Italian Adventures – We Bought a House in Italy!

April 6, 2022

What an amazing feeling, waking up for the first time in my new Italian home. The sun was shining in my bedroom windows and I was well rested from a great nights sleep. Time to take stock of the house…what work is completed, what is not, etc.

Both bathrooms are under development, both with new working toilets and one with a bidet. No sinks, no showers, niente. But beautiful tiles on the walls and a fantastic floor. When will I have a shower, even if only one? Io non so!

Covid (2020-2022) and the ship stuck in the Suez Canal (March 2022) has created a major crook in the supply chain. No one knows for sure when preordered items will arrive. Hmmm, the next few weeks are going to be interesting. Hopefully I will at least have a shower by the time Andrew arrives in May. Downstairs I go…

Marco and team has made a lot of progress in the new kitchen, replacing all of the wiring, creating a new circuit for the large appliances, raising the plugs to be above counter height, finishing the walls and installing the new floor. It’s a lovely empty room. When will the kitchen arrive (new cabinets, sink, appliances, etc.)?? Nessuno conosce.

Lumber has also been in high demand and of short supply, and since I insisted on wood cabinets, I will just have to wait. But in my opinion, it’s worth it because this kitchen is going to get a lot of use and last for many years to come. Va bene, at least I have the small fridge (a SMEG) I bought yesterday at il Mercantino in Orvieto. If someone else were here with me we could have a raging dance party! Ha! Ha! Ha!

Sooooo, the only working sink is in the bathroom under the stairs, where there is a toilet, a small sink (where only cold water arrives) and the washing machine. I am not a princess…I can make this work!

One small problem…there is no hot water downstairs. Seriously…none. The only place you can get hot water is in the bidet in the larger bathroom on the mezzanine floor. Hmmm…this just got even more interesting.

Time for lunch! I went to the Osteria that Jess & I discovered when we were house hunting in June 2021. We loved that we could sit outside and that all of the patrons were Italian locals. Yay!

Back to hot water in the Bidet… A little background, while renovating the bathrooms, Marco had suggested updating all of the pipes to ensure they are up to code and won’t create any issues once the new bathrooms are complete, particularly since there had been an issue with the septic tank creating backups in the toilets and showers back in June 2021. Thank goodness for Marco and my wise decision, because at least I can get some hot water somewhere in the house. Here begins my experience with bidet ‘showers’.

Each day I wash my hair in the bidet and then use a wash cloth to give myself a thorough cleaning. Not ideal but it works. It doesn’t even matter if I am messy and get water everywhere because the room is truly nothing but tiles, a toilet and a bidet! I wash my face in the small bathroom downstairs because the cold water helps to wake me up.

After about 10 days of this, and smelling myself while working one night, I needed a better solution. So begins Shower Fridays!!!