So how's the house going?

So a few of you have asked over the last few weeks/months, 'how's the house' - send some pictures! Well the house is going quite well. The first shot below, is more of a 'before'.

In fact, most of the house is actually still in a 'before' state. However, we have managed to make a few changes - mostly in the garden. Here is the view into the garden from the road.

Heather has done a lot of work on the flowers, herbs and window boxes. Here she is posing next to the tomatoes that she grew from seed this spring. In this picture you can also see the new mosquito screens that we have had installed on the windows and doors. A necessary addition in this part of the world. We also bought a 'mosquito magnet' which is a great device for attracting and trapping mosquitos - definitely recommended.

So, inside is another matter. Actually, the picture below is of the inside of one of the stalls. Eventually, we will fix this up and knock it through into the kitchen. It should make a nice dining room, with that domed brick ceiling. In the meanwhile, we allow the spiders to live there. They seem to like it...

The kitchen is taking shape though. Here is the wooden work bench that we have turned into a kitchen island. We got this from the antiques market at Casale Monferrato the first month we moved in. The market there is fantastic and always has cool things to be found, bought and put to new uses...

The wine rack became necessary after we started driving to Asti and surrounding area and buying wines by the case. Nizza Monferrato, Alba, Casale, and many other towns in the area have wonderful Cantine where you can sample and buy wine by the bottle or in larger quantities. Next step for us will be bottling our own!

Here is our fabulous new fridge from Smeg, alongside a 19th century cabinet, also from the market at Casale.

Here is Heather demonstrating the size of the 'grounds' by riding my new folding bike around the garden. Yes, its true. I am now commuting to work by bike/train/bike and loving it! I do get some strange looks, but that's not really anything new.

More later! ciao da Milano
James