Oh, happy day! Our favorite pictures so far.
Our tank was delivered and installed, on the side of the property, down the hill.
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All images: Copyright © Our Big Italian Adventure
Now that lights have been installed, three tiny issues have been discovered:
(A couple of the lights arrived with broken glass panels. Kevin suggested we just replace the glass, instead of trying to return them. That was taken care of.)
Kevin noted that the placement of one of these lights caused it to create a beam at eye level when approaching the stairway. To eliminate this effect, we just had the light removed.
Wires had been put in place for lights on both sides of the kitchen door and two lights that didn’t match had been installed. My intention had been for one of these lights to be higher on the wall and more toward the corner, one of the general outside lights that we have around the house.
Given the actual placement, it looked like they were supposed to be a pair, but mismatched. To fix this little error, we’re going to swap out the general exterior light for one that matches the other kitchen door light.
A number of the fixtures had arrived without bulbs — no big surprise. Many of these fixtures have clear glass sides. Francisc had just purchased bulbs for these, but had selected regular white frosted light bulbs. Since the bulbs are so visible, we want something a bit nicer, so we asked Kevin to swap them out for the (trendy, we know) visible-filament “Edison bulbs.”
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Stair light: Copyright © Our Big Italian Adventure
Kitchen lights: Copyright © Our Big Italian Adventure
Edison bulb: 1000Bulbs.com | https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/7623/IN-L2780.html?gclid=Cj0KCQiAh_DTBRCTARIsABlT9MbBaFTuVPVwzWdFRXOF5foBTOjYmw537Jjh7yYd2WVPEsOdozksNOIaAqskEALw_wcB
Frosted bulb: 1000Bulbs.com | https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/40-watt-standard-shape-light-bulbs/
Kevin identified a new issue today. He pointed out that while the stair treads are tile, the risers are just painted, and since the paint we are using is light, the risers will get scuffed and dirty very easily.
He had faced this same issue in his own house, which he addressed by painting the risers in a color and with a method that reduces the visibility of the scuffs.
Click image to enlarge
The idea is to use a color similar to the stairs and to paint them with a sponge method that yields a surface that hides some of the imperfections.
He sent along a number of color choices. These were the finalists, chosen for compatibility with the tile color.
We chose the lighter option, on the left.
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All images: Copyright © Our Big Italian Adventure
Over a year ago, we made the decision to have window and door screens, which are somewhat uncommon in Italy. Today the window screens were installed. They are on the outside of the windows, since the windows open inward. and they roll up and down.
The Italian word for these screens is zanziere, very related to the word for mosquito, zanzara.
Click image to enlarge
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All images: Copyright © Our Big Italian Adventure
We decided a few weeks ago to go with compacted gravel, rather than concrete, as the surface for our access road and driveway.
Now that the need for heavy equipment to access the site has gone, they have been bringing in base layer of gravel and spreading it.
This is big project that will take some days to complete.
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All images: Copyright © Our Big Italian Adventure