DOES ANYONE NEED AN INTERIOR DESIGNER IN EUROPE OR UK??!!
6 months since purchasing our Italian home, and many thousand of kilometres driving across France and Italy, we are getting closer to finalising our interior fit out. In the 3+ months since we arrived here just after Christmas, we have continually been on the hunt for things for our house. During this time, I have been to Maison et Objet World trade fair in Paris, then drove across France and Italy to visit and place orders with several of the wholesale suppliers I met at the fair, visited almost a dozen antique/brocante fairs through Paris, southern France and Italy, plus more retail furniture suppliers in North & Central Italy. In addition we spent several weekends (both Saturday & Sunday) wandering the Arezzo monthly antique market scouring for the 'perfect piece' - and in the process found antique chestnut wood chairs, marble topped chest of drawers and a pretty french commode to hold our TV. Added to this we bought several hand crafted pieces in Marrakech which are individual and add a very personal charm to our home plus have imported beds from UK (Italy do not sell the 'zip & lock' beds which allow either 2 x single beds or a queen size without the 'gap' in the middle). It has been an exhaustive quest to match the image in my mind with the pieces available for purchase and our budget, but ..... we are almost there!
Some purchased pieces are yet to arrive, (hopefully in the next week) so the house is still a little bare, but the difference from when we began is enormous! Added to this, we had the painter in for 10 days and new paint colours have made a monumental difference. The previous owners were artists and over the 20+yrs of their ownership, they had painted numerous finishes in most of the rooms. While their technique was incredible, I wanted to 'tone it down a little' by not eliminating the work they had done, but removing some of the intense colour from a few of the rooms. This manner of repainting some sections only, probably took our Italian painter Stefano more time and he was very patient, but in the end it did allow us to get the look we wanted.
The end result is it is looking fabulous and very soon I will post the photos plus I will complete the website so we can begin renting it out. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable process and I am very keen to repeat the process, so ........anyone need an Interior Designer in France or Italy??!!
6 months since purchasing our Italian home, and many thousand of kilometres driving across France and Italy, we are getting closer to finalising our interior fit out. In the 3+ months since we arrived here just after Christmas, we have continually been on the hunt for things for our house. During this time, I have been to Maison et Objet World trade fair in Paris, then drove across France and Italy to visit and place orders with several of the wholesale suppliers I met at the fair, visited almost a dozen antique/brocante fairs through Paris, southern France and Italy, plus more retail furniture suppliers in North & Central Italy. In addition we spent several weekends (both Saturday & Sunday) wandering the Arezzo monthly antique market scouring for the 'perfect piece' - and in the process found antique chestnut wood chairs, marble topped chest of drawers and a pretty french commode to hold our TV. Added to this we bought several hand crafted pieces in Marrakech which are individual and add a very personal charm to our home plus have imported beds from UK (Italy do not sell the 'zip & lock' beds which allow either 2 x single beds or a queen size without the 'gap' in the middle). It has been an exhaustive quest to match the image in my mind with the pieces available for purchase and our budget, but ..... we are almost there!
Some purchased pieces are yet to arrive, (hopefully in the next week) so the house is still a little bare, but the difference from when we began is enormous! Added to this, we had the painter in for 10 days and new paint colours have made a monumental difference. The previous owners were artists and over the 20+yrs of their ownership, they had painted numerous finishes in most of the rooms. While their technique was incredible, I wanted to 'tone it down a little' by not eliminating the work they had done, but removing some of the intense colour from a few of the rooms. This manner of repainting some sections only, probably took our Italian painter Stefano more time and he was very patient, but in the end it did allow us to get the look we wanted.
The end result is it is looking fabulous and very soon I will post the photos plus I will complete the website so we can begin renting it out. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable process and I am very keen to repeat the process, so ........anyone need an Interior Designer in France or Italy??!!
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| On our car trip home from Southern France to Citta della Pieve, we were unable to fit any more items inside - in fact I had to sit in the back seat with a chair on my lap for the 10 hour drive as there was no other way to make it work! |
