I never thought I’d say that. But, now, after almost four months of shopping nearly every day for items both large and small, I’m tired of it (except maybe for food shopping, which is a whole other story). There have been many days when we got home, and I said to myself: "I should blog about this day because no one would believe it." But I was just dead tired. So you will have to imagine how it was driving all around, depending on Google Maps and Google Translate to find things. Each day was an adventure.
Yes, we've been busy. Life here is not exactly what we expected, but it’s been another era in our lives here in Italy. As we begin our third year here, we are experiencing a different lifestyle, but still very Italian. In Casalanguida, life was, well, tranquil. It was quiet, peaceful, and most people lived pretty much off the grid. You were proud to be poor “povera”, fixed things when they broke, and rarely purchased new items. Here in Citta’ Sant’Angelo we do still see that life choice, but also we see a younger generation that likes big shopping malls and modern conveniences.
Somehow, though, the ingrained Italian habits of stopping for a few minutes for an expresso, having a long mid-day lunch, enjoying an apertif, and hanging out with family and friends have not faded. I think these are some of the things that I like best about living here.
Now, back to shopping.
In Italy, when you move into a new house or apartment, you most likely will find it stripped to the bare walls: the kitchen, the curtains and curtain rods, light fixtures, and the nice bathroom vanities and sinks that you saw when you viewed the place all are gone. So, it’s basically empty rooms that need to be painted and bathrooms that need remodeling.
We had negotiated with the previous owners to leave their kitchen, even though we didn’t care too much for it. At least we’d have a way to cook until we could decide what kind of kitchen we wanted. So that’s all we had.
As I said in a previous blog, we wanted to open the kitchen with a wider archway, and that has turned out to be a very good idea. It was an amazing project and well worth the time and effort.
Our shopping extravaganzas began with interviewing eight potential painters. We have a sleeping area with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a long hallway. And we had the living area painted too after the arch was completed.
Once the arch and painting were finished, we had a long list of things to shop for:
1. Washer and dryer.
2. Bed for us.
3. Armoire for our bedroom.
4. Bathroom sink and mirror in utility bathroom.
5. Bathroom sink and mirror and tub enclosure in main bathroom.
6. Bed and furniture for the guest room.
7. Sofa bed in living room.
8. Recliner for Mike.
9. A chair for Margaret.
10. A desk for the office room
11. Lots of kitchen supplies.
12. Lots of cleaning supplies.
13. Everyday dishes and silverware.
14. A vacuum.
15. An iron.
16. An ironing board.
17. A table and chairs to use until the Chicago shipment arrives.
18. Chairs for the balcony.
19. Shelving for the storage closet.
20. Shelving for the garage.
21. A new kitchen.
Now, in America, this wouldn’t be such a big deal. But here, finding the things you like at a reasonable price and getting them delivered on time is somewhat challenging. This is in part due to our limited knowledge of the area, but also our limited ability to speak Italian. We’ve gotten to know our way around the Ikea store pretty well. And we’ve also become familiar with a furniture store near us called Mondo Convenience. And the hardware stores Brico and LeRoy Merlin. And we’ve been to every used furniture store we can find (without any luck).
Ikea, as in America, was pretty good to work with. We found a bed and mattress we liked, ordered it, and had a nice guy from Task Rabbit come and assemble it for us. He also assembled our armoire. But one of the pieces of the armoire was broken, so we had to go back to Ikea (with only photos, because it was too big for the car), have new pieces sent, and have our guy come back to finish building the armoire.
Our first major purchase was a washer and dryer. After shopping around at several major stores, we found an LG stackable. Most people here don’t use dryers, the weather is usually mild enough to hang your clothes outside, and the price of electricity is high. We had enjoyed the privacy of the house in Casalanguida so hanging laundry outside was not a problem for us and in the winter we had plenty of room to hang clothes inside. Here, though, we would prefer to not hang out our clothes on the balcony in full view of people and kids playing in the park. It’s interesting that dryers here work differently from those in America. They actually pull the water out of the clothes, using very little heat. Most dryers dump that water into a bin that needs to be removed and manually emptied. However, our dryer is connected to the washer drain and the water is extracted the same way as the washer. Nice.
We went to a couple of hardware stores searching for ceiling lights. Some of our rooms had a light bulb dangling from a wire in the ceiling, some just had bare wires. So, in one day we bought nine ceiling lights. Our Task Rabbit guy installed them for us. There are still two wires for ceiling lights in the living area waiting for us to decide what we want.
At the Mondo Convenience store we found a small vanity and sink with mirror for our utility bathroom. We ordered it and were told that they would install it. Well, they would have, only if we had already removed the old one (which they had neglected to tell us). So the delivery guy left us with the boxes and we had to go back to the store to pay to have someone come and remove the old and install the new. It does look nice now.
We decided to make the smallest bedroom our office. And that has worked out well for us. Mike likes to have his own place, where he can keep his electronics. My piano keyboard fits nicely in that room, too. By coincidence, the Ikea desk he chose is the same one that our son-in-law Todd has in his home office.
Our contractor Leonardo took us to a friend of his who does bathrooms. Giuseppe came to our apartment to measure and see exactly what we need. We will be getting a custom sink with drawers and a nice mirror with cabinet shelves. There is a big tub in the main bathroom, and the faucet has a hand-held shower. But there is no way to shower without getting the whole room wet. So Giuseppe is going to install a glass wall with sliding doors around the tub, install a grab bar, and install a holder for the shower head. He’s also going to replace the shower door in the utility bathroom with one that opens easily. Hopefully this will get done next week (it was ordered six weeks ago, ahh… Italy).
Then. Leonardo took us to a friend of his who does kitchens. We had looked at Ikea and Mondo Convenience kitchens. They were okay, and probably would have been acceptable. But when we saw the Stosa kitchens, we just groaned. Okay, so what’s a little more money, right? Over the next several weeks, we became good friends with Marina, the master kitchen designer. That’s because, while we had provided her with the measurements of our kitchen, and we had decided on a plan, when she came to measure herself, it was clear that our plan would not work. So it was back to the drawing board. And then many days of back and forth deciding on appliances.
On top of that, there is a door in the kitchen area that opens to the balcony which is totally useless and takes up valuable space that could be occupied by a kitchen counter. So Leonardo brought over one of his expert builders and we have decided to remove the door, put a half wall in and a window to the balcony. This of course has to be completed prior to installation of the kitchen. No problem, we think, because the kitchen won’t be ready until mid-August.
Our apartment, on the first floor, is about 1,800 square feet. The floor in the living area
is tile, and in the sleeping area is wood. We bought a good quality Rowenta vacuum, but I hate to vacuum, so Mike usually does it. For a housewarming gift our kids offered to buy us a robot vacuum. The products aren’t the same here as in America, so we shopped around and ended up buying a Rowenta. We named it Olaf (it’s white). And we are amazed at how well the little guy vacuums the floor. He didn’t even slow down when we added the rug to the living area. Olaf will also mop the floors, but we haven’t tried that yet. Soon, though….
Last February I had arranged to have our things that were in a storage locker in Chicago shipped to our new home. Finally, I would get my kitchen table and chairs back. I bought the set when I moved into the townhouse in Forest Park in 2003. It was crazy expensive, having been made in Florence, Italy and very well built. It was my dream to have it returned to me in Italy. Maureen graciously oversaw the movers pack our things. Then on May 29, I got a WhatsApp message that my shipment was being loaded to a truck in Rotterdam and will be arriving soon. Three weeks later, and after many messages, a couple of attempts at delivery, and much angst, a truck arrived with our stuff. Only one driver, but he was very nice and very strong. It is such a good feeling to have our own things in our own home.
We have ordered a TV stand, a China cabinet, and a sideboard from a local furniture store. We need lighting for the living area. We need curtains for all of the windows. We need a dresser and nightstand for the guest room. We need the proper hardware to hang our artwork that arrived from Chicago. But we are getting there. In a couple of weeks, it should all be done. Except of course the kitchen, and that will happen sometime in August.
Here's a link to more photos: Click Here
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