Blue Ceiling by Angelo

Today I receive a blue ceiling via email :

And the text massage goes like this :

The ceiling of the corridor in front of the ground floor bathroom. I missed the blue after so long time! Is that ok? What color do you want the walls? White? Light yellow? Light ocra? Light pink?

Ciao
Angelo

Ah, I have missed Angelo's humour. I almost forgot about his "blue" addiction, didn't thought it's that strong! I wrote back that I like it. Light blue makes the ceiling appear higher - not that this was necessary in our case - but here the blue leads the eye towards the center. You do not notice right away that the ceiling is not symmetrical. And I really like that simple Art Nouveau lamp. We had it in storage so far - can you believe that? ... it never had a place to beam. Not sure though, if this short side corridor is the right place. We might have a better spot, but will see. Regarding the walls I opted for just white paint as this is a small and rather dark corridor. If this is too boring we can repaint it later.

I am happy with this Wednesday mail by Angelo. Grazie! 

Moroccan Lamp for bathroom

I just came across this Moroccan chandelier and thought THIS IS THE ONE for my hot red bathroom.

Only problem:
the two light sources we have might not be suitable:
- one is on the wall above the mirror
- one is at the ceiling, not that high, and door opens that way

Otherwise it would be perfect... we could smoke water pipes in the bathroom and stay all day staring at the beautiful shadows on the walls!


Source: lamp by this shop via Lisa's natural modern interiors blogpost about Turkish and Moroccan lamps

progress in the stairway: stucco repair and new lamp

The BEFORE situation

Angelo had set up a scaffold and decided to repair the stucco of the ceiling in the stairway of the first floor (primo piano) by himslef, paint the ceiling and walls and hang the lamp he and his wife have found on a flea market near Venice.

during repair

after Angelo's artistic job !

during repair

(here he bought a similar piece of stucco and adjusted it)

and after Angelo's artistic job !

(actually, I cannot see that something is not original)

the beautiful ceiling after repair and paint - wow !

(who's father or father-in-law is able to do that ?!?!)

and here comes the above mentioned lamp - an antique flea market find 

the only thing, that I have to do with this luster, is that I have chosen the location for it

(not sure if you remember my posts about the small 'original' lamp that I wanted to keep in the main entrance, here and here)

this is the picture I have received today:

the scaffolding is gone and a second lamp is mounted on a wall in the background.

I cannot wait to see the walls and rail painted and the wooden rail handle mounted !

It looks now much more liveable!

This is the other lamp - again not my choice, but a good choice - it's a simple round Murano glass wall lamp. It hangs in the stairway that leads to the attic. The wooden panels above the lamp is from the flooring. It will be used as a small path. More about the attic coming soon.

Stairway : luster

Remember the discussion in my last post about where to hang the old and the new luster ? The old small lamp that we got with the house should hang again - like shown in the photo below - in our small entrance.

For the new luster I got a new idea ... please follow me upstairs :

 

Yes, just some more steps and we arrive at the primo piano, the 1st floor (BE) or 2nd floor (AE), where the space opens up a bit :

Here (above) you see some people happily together discovering the house (in August 2006), me on the left with our son.

And here we could hang the new luster.

The actual lighting would be replaced and the new luster could have a better effect here than downstairs at the piano terra, ground floor (BE) or 1st floor (AE). 

But how does this new lamp look like that my parents-in-law got from a fleamarket in the Veneto region ? I have only very poor photos, sorry, my mistake, did not set the right modus for the camera. So two blur pics :

It does look a bit better in reality.

To show from the outside of the house the two different areas of the stairways where we could hang the old and the new luster, I have prepared this photo :

Although the main door seems impressive, the main entrance really is a small area. The stairs starts almost right away. But upstairs the stairway widens up and leads to three spacious rooms and to small stairs that leads to the mansard and roof terrace.

As you are here to see the progress of our Italian renovation project, (me too BTW !) I will post before and after pics of the balcony of the stairways and the facade of the primo piano :

BEFORE

AFTER

Preserving the entrance luster

The entrance luster - Part I

The only "interior" that came with the purchase of the house is a small old luster. As you can see in the pictures above and below it consists of a simple yellowish glass sphere and a wrought iron fitting. Nothing precious. Probably not even 'antique'. But special to me.

The small old luster is hanging in the entrance of our house. Althoug the house is called 'palazzo' in Italian, the entrance of the house is not an 'entrance hall' - it is a fair small entrance and this small luster fits perfectly here.

During the renovation work in the house last year, someone took the luster down. And as you can see it did not become prettier over the past three years. It became more rusty, got some paint on it and a lot of dust.

During our summer holidays we never really can go ahead with remodelling or renovation work, not even with much planning or choosing material as everything closes down in the South of Italy in the month of August.

But this rusty luster was in the storage room where we stayed. And one day I decided to not go to the beach and instead to do a tiny tiny restoration project : "preserving the entrance luster".

I cleaned the glass sphere and the wrought iron fitting and bought paint suitable for iron. The name of the paint was 'ferro battuto' (wrought iron) and looked almost black. However, it turned out a bit too grey. But I decided to leave it this way for now and to put it away, back into storage.

 

The entrance luster - Part II

This winter in Venice, my parents-in-law had a surprise for us: A luster !  Antique for sure and nicely elaborated. A flea market find from an antique market in the Veneto region. For the palazzo in Pizzo.

"But not for the entrance" I heard myself, the ungrateful daughter-in-law, saying.

"Molto bello, grazie , maybe for the dining area" I tried.

They were quiet disappointed. I gave up - with a smile - knowing my father-in-law, who probably will install this luster before our arrival in summer ...

flea market find -  to hang in our house, somewhere

Luster no. 2  is about 3 x bigger than luster no. 1. - Probably it would suit the entrance of a palazzo better than the small luster (although the entrance is small). But still I am attached to the first, the original one. It was the only interior object we got with the purchase of the house. And as we do a lot of remodelling I thought to at least preserve the entrance luster at its original spot, in the entrance. - What do you think ? Should I give the second luster a try ? And find another place for the 'original' luster ? Or vice versa ?

Shopping in Venice: VENETIA STUDIUM

In the heart of Venice you might come across a little shop that has beautiful silk lamps, handbags and scarf, elegant velvet cushion covers and table runners in modern and oriental style. The shop windows always magically attracts me and my husband. And you can read the magic Roman letters : VENETIA STVDIVM - which is the Venetia Studium company that has several showrooms all near San Marco square.

Fortuny silk lamp "Cesendello" on the rod and silk scarves.

We like the style of the lamp, that is influenced like all the Venetia Studium products by the "history of Venice and its links to the Byzantium and the East".  However, we have no idea (yet) where to use it. Actually we look at this lamp as long as we visit Venice together, since over 13 years!

Scarves, shawls, handbags and cushion covers made of silk or velvet - and the elaborated glass lamp Saraceno.

Another Venetia Studium shop with similar window display ...

... and another shop specialised in cushion covers and table runners

Here my friend from Bangkok needs to shop for a friend in Thailand (that's why I saw all the shops!)

Little detail: I especially liked the typical Venetian terrazzo floor

(and the interesting Italian shoes of an Italian male)

PS: Venetia Studium has a showroom in London and selected products can be ordered online

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Window Shopping in Venice

Window shopping is something I like to do - it is ispiring and joyful - and it does not cost much. Do you like to join me for a window shopping trip to Venice ?

Here we go :

illuminted lighting shop in Venice

See, the gondolier is waiting for us in the background ...

Venetian chandeliers made of Murano glass by Zanetti

a fancy shop at the end of Piazza San Marco

Can you see the red Murano glas chandelier ? (click on pic to enlarge)

Murano glass chandelier with a modern touch by Venini

Venini has a long history (since 1921 in Murano) and is famous for its modern classic style and great craftmen's skills

This shop in Mestre has more affordable products, and they are not less pretty

The pinkish Venetian chandelier is seducing, but ...

... these "Balon Venexian" caught my eyes - simply charming and affordable.

Maybe for the guestappartment's entrance that leads to the vaulted cellar?

And this artist shop caught my eyes too - love these baloons made of Murano glass !

Livio de Marchi is a Venetian artis who is famous for his carved sculptures.

Ferrari red pops up among grey and attracts the male shopper

A chair and a vase at Dolce& Gabbana ...

.... can't tell what I like better - the big stone vase with the tiny cactus is quiet interesting (having my terrace in mind)

Christmas decoration at D&G (12/2008) 

including reflections of Gucci 2m across the aley

Window shopping can be exhausting. I recommend an expresso or prosecco (anytime), cappuccino (before 11am), hot chocolat (in winter) or an aperitivo (before lunch or dinner) at Caffe Florian or Caffè Quadri, Piazza San Marco. If you feel you do not have to sit down, take your order at the bar and save some Euros. However, after a window shopping tour we can afford to sit down, right ?! Salute !

(Photo source: Palazzo Pizzo blog, all rights reserved)

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PS:

Thanks to Anita from 1richtungsblog who featured photos of our renovation project and an interview with me last week, I have received many more readers from Germany than usually. To welcome them and also just for fun I wrote a post in German language, my mother tongue. This was just a one time experiment as I do not want to loose any subscribers !!! And my German readers seem to not mind English. - Welcome back !

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