THIS CHANGES THE LOOK OF THE HOUSE | Walls, Dog Wash Bar & A Good Deal?

we're Nikki and Carlo and we live in patano Italy except we also just bought a house in Tuscany which we're currently renovating so we live there too join us as we turn this house and Olive Grove into a dream home and get to grips with living in two different parts of [Music] Italy seeing as project kitchen has pretty much been finished there's still some finishing touches to do in this room but for now it is just looking amazing and we're so happy with it we are swiftly moving on to the next project which is Project front porch and Carlo is already hard at work what are you doing [Music] so this wall here that comes around the side and then gets really low I thought if we carry this this height around to the front of the house and to the other side it would just make this a lovely little contained area and also I love sitting here here I really do like sitting on this wall but this is a sort of entrance way so I have to move a lot of the time so if this was going around there we could put plant pots and you could sit on it maybe some cushions in the summer and obviously we'd paint it this color and I'm thinking of repainting the house in a shade or two lighter so it actually matches CU at the moment it clashes a bit but we might have to plaster some of the front of the house so that's the project we're looking at today [Music] trying to figure out exactly where the entrance should be it was completely off center a minute ago so we're trying to level it up we need one more long stick so he's taking that one down some of you may have been wondering what on Earth that was uh it was a badminton net that sky and nicoa put up when they were here so that they could play badminton and it went across to the Olive Tree and they played in the driveway and then a delivery truck came and nearly crashed into it so we have to take it down okay see yeah it doesn't block any of the view but it just blocks the driveway okay which is probably a good [Music] thing Carla's just saying that they they're better prepared here cuz in patano this would be offloaded by hand [Music] [Music] like a gate post think it [Music] [Music] works okay there now it's all coming together [Music] here we are out for a dog walk in The Vineyards of Tuscany except I'm not um and I don't have any dogs with me because I'm in England and I'm with Dave not Carlo hello remember Dave last summer we happen to be both in England at the moment and we've met up to have a walk and yeah I'm back in England for a few days I had a few more things to do and I had to get back last week because the kitchen was being installed and so I've now come back here and I've left Carlo to build that little wall in front of the house so when I get back I think I'm going to be nicely surprised cuz he sent me some photos and it's starting to look amazing look at all these little Volkswagen Beetles I Learned to Drive in one of these not one of these exact ones it was black with purple bits on it and apparently the guy was saying before that this is the original Herby from the film [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] moment [Music] seems uh perfect ground but it's not this come from another place I just take away this and when I come back bring this perfect soil oh yeah I think I make a good job one [Music] so Cara has just sent me through some pictures and videos of the finished wall it looks amazing I can't wait to get back and see it for real and actually looking at it I think it has without us even realizing resolved the problem of you remember at the beginning I said I don't like the way the roof sticks out too much I felt like it was disproportionate to the rest of the house and with the columns recessed inside the inside say that's the perola and the columns are like in the middle there and the roof sticks out way too much whereas normally you'd put the columns at the end I feel like building this little wall has resolved that problem and now it all feels way more balanced or I think it does Anyway by looking at the photos so Carla has done a great job and I can't wait to get back and see I wonder what else he's going to do while I'm in England this time I'm organizing to bring a few more things back to Tuscany by Van these paintings were gifted to us in the late ' 80s and I've always loved them the artist painted my name on the ballerina one and although he spelled it wrong it has always been loved it's time to bring them home with me but the frames are looking a bit dated and blue so we need a [Music] refresh I used two coats of black metal paint and left them to dry for 24 hours [Music] [Music] it worked perfectly although at first it looked a bit strange to me as I was so used to the blue frame the ballerina one actually looked much better and I was really pleased with the result that great it look good isn't it much better it shows it up the blue just no that unfortunately well the blue yeah it was it was very 80s I think we picked up the blue from the color there yeah but it's picked up the black as well it's lovely Martin got one in blue got the one with the buildings on it skycrapers he's got the marathan runners was the a boat one I think they were four or five what happened to them all I really don't know [Music] Al and so we are near um lorno yes here this place this place here is qu chanella quella is very nice place there on the coast outside the town towards the South beautiful uh lovely food nice sea very quiet moment I love it one of my favorite place oh the Roman the Roman bars okay let's go and see the Roman bars Okay so we've just come back from lunch from qu chanella further south down the coast and we've stopped here in California California if you look down there you can see the Roman bars that have been cut into the rocks and lots of people from lorno they come here in the summer and and they swim here look you can see some of the baths down there yes maybe [Laughter] AO they've been cut out but on the other side they're better for for for oh you to you to no I love you [Music] just going out for a little walk trying to find a post box I need to post a letter for my dad guys I'm having fomo I am having fear of missing out Carlo is running riot in Tuscany buying things making things changing things left right and center and I feel like it's all completely out of my control and it's killing me should we talk about this furniture that he's just bought so we actually have seen that sofa and chair set for a good couple of months or so now and we'd passed on it at least twice we' looked at it we thought about it and we both said it's ugly we don't need that and we didn't buy it and now he's gone and bought it it's ugly um it's going to take a lot of work you might have to help me what am I going to do with it I think do I need to strip it that's going to be a nightmare should I just paint it obviously I can get the cushions re-upholstered and that's not a problem I know somebody who can do that for me so I will definitely be doing that but what do I do with the wood the very very dark wood do I leave it do I paint it or do I strip it back and try and stain it lighter help I can't see any sign of a post box down there so I'm going to head back the other way and I know there's one up in the other direction um I've actually ended up being here quite a bit longer than I thought I was going to be I thought I was going to be here for like 4 days but it's stretching out a little bit longer so so um I don't have any clothes with me I only have what I have here and I always leave some clothes here but not many you'll probably be seeing me in the same two or three outfits the whole time I'm here we'll cut through the ceter and I might show you a couple of graves that I always visit when I'm here there's one grave in particular that I love just for the names of the people in it they're just the most fantast fantastic fantastic turn of the century names and then there's another one which actually has the same name but really really sweet little thing written on her grave the most beautiful Road of genden bush in flower here it's absolutely stunning look at it I feel like I spent a lot of my childhood crawling through roaded dendon bushes I think the area that we lived in must have been full of them and they're really really good CU they grow they can grow along long long stretches of pathway and inside you can climb inside and make dens and and little secret tunnels and I remember doing that a lot when I was younger don't see them so much nowadays though possibly because I live in Italy and they don't grow there here we go the gudge family George Fanny Olive and violet gudge what fantastic names and there's another olive down here Olive best who traveled the world with her Library ticket here we go hello I'm just sitting here because the sun's out or keeps coming in and going out but it's a lovely day it's much warmer than it was the other day so much nicer I mean after the miserable when I spoke with Steve last night they had R most of the day yesterday I said we've had a good day it's Lov just enjoying this so much so much warmer [Music] okay [Music] fore this so [Music] [Music] okaye [Music] fore SP I [Music] was couldn't Billy [Music] said always on the r didn't want to slow down but baby then you came around [Music] okay done good [Music] girl you are such don't [Music] you don't you just love these beautiful forget me knots down here they match my jumper perfectly anyhow let's talk about this dog washing station that Carlo has never built without my permission uh we did talk about building one we desperately needed one it wasn't really right the fact that we had to drag the dogs through the house to get to a bathroom and then make the bathroom really messy every time we had to wash them and they need quite a lot of washing after their daily walks especially in the winter they get very very muddy so we did need somewhere with easy access um from outside so we pretty much decided that we were going to build a dog washing station there I presumed that like usual I was going to give Carlo some ideas and we'd take one of those ideas and do it but he's gone ahead and done it without me and I had a few doubts I didn't think it was going to work made of wood and also when he showed me where he put it the first thing I noticed was a plug socket on the wall right there where it would have got soaking wet so he has since removed the plug socket so it is now much safer um I might see if I can get them to put up a a backpack panel I just feel like it makes more sense with the back panel um but we'll see I I'm not there so I can't see how it is and I'll have to wait until I get back but well done Carlo I've got a little bit of free time this morning and I've just driven over to the beautiful Village of Shear which I've shown many times before it's a lovely little classic English Village about half an hour from where Dad lives and I've come here because there's a new shop in Sher and I've seen it a few times on Instagram and it looks l it's full of homewares beautiful stuff so I'm hoping to take you along and have a quick look inside [Music] and here it is it's called split figs this is just beautiful there's so much in here I think I'm going to be spending a little bit of money [Music] and it keeps on going there's another two rooms back here love these lamp shades [Music] [Music] C [Music] Echo fore [Music] I think I've just fell oh my God I can't believe having to keep I think I've just found dad's first mobile phone brilliant even got the number attached to it still other random finds a box full of microphone bits cuffs wind muffs from various different sporting activities that's an old one so here we go this are all my old soap making equipment here's a load of essential oils and soap fragrances I think they need to be thrown away this is packaging jars what am I going to do with all this stuff there's more bottles and jars over there and there's a huge box here with soap molds stick blender more bottles all in the B in the in the if there is anybody in the Sur or London or Southwest England area or depends on how far you want to drive really but obviously somewhere in the UK um who is starting up a soap making business or already has one and thinks they could put to use all of this stuff um maybe drop me an email if you want it because I don't think I'm going to take it all back to Italy I'm not going to be starting up my soite business again there because the bureaucracy is just wild and it's way too difficult and crazy to be able to do that so here I have loads and loads of packaging I've got loads of little bottles with lids and this is all cardboard boxes for packaging and there are bath bomb molds there's various glass jars of different sizes um there's a tons more bottles in there there's soap molds different types all sorts of things there's pretty much everything you need to get a soap making business up and running so if anybody is interested in taking all this lot on I'd sell it for like £200 or something send me an email and for now I'm going to stick it all back up there it is the beginning of May and since mid-march I have actually only spent two weeks in Tuscany the rest of the time I've either been back in patano or back in England and this time I been here for 2 weeks and I can't wait to get home today is the day I'm packing my bags and I'm leaving dad and I'm heading back to see Carlo Indie and Holly in Tuscany and I can't wait to get back I can't wait to see all the changes Carlo's done to the house and I'm just packing up my little bag now I have very random things in my bag at the moment I have a lamp base which is very pretty which I picked up for £15 in a little secondhand shop and and I'm putting that in my hand luggage and I've also bought a little lampshade that really doesn't go with it at all but I might put it somewhere else I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with that but it's coming with me I also have in my bag two cinnamon and raisin bagels as you do because Dad won't eat them so might as well take them with me and I'm just getting ready and we'll be heading off to the airport soon I'll be home in time for dinner so thank you for being patient with me next week we will be back in Tuscany I will take you with me from leaving here here Journey back and then I can go around and inspect all of the things Carlo has done to the house and see whether I'm happy or not join us next week thank you very much for watching everyone have a great week bye

Channel: Nicki Positano

Views: 120,477

Keywords: travel tips, Europe, Europe travel, Europe travel vlog, vlog, travel vlogger, vacation, explore, lifestyle, lifestyle vlog, travel channel, travel vlogs, vlogger, slow living, vlogs, life in Italy, Italy vlog, simple life, travel video, destination, positano, amalfi coast italy, The Positano Diaries, nicki positano, The Tuscan Diaries, Tuscany vlog, home renovation, renovating in Tuscany, dog washing station, porch revamp, second hand furniture, living in tuscany

Id: eOHBHpMdUhc

Length: 28min 54sec (1734 seconds)

Published: Sun May 05 2024