Status Viatoris

status viatoris – being ‘on the way’/being in a state of pilgrimage

Other than a few minor DIY odds and sods – that will now almost certainly be forgotten about until the some mildly inconvenient point in the future – Casa SV e Pooch is now officially open for business.

Sitting room complete with interactive hearth rug…

The business of living in it without constantly tripping over builders and their tools, that is.

Fine dining –  only possible when someone else cooks…

And I must say that I am utterly overjoyed with the results.

The original kitchen floor – ideal for camouflaging discarded dog biscuits and other escaped food stuffs….

For whilst the exterior may not have the charm of a countryside rustico nor the interior the minimalist sophistication so sought after today; my little home has finally been transformed into the oasis of cosiness and tranquillity that I had been longing for.

Just ripe for a wallow.

Small, but perfectly formed, the space feels as if it has at last reached its potential: a potential that required a considerable amount of squinting and an over-active imagination to discern whilst buried under the car-crash interior inexplicably wished on it by the previous occupants.

Apples and pears and a handy storage cupboard as suggested by the ever practical Mothership!

(Post containing photos of aforementioned car-crash interior can be found by clicking here).

Snuggling under the eaves in a real bed is a huge improvement to camping downstairs on a squeaky sofa bed.

Although I had flirted briefly with the idea of burying myself neighbourlessly in the depths of the Ligurian countryside, my hermit-like tendencies definitely make living in close proximity to other people the healthier option (if I don’t wish to make the headlines as a mad old bat unseen by living soul for decades until the day a craving for chocolate sends her out into the wider world to startle local children).

Miniature lav – men must poke heads out of skylight in order to pee standing up.

So I live on my own, but I never feel alone because I’m surrounded by people, noisy people; noisy people and their equally noisy offspring and their even noisier pets. I am forced to be sociable every time I step outside my house; but when I retreat back inside, closing my front door behind me, I could just as easily be in some country rustico, such is the peace I find there.

Study – the only room in the house that needs a little bit more shuffling before everything finds its place.

The most recent change, and probably the ciliegia on top of my zen-living torta, has been the greenifying of the balcony; Mothership coming into her own yet again by sending me back from the UK with a car full of plant pots, seedlings and corms; all of which were duly planted out and are now thriving fit to bust – filling the air with smells that will hopefully result tempting enough to lure in a butterfly or bumblebee or two…

The room where peering out of the window often takes the place of getting things done. Ooops.

A couple of lavender plants, two colourful fuchsia, some pinks and a lemon thyme joined the already established throng of strawberries, chives, mint, parsley, rosemary, oregano, straw flowers, basil (and two other things I can’t recall the name of) during the Mothership’s visit, and I now boast a balcony fit for, if not a king, Monty Don at least.

Herbs ‘n strawbs ‘n stuff.

So there we have it, folks, Chez SV et Pooch in all its pretty-much-completed glory, and hopefully all geared up to be a happy home to SV and Pooch for a very long time to come

Pooch posing on his newly floral balcony…

This is Status Viatoris, feeling enthusiastic about all things domestic and more disinclined to take back up her wanderlust baton than she has ever been, in Italy.

This entry was posted on 05/06/2012 at 18:42 and is filed under Italy, Pix, Property, Renovations, Village Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.