Our new villa - a house with a name!

I always love reading the novels where houses have a name. Even if they are humble cottages, it seems like having a name gives the house character and it lives beyond the current residents. Our new villa is called "Villa Battista", named after the father of the our landlady. It was built for him and after he passed away several years ago, the daughter inherited it and wants to keep it in the family to eventually pass along to her children. In the meantime, we will live there and respect it as if it were our own.

It has felt like this day would never come! Not sure what the Lord's plan is with the delays and the false starts but at last this feels "right" and is truly a blessing. Our sea shipment is due to arrive and be delivered to the house on Wednesday, 2/1.

The house is so pretty that photos don't do it justice. It is built in the turn of the 20th century architecture but is really very modern, built in 1993 all the amenities you would expect.

The kitchen is called "American Style" -- I guess because of the island cook top and wrap around counter space. Certainly there are more cupboards here than we had in Everett!

The google address

Even after the move this week, we will have a few things left to do: closets, window treatments, and light fixtures still to acquire but since there are some of these already there, it is not an urgent thing to get them before we move in.

The stair lift is on order. Unfortunately it has a 50 day lead time, so I will have to decide howI can minimize my stair usage for the next month and a half, while we wait. Johnnie is so anxious to move in, that I will probably sleep downstairs on the sofa or a hide-a-bed so we can go ahead and get the stair lift installed. Here is what the lift will look like:

The relatives are not included; furnish your own family

Showering will be my challenge in the temporary sleeping arrangement since all the showers are upstairs as well as the closets. There is a half bath downstairs.

Johnnie already has his list of flowers and vegetables he wants to plant, and has been google searching for raised beds. We saw a couple very unique raised beds in Rome that were made from a lightweight material almost like landscape fabric. That appeals to us since we don't know about the sun and seasons here, so if we do need to move it around, this design would be very portable.  We have wire frame window boxes all around the balcony of the house on the second floor. I am going to guess that these probably cover 30 feet or more of balcony rail, so Johnnie is delighted with the prospect of filling those with planter boxes and flowers.

I am keen on the herb garden I want to start in the winter garden and putting a nice water fountain of some kind in there. The challenge of decorating the villa, setting up the various electronic devices (TV, satellite, internet, computers, printers, sling box, tivo and the rest) is ahead of me as well. Plus I am excited to have a home office and a separate sewing/design center which will be my creative "zone". The beautiful fabrics here are calling my name every time I walk by!

By the time I blog again next week, I will have photos of the move and maybe the "after" pics of Johnnie and Jenny on the mountain. Ciao!