Andiam, andiam, andiamo a pitturar....

Dear Reader,

almost two weeks have gone and it's time to show you a bit of what we've being doing this whole time...
after we came back from London and the raw structure of the house was assembled we braced ourselves and - brushes at hand - started painting.

Here a huge thank you to our parents and friends who came to help us: it were two exhausting but great weeks, we wouldn't have make it without your support!!

This whole time we never managed to be back home before dark, and at night I was so utterly tired that even thinking about updating the blog was insane ;-) Today we finally managed to slow down a bit and be home for dinner time... :-) and so, here some first pictures of these days!! 

We all got at work at the beginning of Montage week 2 (July 13):

And soon the first results were visible:

Die Farbe finde ich sehr passend und absolut wunderschön! It got darker after a couple of days, slightly more brownish. We love it and the 'warm white' we use as contrast (windows, roof, etc) seems just the perfect combination :-)

The work continued...

Here our working tools...

And here our small evening boost... ;-)

In the meanwhile, our Montageteam heros, Tilo, Jörg, Mike, Thomas, and Gunther went on building walls, roof and terrace elements...

And this was the result at the end of week 2:

And here mid week 3, with even some 'white' on the windows!!

Soweit wurde die ganze rote Oberfläche zweimal gestrichen. Wir haben auch zwei Drittel der Fenster geschafft, plus eine erste Hand weisse Farbe am Unterdach...

There is still work to do, but we're happy we managed a large bulk of painting :-) I'd never though you could actually paint a whole house with just a couple of small brushes (vier 7cm Pinsel plus einige 2.5cm und 3cm...!!!) but yes, it can be done. And - as exhausting as it was - the whole process had a kind of relaxing, meditative effect.. ;-) There's no better way to start connecting with your house (and to realise how much work it takes to build one!!)

In addition to painting, last week it was also time for Holger together with a colleague of him and some of our precious friends (thank you guys!!) to install the raw electrical system. I'll upload a few pictures in the next post and show you how the house looks like inside now :-)

But first, I wish you a relaxing evening and a good night of sleep - I surely need one!! ;-)

Rest well and take care,
Ele

Rot, Rosso, Red...

...time to reveal in which colour our house will be dressed!! ;-)

We actually always thought our house would be red. Or better, a classic combination of red and white. Grey was also an option, it would have been nice as well, but somehow looking at the landscape and neighbor houses we felt that a red house would be the best choice there.

So. This is it. Red. The next step was: what red? Our Bauleiter gave us some samples from which to chose. This was the starting point:

Yes, my thought exactly: how many 'reds' are there???? :-| The funny thing with colours - at least for me as absolute layman - is that the more you try to engage with them, the more confused you get.

After some studying and reflecting on the samples above, we decided that no one of those reds was the right one (!!) and that we had to get a bit more informed on how all this reddish variety comes to exist in the first instance. So we get acquainted with the Natural Colour System or NCS:

This system allows to shape colours on four axes on a 10%-stepwise progression. The axes define  proportions between blackness and chromaticness as well as the closeness to the four basic colours yellow, red, green, and blue.

Just to say: if you have to decide about a color concept for your house, I strongly suggest you play around with this system (there are plenty of apps that helps with this, like the Kaba Farbe App).

Playing around with these tools, we finally arrived to a selection of colours: three different reds plus a 'warm white' to match the windows and the main door and a 'granit grey' for the roof tiles:

On Tuesday we then painted the sample colours on the wall (the first red on the right was added by our Bauleiter :-) ):

We looked at them from different perspectives, with sun, in the shade... the final decision was tough, but at the end we went for the second red from the left: NCS S 5040-Y90R. The white, which you can also see in the sample above (window frame) is NCS S 0502-Y. We use Jotun paint for both colours.

We're now in the process of painting the whole house. I'll show you in the next post how these colours work on the big surface!!!! ;-)

Stay happy and enjoy these sunny days,
Ele

La casa è arrivata!! :-)

Dear Reader,

almost two weeks has gone and so much has happened since the last post!! My apologies for not writing to you earlier: we had to leave for a few days to attend a lovely graduation ceremony in London; when we came back there was so much to work and discover and wonder at the house that all our time was spent there! ;-)

So now, let's try to sum up how things are developing...well, first: the house arrived last Tuesday as planned (actually the first trucks arrived on Monday evening!) :-) :-) :-) Tilo and his awesome team started working very early in the morning. When we arrived at the land at about 8am the first wall was already there:

Few minutes later, the second wall followed, and then the third one...

Piece after piece, all walls were brought into place with precision and care. It was an awesome moment and I am so grateful to have been able to witness it together with the people I love - here a big hug to my mom and dad, who're now already back in Italy! :-)

Noch vor der Mittagszeit konnten wir schon in unser Erdgeschoss spazieren gehen!!!! :-)

Und kurz danach sind die Innenwände aufgetaucht!!!

 

Here a first shot to our Sprossenfenster (windows with glazing bars): I love their warm, welcoming character...

And here is how the house looked like at the end of the Day 1: 

Amazing, isn't it? No wonder that the neighbours stopped to give a look the whole day long... :-) It doesn't often happen to see a house growing up like this!!!

***

Montage Days 2 and 3: Montaggio del primo piano e del tetto!

The second and third days of work went on at the same pace!! Unfortunately we had to leave for London - a long planned trip that couldn't be postponed - but fortunately my father-in-law came to check the process, take care of Tilo&Team (alias make sure they had enough to drink to survive the 36°C temperature!) and make sure we would receive a constant flow of pictures to keep us updated on the developments. And indeed: at the end of Day 2 the whole first floor was assembled...

...and on Day 3 the roof arrived...

I find the roof structure simply gorgeous...a shame we couldn't leave it open ;-) Days 4 & 5 were then dedicated to some more nitty-gritty work mainly on the roof:

At the end of the week the landscape of Schwarzenberg had a new full, beautiful house to show (obwohl noch in Rohbau!):

Can you spot our house? :-) :-) Che ne pensate? Trovo che la nuova casa si integri bene nel paesaggio...es ist dann natürlich die Frage, wie das Haus am Ende aussehen wird, ohne Gerust und mit Farbe!!! :-)

So, this was the first week of Montage :-) I tell you, dear Reader, no picture can do justice to how the house feels and looks in reality...the beauty of the wooden structures and exactness with which they are assembled together, the spicy scent of wood, the blend of simplicity and elegance of the design...it's beautiful, overwhelming, and inspiring. :-) We're still in the process, but we know we won't regret the choice of a wooden Schwedenhaus. Even half-done, it already feels so welcoming :-)

That's it for the report of the first week. One decision we had to make in those days was the colour (or better colour combination) for our house. But this is for another post!

Take care and have a lovely time,
Ele