Preparing for the Next Adventure

We’ve been pushing hard on updates, as we have decided to sell our home here in Roccaspinalveti and move closer to the Adriatic Sea, in turn being closer to my San Salvo cousins. It’s been a tough decision but one we knew would eventually come, just not so soon. Four years ago, when we were looking for a house to buy in Abruzzo, our intention was to downsize from our chalet-style home in Virginia and find a country house primarily for just the two of us with one or two guest rooms. Finding this home here in the Frentani Mountains of Abruzzo, didn’t actually scream ‘downsize’. It was much larger than we needed and it came with two apartments and a large backyard. But the deal was too good to pass up, the views outstanding and the house was move-in ready. The lower apartment, we successfully rented out short term through Airbnb and Booking.com. During this time, I found out that I had cousins from my mother’s family living in San Salvo. What a wonderful discovery. The desire to move closer to them naturally evolved and it has certainly intensified these past two years with COVID restrictions. Now the goals for updating our home here in Rocca are a sweet response to us finding family!

As the house is about 45 years old, there was some cosmetic updating to be done along with a few major additions, such as adding a new boiler and double-glazed windows to our living space. After we stripped the old wallpaper and gave all the walls fresh paint, John was ready for some major tiling work.

To give the house more flow from one room to the next, we decided to over-tile the kitchen, entrance hall all the way into the bathroom. As original tile had been placed into concrete, there was no easy way to remove it. We opted to tile over the old, which is a very common method here. Our go-to source for tile at a reasonable price delivered was Edilizia Del Gesso srl in nearby Gissi, a great family-run builders supply company. John was able to get not only the tile off the lot, but the proper primer, adhesive and grout to insure a successful installation.

Before – We actually loved our original kitchen tile, but it was way too soft to stand up to heavy traffic. As you can see, each space had a different tile as do all the rooms on this main floor. We felt that the kitchen space, hallways and eventually the master bathroom should all flow with one tile.

Work in progress and completion – John primed the old tile in order to prepare for the new tile to adhere. The edges of the new tiles were beveled where they met rooms with original tiles.

Once John completed the hall & kitchen tiling project, he was ready to renovate our master bathroom. This bathroom was originally all pink, a color very popular years ago. We decided a more tranquil color scheme would work for us and future owners. Pink toilet and bidet were replaced with a white toilet and bidet wand. We purchased special epoxy tile paint (online from Leroy Merlin supplies) to cover the pink & brown flowered tiles with a cream color, while other original tiles where covered with a stunning faux stone porcelain purchased from same building supply in Gissi. Floor tiles would be a continuation of the hall project. The two cabinets were spray painted a cream color very similar to the painted tile and plaster walls were painted a calming sand/mocha color.

The bathroom consists of two rooms joined by a very narrow opening. The front room features the sink, medicine cabinet and toilet, with the second room containing a small accordion-style shower. This I wanted to replace with a deep soaking bathtub and shower combo. We were able to buy the perfect tub online from Manomano as well as the duel-head shower system. John opened up the narrow doorway between these two rooms with an archway for an elegant look. You’ll see in the pictures below where he added a step for us to enter the deeper style tub/shower combo. An old window that connected a hallway to the bathroom had to be removed and the opening blocked in and tiled over. John finished the renovation with a glass enclosure (Amazon.it), towel warmer and floor tile. I am very spoiled with my own personal Tool Man!

As this was John’s last major project inside, he went to tackle the outside house painting. He is fearless on long ladders, both when he built our home in Virginia as well as painting here. I did give a huge sigh of relief when his ladder work was finished.

House is now freshly painted, flowers are happily blooming with all the recent rain and we are out hiking again. The house is on the market with the wonderful agency out of San Salvo – Abruzzo Rural Property. Our dear friend and agent Monia di Guilmi helped us find our home here in Roccaspinalveti and now she will be showing it to perspective buyers and handling its sale. The listing is lovely with great pictures! Take a peek😀

We will keep you posted as things progress with our next exciting adventure. Roccaspinalveti has been an amazing place to live. It has truly been our home for these past 4 years and we will miss so much about it; friends made, mountains hiked, enjoying the views from our home, and just the pure essence of living in this mountain town in Abruzzo. We will be certain to return for many a visit!