3 Little Italian Houses

a little house in Spello

I had an epiphany this summer.  I knew how I wanted to spend my old age.  I was working painting a huge villa here in Foligno, it was hot all summer, suffocating and hovering around 40C./100 F.  I started waking up early to beat the heat.

Early one morning I was biking to work through the vacant streets, on my way I passed an old woman in her garden.  There in her garden was a little out building, a studio type structure with arched windows.  I instantly fell in love with her, the garden, and her studio (even if I think she actually had wood stacked in it).  Right then I knew and I made a big wish, that where ever I was in the world, when I grow old I want to have a little house, with a garden and a studio nestled in the garden.  Then I will go to work in my studio (doing whatever I want).  Every hour or two I’ll take a break and have a cappuccino or a cup of tea in the garden, maybe I’ll even cut some roses and put them in a basket.  Isn’t that just sublime?

right below the Basilica in Assisi waiting to be loved

When you look at these little houses, don’t you just want to fix them up?  That little house in Spello, is just begging for me to put some fuchsia bougainvillea climbing down from that roof terrace.  Oh man and what color would I stucco it?

in Sperlunga, Southern Italy in front of the Tereno sea

What is fun about this Diario di Design is that I am starting to have readers from many little corners the world.  It makes me happy to think of all you the creative types out there, working in your studios or dreaming of having a studio, and just working at your kitchen table.  Then there are some of you who are getting ready, to start thinking about working at your kitchen table. I hear ya!  Promise me you will at some point SOON get a cup of tea and think about it.  I confessed about my silly old age dream.

Happy December 10^th.

Natalie

December in Umbria

  

december in umbria

Nature never said to me:  Do not.

Still less did she say: Be rich.

Her cry to me was always: Be independent.

-Nicolas da Chamfort, Writer (1741-1794)

This week I have been painting furniture and touching up some walls in a villa up in the hills in Umbria.  It isn’t deep into nature but it still gives one the feeling of peace and freedom and it is possible to get a little lost up there if you don’t know your way.

umbria is all about olive trees

man it is cold out there

In the morning it was -1 C. and the fog was in deep.  Inside it was warm compared to the bone chilling cold outside.   I was working fast, yet I grabbed a few moments to savor the view and the fog.  I love the fog, as I have mentioned before.  I promise to be redundant in this blog (diario di design).  I had brought my beloved thermos of hot coffee – how cool is that, hot coffee, gray fog and silver-blue-green olive trees everywhere.

which way to go?

Remember you can choose your path.

Natalie

The Princess and the Firemen

Palazzo from the 1400's

Yesterday I wrote about my crazy romantic perspective of life – what’s the harm I asked?  Then later I thought about an incident that happened this summer that was completely the cause of my stupid, dreamy, romantic mind.  I was working in a beautiful Medieval Palazzo, the one you see above.  I had brought my Italian girlfriend by to see the space.  She has a furniture store that I paint furniture for and she has great style and we love to talk about colors and process.  While looking at the apartment we stepped outside into the inner courtyard to look and I stood at the top of this staircase and said, hundreds of years ago I could have been a princess standing on the top of these stairs, descending them in a flowing gown.

   

princess staircase

 

SLAM – the wind blew the apartment door closed.  We had a good laugh for a few moments until the reality dawned on me.  I was now locked outside of work, my cell phone, purse and even keys to my house were inside.  Now in this world of cell phones, nobody in Italy even has landlines to look up a number in the phone book.  I couldn’t call the owners of the apartment.  I felt pretty bad because they had trusted me with their keys and I was not working and instead pretending to be a princess.

Hours later I got the fireman to come and open the door.  They brought the huge fire truck right into the center of town.  The fireman were not mad and scolding me for wasting their time.  They were distracted by the beauty of the Palazzo, proud of this hidden treasure, of their Italian culture.  They opened the door in seconds, mouths hanging open in awe, laughing and good spirited and maybe quietly, secretly standing on top of that staircase, for a split second imagining they were noblemen descending the stairs with swords resting on their hips.  Firemen all over the world are cuties it seems.

The project came out well.  The clients were really happy.

I apologize for my low technology camera and basically simple knowledge of all computer stuff.  It is a small miracle that this blog is even up and running.  Today I am taking a huge leap to even try to put up a video.  I hope it works.

It is interesting to note that the crown moldings and ceiling panels are all fake, Styrofoam with real gold leaf on the panels.  I didn’t do any of that work.  I just painted the space.  The question of if it is correct to put Styrofoam into a Medieval Palazzo, you can answer in your own mind.  The job did get completed in a very fast time frame. 

A before shot

Before

Here is a photograph of the finishes. Pearl dragged kitchen, pale grey blue living room, second living room taupe (that changes from mocha to lavender with the light) and a pale grey bedroom with rich sky blue ceiling (not shown).

wood floors installed diagonally

Here's a little video, lets hope it works.

A few photographs of the apartment being decorated.

i love these chairs in mixed pattern

this taupe color changes with the light

these walls are actually that gorgeous pale blue

Was that fun?

Natalie

A Golden Bridge

medieval wall

I am a single Mom, I live in a foreign country and I have many difficult situations in my life.  Yet I also have a cool job, a good man, two terrific daughters and a funny hamster named Coco.

Plus I live in a Gothic Palazzo in front of a golden bridge. It helps to keep a down right, positive, crazy romantic perspective on my life. Why not?  What’s the harm? 

golden bridge

 

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”

-Anais Nin, Writer

Do you believe that?  It is definitely a thought to consider.  I think I better think about that quote some more and maybe "get my butt moving".

This weekend parked below my studio window was a VW with the word Speranza on the back window.  Speranza means hope in Italian.  That’s pretty cool to have parked below my window, no?  Someone else who didn't need the hope might not appreciate the hours that Speranza was waiting below my window.  If you look closely you can also see the reflection of a blue sky.

hope

It was a very rainy weekend, later the sun came out and turned our bridge gold.  Then forming above the bridge, up came a rainbow, the full arch.  Moments later, looking out the window with my daughter Lucia and her friend Shakti we watched while a double arched rainbow appeared.  I told the girls it could be a long time before they might see a full double arched rainbow again.  Savor this moment.

Then Sunday night it dusted thick powdered sugar snow all over the mountains surrounding our valley.


The festivities are here.

Natalie

Painted Flowerpots - A Gift Idea

moss green flowerpots with tangerines

Today we are going to paint some flowerpots.  I am always painting flowerpots and giving them away as gifts.  It’s a nice idea to paint little ones and fill them with candies in a brown bag tied with a hot colored ribbon E’ VIA. It’s good to go!

Some of you out there might say that they these looked better before I painted the designs on them.  You might be right!  And why because the green is so fantastic that it made them look great right away.

is simple better

I had it in my mind to get a good moss green.  I already had some light taupe acrylic paint in my studio, to that I mixed a Kiwi Green color in a universal tint and a little Raw Umber also.  I came up with just the color I was searching for.

painted flower pots, see my crocuses starting to pop up

  

For the designs I did them free hand, but the bold design one, I penciled in first because I was insecure about it.

 Then I painted the designs in a metallic bronze acrylic. 

I outlined the designs in oil paint (I think oil paint makes everything look good).  For the oil paint, I just get the tubes at the art store.  This one was a dark brown Bruno Van Dyck.  I love it that oil paint colors seem to be the same in Italy and the U.S, maybe all over the world – artists unite! 

I mixed in some turpentine and if I’d had a liquid dryer I would have used that too. This way I got the shading of light and dark brown.

If you are not a painter but enjoy crafts, it is so simple just to paint polka dots.  If the dots come out messy, it will look good too.  You can even cut up a kitchen sponge into any form and press that into the bronze paint.

See how fun that is.  What do you say better painted or simply green? The thing about the designs, if you leave them outside for a few seasons and they start to patina, then the designs look gorgeous.    

-Happy Weekend

Natalie

        

Make Your Own Trail

Topino River

 

Here is my trail along a Medieval wall in front of the river Topino (little mouse). It snowed the last two nights on the mountains toward Rome. In our valley the leaves are falling fast off the trees, flying about mixed in with cold rain.  It’s a mess out there.  A large cup of tea is in order and some poignant words from Kate.

Don’t give in.

Fight for your future.

Independence is the only solution.

Woman are as good as men.

Onward!

You don’t have too much money but you do have

independent spirits.  Knowledge!  Education!

Don’t give in! Make your own trail.

Don’t moan.

Don’t complain.

Think positively.

--Katharine Hepburn, actor

Onward!  I like that.

Natalie

Painting Leaves

tangerine, cypress, rosemary and sage leaves

I’m painting a villa way up in the hills of Umbria. The road to get there is long, empty and winding. 

   

i love how sage leaves are soft

This morning I came upon a large fallen branch that was lying across the dark pavement.  I passed it, then I got that elated silly holiday feeling and I braked, backed up and got out.  I grabbed the branch.  It looked like some kind of Cypress. It took up the length of my back seat.  The moment I got back in the car, it already perfumed of tree, winter, home, the forest and of joy.  I had found happiness.  Man that was easy. 

Later when I got home I put it in my studio and instead of my studio smelling like paint it, there was the scent of GREEN.

I stuck it in a bucket of water and let it rest.

7 is for Sette Design as in 7 colors in the rainbow

Then after a time I made a pretty display on one credenza. A little party sitting up high above the mess of paint cans and works in progress.  

the branch in my paint studio

Here is a secret and it is obvious, so it may not be a secret.  If you paint leaves it looks good.  Put them on the walls, free form on furniture, on doors, as a border on a mirror frame, modern and simple, antique and aged.  Leaves make people happy, they are a pure form of life.

work in progress

olives in my blue room

Did any of you out there find a little cup of joy today, something that surprised you?  What was it?  It may be it is still to come, keep your eyes peeled… 

Natalie

Crocus and a Cappuccino

my grandmother Ann's tea cup

In Foligno, Italy the fog came in thick yesterday and this morning too.  It makes me happy inside.  It feels like San Francisco to me.  I have taught my girls to love the fog (I’m proud of that).  I said to Elisa (who is 9), when you grow up and find yourself deep in a San Francisco fog, you can get that warm feeling inside because it feels like Foligno.  She laughed at that, in anticipation.

cyclamen

I went to the flower market this weekend and bought a little group of bulbs.  So this post should actually be called a cappuccino and crocuses, ranunculuses, tulips, freesias and two hyacinths. 

look at the tiny topiaries

Then I can fill the house with flowers during the dark winter months.  My girlfriend Jessica, who is talented at many things, advises I put them in a dark bag in the refrigerator for 1 week to trick them into a cold slumber.  Then I’ll plant them in water or soil or rocks and see what happens.

Italians love cyclamen.  I see them as flaming hearts of color.  Don’t they look good with the topiaries?

the rain water has made a pound in one

Italian flower pots

A few ladders going up, you can have your pick.

ladders to the sky

What do you do to get through the winter darkness?   They have just started to hang the Christmas lights in our Centro Storico (old center).  Later I’ll take a photo, it is romantic and this year I’m hoping for architectural not cute.  Oh it does make me nervous that they will be cute.

Here's me on my path, city street, bike ride home.  I like it when the tree trunks become black from the rain.

with my bike basket full of bulbs

Happy winter.  Here we go!

Natalie

A Painted Floor

my foyer

This is my foyer.  It is a floor with linoleum tiles that I painted in gray and taupe.  I think if you don’t like your flooring you can paint them for very little expense and they will stop making everything look bad.  This is what they used to look like and believe me my soul was tortured.  From a design stand point they were just wrong.  

Painting linoleum will be a temporary fix, and they can scrape, but who cares, they will still look better then they looked before.  Wood floors age and scrape, if you think of your painted floors as changing during the aging process then they will always look gorgeous.  Like in California a good pair of faded and soft Levis jeans can achieve respect from all who understand. 

I painted these with acrylic paint, then a coat of polyurethane and liquid floor wax on top. I followed the line of the tile that was already there and it came out looking pretty. If every now and then you clean them with a floor wax on top they will maintain much better as they age.  It makes them feel good to walk on barefoot too.

This is a Loggia.

Loggia in Foligno


 

The Winston Dictionary, 1946 

Loggia

Arch, a covered gallery or portico, having at least one side open to the air

  

  

Here is some inspiration.  Look for the painted tile floors.   

  

  

ladies dancing

you could paint them with varying colors also

Happy Weekend everyone!

A presto

Natalie

I'm linking to:
http://betweennapsontheporch.net

Gratitude -Wishing Works

  

   

I grew up in a little white wooden house that was spacious and had windows everywhere – oh it was so pretty.  It was built in 1914 in a valley below a mountain, outside San Francisco.  On the refrigerator in our kitchen my mother had stuck a button that said COMPLAINING with a circle around it and a red line through it.  She later also had a photograph of herself, taken by one of those automatic cameras of her going through a red light, hands gripping the wheel, eyes dazed and searching.  Her point to friends passing through our kitchen and to us children was stop complaining and laugh at your self. 

Tomorrow in America is Thanksgiving Day a holiday where we gather around a table with friends and family and be thankful for the abundance of our lives (basically like every Sunday in Italy).  To my mother’s philosophy I want to add gratitude.  I understand that during the holidays some of us feel even more alone even in the presence of family or loved ones.  Sometimes we feel that are lives are not where we wanted them to be or imagined them to be.  I do know that life is hard and harder for some than others.  To this I want to suggest a lesion in hope.  

hope grows

 

I love to follow studies.  I am so interested in trying to live a better life.  I read all kinds of studies and then I bring them up to bug my friends or make a point.  Here are a few examples.  If there are two boys playing together and then another boy is introduced into their game, the two boys include the third boy right away.  If you do the same with girls, they will not let the third girl in to play.  They did a study about it.  I drive my friends crazy quoting the “They”.   If you drink five cups of coffee a day it decreases your chance of getting brain cancer.  I love that study! 

So I did my own study.  I have a group of  English speaking friends here and for many years we all got together to have a cup of tea on Wednesday afternoon.  Our idea was to encourage our kids speak English and for us mothers to be able to feel less isolated and it truly helped us to understand the Italian culture too. 

One afternoon when the tea party was at my house I had all the mothers and kids (it was a big group of us that day) write down a list of wishes.  We didn’t have to tell the wishes if we didn’t want to, they could be kept a secret.  Then we put them in envelopes and sealed them.  I told all the kids and moms to really try to think about those wishes and to concentrate on them as much as possible, to work on them.  In six months time we would open the envelopes and do our counts.  Guess what... 42% of the wishes came true in a six- month period of time.  Let me tell you some of the wishes were hard, like I want to learn to swim, some were ridiculous like I want Mama to have another baby.  So this brought our group percentage down.  It was also interesting to see how some of the kids had a higher percentage up to 70-80% of wishes coming true, this was related to their perception of reality and I believe it was related also to how hard they worked on those dreams.  It also varied greatly within families.  Some of the group wrote their wishes down and then forgot about them.   I am also able to recount that I remember many of those wishes came true later as more time passed.

humm ... what are my wishes, there are so many

I will leave you with that story. I think I might just sneak away for another cappuccino, write a new list of wishes and see if might be able to play in the boys group.

finding my way

I want to send a message of gratitude and joy and peace to all of you around the world.  I hope that your wishes come true.

Happy Thanksgiving.

With affection

Natalie