never never giving up.

We tried to learn to analyze details during the restoration, getting all the facts together, asking for input. That has helped us, to make wiser decisions. Trying to avoid mistakes which could damage the character and originality of the house.

That was maybe the most difficult part of the restoration.

Specially because we needed to transform the house in a Guest-house, which of course, is a different function as a classical old farmhouse.

To make it work, you have also to take care about practical things and you can’t avoid the needing of the 20 century.

It has to match all together.

Being different and using a different goal, innovating a standard idea of restoration was sometimes difficult to transmit to the workers. Communicating effectively every day in what we wanted and what we didn’t want, trying to be our self and holding at our own ideas at the end has giving the result we wanted for almost 99%.

I would like to finish this post for today, hoping you enjoyed it, transmitting you the following words:

"If you can believe, all things are possible to those who believe."
- Mark 9:23

Suzanne