Want To See Where We Live?

For quite some time, Jen and I have wanted to open our home to you, our readers.  We have had the extreme pleasure of hosting some of our family and friends - but there are still a good number of you that have not seen our home in person.  For that reason, we have wanted to open our doors for quite some time.  

Our soggiorno (living room)

You've heard me say it many times (if you're a reader of the blog) - but I feel it's of the utmost importance that I say it again.  When I say, "open our doors" - what I really mean to say is, "open Dominic and Diane's (Jen's parents) doors".  They have graciously allowed us to live in their pied-à-terre for the past year.  Without them, this trip could not have been possible.  

Dominic realized his lifelong dream of owning property in Italy (his mother-country) in 2010 when he and Diane purchased their condo in Lake Como.  They had been looking on-again off-again for a place of their own for years.  The search ranged from Tuscany to Piemonte before they got a call one day from Dominic's brother, Franco.  A condo directly below his had become available and he wanted to know if they were interested in seeing the place.  They boarded a plane and came back to us a few weeks later with pictures of the place and renderings of what Diane wanted it to look like.  

Diane had an architect draw the possible floor plan within the existing condo

Diane is a wonderful designer and a visionary.  She fully renovated the condo - opening rooms, installing a brand new kitchen (with modern conveniences seldom seen in Italian homes) and did it all while carefully maintaining the original beauty of the place (the marble floors are still intact).  She even thought of unique touches like US plugs in each of the bedrooms.  How she was able to get it all done while living alone in Italy for two months (without a car) is still beyond my greatest comprehension.  However, the end result is nothing short of magnificent and certainly has been a wonderful home to us this past year.

Lake Como is in the Lombardia region, situated in northern Italy.  Lago di Como is a magical place with incredible views of water and mountains at every turn.   Since I've written many posts and shared many pictures about the various towns along the lake; Como, Menaggio, Tremezzio, Lecco, Brunate - just to name a few, I won't post too many pictures of the area.  I'd just like to feature a couple new photos of downtown Como, to showcase some of the local flavor.

Downtown Como shot from the side of the lake

The Duomo is the prominent focal point in downtown Como

The Duomo from Piazza della Duomo 

The central arch of the Duomo 

The Duomo and piazza at night 

The chiesa (church) in Piazza San Fedele

Without further adieu, our home…

View from our front balcony (off the guest room)

Come and walk through our foyer - original marble on the floor

Family Room 

Family room and dining table

Family room from the opposite wall

The dining table sits just off the open kitchen - a unique design in an Italian home 

Diane had the curved wall on the left custom designed

The dining room and kitchen 

Cucina (kitchen) with a larger oven than many homes 

Kitchen from the other entrance

View from the balcony off the kitchen

The balcony off the family room - we've enjoyed many light dinners outside

Next, we have the bedrooms.  While the condo always had three bedrooms, there was only one bath.  Diane worked with the architect to create a second full bath for guests, while still showcasing a fabulous master bath.  They were able to do it all without taking away any space from the bedrooms.

The sunny and spacious owner's suite

A quilt hand-knitted by Jen's nonna adorns the four-post bed 

Owners bath - complete with bidet

Hallway separates the bedrooms from the rest of the condo

The second bedroom fits in between the other rooms

"Jessica's room" has become our guest room - thanks for the loan, Jess!

"Our" former bedroom is now Julia's bedroom and playroom

The bed is as comfortable as it looks

Another quilt from Jen's nonna

This balcony is shared by the second and third bedroom

View from the balcony off the bedrooms

I hope you've enjoyed our brief tour through the place we've been lucky enough to call home this past year.  If you had fun peeking in on our daily life - you may want to check out an older post we wrote shortly upon moving here, all about Our Kitchen.

And for those of you that haven't yet come to see us… I'll use a phrase popularized by Tom Bodett of Motel 6 - "we'll leave the light on for you".  Or perhaps more appropriately… "we'll have the salami ready for you!"