The Montalcino House
So many decisions and so little time.
If you are just tuning in, check out our past newsletters to catch up on our adventure of finding, buying, and restoring a 100-year-old home in Montalcino.
We need a few more days
As the days passed, we became increasingly worried that we would run out of time.
Our days had been filled with consults at the house with our construction team, meetings in their office to sign all the paperwork, visits to other project sites for inspiration, and a follow-up walk-through on-site with our plumber and electrician to plan for their rough-ins.
If you’ve ever remodeled a bathroom or a kitchen, you know that the plumbing and electrical rough-ins happen immediately following the demo. For work to continue on the house once we’d returned to Minneapolis, we needed to decide the location of bathroom fixtures, the kitchen layout, and the location of light fixtures, switches, outlets, and radiators throughout the entire home.
We walked from room to room, mentally laying out furniture that we didn’t have yet, standing inside imaginary showers to make sure they were spacious enough, and trying to decide on lighting for rooms could hardly imagine living in yet.
There were many decisions to be made and pressure to get them right. It was a bit overwhelming.
Do we want lamps on the nightstands or sconces on either side of the bed?
Will there be TVs in the bedrooms?
Where do we want the light switches? But what about the door swing?
Oh, and which lights do we want on dimmers?
Will we tile the shower floors or install shower pans?
Are the bathroom sink faucets a lavabo or a incasso (surface- or wall-mounted)?
Would a bidet fit in the smallest of bathrooms?
I listened to Stefano and the plumber discuss the pros and cons of squeezing a bidet into that bathroom. We have 120 centimeters to work with, they said. We could do without and add a doccietta (hand-held shower wand) next to the WC (toilet). But it would be a peccato (shame) not to have a bidet. They looked at me expectantly.
Thoughts filled my head. How much is 120 cm? I’m going to need to learn the metric system. We’ve gone 20 years without a bidet in the States, and no one has ever complained. But these two grown men really want a bidet. Italian men are comical. Okay, a bidet it is.
“Let’s go with the bidet,” I said. “Va bene!” the plumber said emphatically. Clearly, he was pleased with my decision.
In the US, we use a Sharpie to mark the location of outlets, switches, and plumbing fixtures during a remodel. In Italy, where the unfinished walls are made of block or stone rather than drywall, they use a can of spray paint.
We walked through the house with the plumber and electrician marking switches and outlets, toilets and bidets, the center points of sinks, and other symbols I didn’t recognize, but Stefano did.
Later, having changed our minds about a few things more than once, we returned to cross out some notations and add new ones. In the end, it looked like Keith Haring had stopped by the house.
The walkthrough with our plumber and electrician was on Wednesday. We were scheduled to leave Montalcino the following Monday afternoon. That left Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and, if needed, Monday morning to choose the fixtures for all three bathrooms.
We also hoped to see some reclaimed wood beams and ceiling tile our contractor had set aside, visit the stone mason, and stop by the place where terracotta floor tiles are made. It was ambitious but do-able.
Except for one small problem. Friday, we discovered, was All Saints Day, a public holiday in Italy. Stores were closed. One of the places that sold bathroom fixtures was open on Saturday morning, but everything else was closed. Nothing was open on Sunday, and building supply companies were closed on Monday mornings, opening at 3 pm after lunch. Does anyone ever work in Italy?
That settled it. We needed to push back our departure. While Stefano prepared dinner, I rescheduled our flights back and messaged our Airbnb host to ask if we could stay a couple more days.
Back in the States
Before leaving Montalcino, we had a marathon session at the building supply store and picked out faucets and fixtures for all three bathrooms. The faucets were all incasso, the showers would all have tile floors with linear drains, and we were the proud new owners of not one but three bidets.
We had also confirmed the location of the new staircase to the lower level, established a plan to restore the living room fireplace, and given the green light to Massimiliano, our contractor, to demo all of the upstairs ceilings and install reclaimed wood beams and terracotta tile.
We also endorsed Massimiliano’s suggestion to remove the plaster from the wall leading upstairs and leave the original stone exposed. “We need to restore some personality to this house, he commented. We were grateful for his knowledge of and experience with the area’s historic homes.
Back in Minneapolis, we were eager for an update. We were a little worried that progress would be slow, now that we were gone. Stefano messaged Gabriele, our geometra, early on a Monday morning.
Buongiorno Gabriele. Come va? Ci sono delle novità? Ci mandate delle foto come potete?
Good morning, Gabriele. How are things going? Will you send us a few photos when you have a chance?
Gabriele’s reply came immediately.
Ciao. Abbiamo portato via i calcinacci e ripulito tutto il cantiere e ora siamo concentrati sul controsoffitto. Ti allego le foto di questa mattina. Ci sentiamo presto.
Hi. We removed all of the demo debris and cleaned up the worksite, and now are focusing on the upstairs ceilings. Attached are photos from this morning. Talk to you soon.
Wow! That was a ton of demo debris to haul away. And because of the narrow roads in Montalcino, they had to use small little trucks. They must have made a hundred trips. And the ceilings looked great! It was so good to see things moving forward. We will need to return before too long to decide on the kitchen.
About Montalcino
Montalcino is a medieval town of approximately 6,000 residents, located about 25 miles south of Siena, 85 miles south of Florence, and 145 miles north of Rome. Perched on a hill in the heart of the world-class Brunello di Montalcino wine-producing region, Montalcino has scenic views of the olive groves and vineyards of the surrounding countryside. Visitors come from all over the world to enjoy the town’s cultural events and to experience its wine tourism. It’s long been one of our favorite places to visit.
Keith Haring, lol