Take a Tour of Our 200-Year-Old Italian Home

I told you we were renovating Fra's family home in Davoli...but I forgot to follow up with the end results!

While it seemed like it took forever for the work to be completed, by Italian standards, it was actually pretty quick. And we're thrilled with the results.

We Start the Tour...in the Jungle

I absolutely hated this tiny water closet when I first saw it. It was dark and dank. But because I'm an artist, I found a way to transform it! Fra jokes that he feels like he's peeing in the jungle!

I love opening the door when we give people a tour of the house. Suffice it to say...they don't expect it!

On to My Funky Office

Oh, the naysayers. When I selected the color of paint I wanted for my office (as well as the living room), I got so many looks from the Italians.

Sei sicura, Su?? (Are you sure?)

Italians tend to play it safe and paint walls neutral colors so they'll last. Well, I'm not Italian and I am a creative soul. So nothing less than a fuschia office would do!

And let me just say...EVERYONE has complimented us on the colors. Everyone. So take that, conservative Italians!

This was the last room we finished, but I love it. I work and study here, do yoga, and occasionally take a nap!

Initially, I wanted to put adhesive wallpaper (my new favorite thing) on one accent wall, but the wall is bumpy, so it wouldn't work. I came up with the idea to cut out the leaf shapes of the wallpaper to decorate the door (and cover a hole). I love how it turned out.

Here We Have the Entrata

When Fra's mother and her family lived here, this area was a room for some of the kids. There was a ladder rather than the spiral staircase (called a snail staircase in Italian -- scala chiocciola -- I love this!).

I feel like it's a bit of a wasted space...I'm open to ideas. I've put the cat's litter box under the stairs, which isn't ideal because I bump my head whenever I clean it, but there's nowhere else.

Up The Stairs We Go!

The upstairs of the house didn't even exist until the late '70s. It was an attic with an oven. Fra's grandfather remodeled before he was born, and the house doubled in size.

The living room is funky, not only because of the color we chose, but also because a large chunk of space is taken up by the stairs. I thought it would feel cramped, but we had eight people over last night and it was fine.

It's a cozy space. In the summer, we leave the balcony window open (with mosquito screen) and let the breeze in. But when that breeze becomes a violent Calabrian wind, we shut it!

Oh, and...that couch? Ask yourself how we got it upstairs if we only have a snail staircase. That's right. Eight men pulled it up by a cord off the balcony. It was quite the sight!

Our Cozy Kitchen

When I saw the fireplace on my first visit to the house, I fell in love. I can't wait to have fires in the winter.

When I saw the 1960s tile...I thought twice. I really wanted to get rid of it, but no one would let me. Now that we've painted yellow above, I actually like it better.

Our Extended Living Room

Given how narrow the balcony is, I'm surprised at the amount of entertaining we do there. It's where I hang the laundry, and we have a couple of plants. But as you can see, it's also where the boys drink beer.

It's been hard to let go of my American aesthetic of party hosting. They don't need a meat and cheese board with artisanal dips. In fact, they're pretty blown away with tortilla chips and homemade Mexican salsa.

Our One Remaining Project

We ran out of steam by the time we got to the bathroom upstairs. Frankly, I abhor these tiles and can't wait to cover them up. The problem is, we aren't sure what we want to do.

I've Learned a Lot About Decorating!

This is the first time I've ever been able to paint a house and make it mine. I've immersed myself in design magazines and Insta accounts. I love DIYing what I can and saving money when possible.

We bought several things on Temu. Some were great...others, less so. The adhesive woodlike flooring in the living room looks good...but it's coming up in some places.

The adhesive wallpaper I bought on Temu looked blurry, so I wouldn't buy that again. The jungle wallpaper came from Amazon, and was about €10 a roll cheaper than another site I found it on.

I love thrifting, so we bought several pieces of furniture at the thrift store or sourced them from the cantina below, where they were gathering dust.

All in all, I'm super proud of the work we've done to make this our home!