2021 roundup pt.1
finished plaster wall in studio
After looking back at my last proper post of the year in mid-April (!! yikes !!) about la pietra, I figured that the natural progression would be to sum up the rest of the year from that point.
Luckily one of the things I’ve been quite organized about from the beginning of the project are keeping full records of photos and videos arranged by month in my Dropbox. It makes it easier for reference and also helps to categorize a timeline in my mind about what happened when. I will say that sometimes looking back it’s a nice boost of encouragement to see how far we’ve come, but other times I think “wow, that’s all that’s been done in 8 months?!” In any case, it will help me out in going through some of the highlights to remember this year by.
APRIL
April was mainly spent completing the interior plaster work (or what here is more like a type of wall construction!) It’s the building up of the wall surface over the mason blocks, which also means creating proper angles, level surfaces, and precise corners. It gives a concrete-like sturdiness to the walls and a bit more thickness as well (definitely not just a skim of material over drywall). It felt so good to come to the end of this arduous task which had taken us through the winter and early spring. The last parts to do were the hardest…plastering the tall angled ceilings in both the main bedroom and studio.
MAY
May was quite a fruitful month on site with some fun projects happening simultaneously. It started out with the color swatches going up on the interior walls to begin the task of carefully choosing the final plaster (a finishing Venetian style plaster, different from the main plaster used to prepare the walls). This finishing plaster will be used in lieu of paint.
Then it was time to install the handmade tiles which I’d had made earlier in the year. They were made specifically for this little niche in the main bathroom which will be in front of a vanity counter. Designed from a pattern on an ancient Etruscan vase, I flipped the pattern upside down as it became reminiscent of the lines of cypress trees that dot the landscape here. And once they were installed I noticed a line of those cypress in perfect view from the window ledge.
Then the stones were finally prepared and ready for delivery! We visited the quarry to check out the stack they’d made for me and loved envisioning the walls going up. A huge truck arrived with sackfuls of stone (in these large industrial bags that carry over 100kg of stone), and the mason got to work. I wanted an organized, horizontal placement of the stones with a recessed grout. As soon as it started to go up, I knew how much I’d love it. It’s one of my favorite parts of the project so far…I don’t think there would have been another type of finish or stone that I would love more. This comes in handy on the days that I’m feeling discouraged as I just go outside and stare at the stone walls and it makes me feel that something went right! haha
Then the workers from the infissi (windows, etc) company arrived to install the deep window galley frames made in corten steel which will rust to a uniform brown. The stone was fitted flush to the edges for a beautiful finish!
…to be continued…