From Cork to Terra Cotta

My Tuscan Villa finally has some standing walls, so the next important step was to create the flooring. My first idea was to use travertine marble tiles, but I quickly decided that was a bit too formal for this farmhouse-turned-villa. Then I thought about gray sandstone, from which both the fireplace and the stairs are made. But that seemed like a lot of gray in a villa that I thought should have a sunny disposition. So my final decision was to lay terra-cotta tiles - reclaimed ones, taken from some of the outbuildings on the original farm. They were made in the old style, with a slightly beveled edge, so that they can be laid close together without the necessity of grouting. The tiles originated in different regions of Tuscany, and vary greatly in age; hence a colorful floor that creates its own sort of sunshine in my little villa.

 After much deliberation and experimentation, I found coasters made from cork. I liked the light weight, the texture, and the convenient size. I wasn't sure how paint and paint washes would affect the cork, so I painted two of them and waited to see what would happen.

Nothing happened. None of the adverse changes that I had foreseen - like curling or crumbling - actually took place, so I felt confident in moving on with the tile making. I painted the cork coasters with a variety of colors, including brown, pink, yellow ochre, coral, and a rosy brick color. 

Because the cork coasters measure 4" x 4", I had hoped to be able to cut 16 one-inch tiles from each coaster. I had overlooked the slightly rounded corners, which had to be trimmed away, so I could actually cut only 9 one-inch tiles from each coaster. That resulted in many leftover pieces to be trimmed away, but I felt sure they could be put to good use somewhere.

 The pile of one-inch tiles grows. I estimated that I needed around 650 tiles for the living room and the dining room. I found that painting, measuring, and cutting twelve coasters at a sitting didn't overtax my work space or my patience. But I was surprised at how fast those batches of 108 tiles were used up! I had to repeat the process several times. 

 I painted the floors to be tiled a terra-cotta color to blend with the tile color where there are gaps in the tiles. Then I began laying the tiles on a diagonal, starting at the center point of the living room floor. I secured the tiles by brushing Elmer's glue on each one as I laid it in place.

The job moves along, row by row...

 ...by row.

 Some trimming was necessary on some of the tiles to get a good fit, but they went together very easily, for the most part.

 Almost finished! The edge pieces, of course, needed to be fitted and trimmed individually, which took much more time. 

 Done!

 Except for applying a little Spice Brown paint and a bit of Taupe eyeshadow to recreate the aging process...

... and brushing on a light layer of satin varnish to simulate (hopefully) the linseed oil-beeswax mixture that would traditionally have been applied to the floor. Now the living room floor is officially finished - so...

...it's on to the dining room to repeat the whole thing! I used the same technique here, laying the tiles on a diagonal from a center starting point.

I added row after row, sometimes working on one side of center, sometimes the other side, just to avoid monotony. This was actually a very restful project; I was very much "in the moment" during all the tile laying.

Edging closer to the finish line!

 

And closer still.

And done! I used the same aging process and finish as on the living room floor.

I knew I'd find a way to use those scraps that I cut from the original coasters. But I didn't think the chance would come so soon! I decided to try a different tile pattern for the entrance area, since the scale of that room is much smaller than the other rooms - and there were all those pre-painted pieces just waiting for me. I needed only to cut the scraps to the size I wanted.

I worked out a trial pattern, although I changed it a little as I went along. (The tiles are not supposed to look so drunken - it was hard to keep the loose tiles in a straight line!) I used 3/4" tile squares for this area, and 1 1/2" x 3/8 " tile strips.

I divided the entrance floor into two sections - the front section from door to door, and the back section under the stairs. The two sections are separated by a double row of tile strips, which also edge the boundaries of the entire floor.

The front section is nearing completion.

Finished!

And I'm making progress on the back section.

Add on a few years of wear and tear and a bit of "linseed oil-beeswax."

 

At last! The villa has floors! This was the most relaxing, stress-free part of the villa construction so far. Although I spent many (and many more) hours on the flooring, those hours passed with no trials, tribulations, trauma or drama! I simply decided what I wanted to do, then I did it, and then it was done!

 The living room on the left, and the dining room on the right, were part of the original barn. The center area, now the villa entrance, gave access to the stone stairs, minus the protective railing, which led to the second-level living space for the farm family. The original barn floors were a combination of dirt, stone, and tile, depending on the designated purpose at any given time.

Most of the month of May brought rain, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail (and hail damage) to Nebraska. We've had a few rare sunny days, and my six year old great-grandson, Junior, decided to take advantage of some dry weather to ride a pig. (Wilbur is a hard-headed pig, so he suffered no damage during the storms.) I have high hopes for a warmer and drier June with abundant sunshine, and I wish the same for you. Happy June!

A Wall-Raising Experience!

So far, my Tuscan villa-fattoria has consisted of disparate physical elements - two windows, a fireplace, a staircase, and a wall fresco. And, of course, a stack of various styrofoam walls and arches. 

In my mind, however, it reigns complete - golden stuccoed stone, aged terra cotta, arched openings, painted doors, with touches throughout of both elegance and simplicity - a home lived in, a home loved.  The finished form of the villa is so real to me that whenever I walk into my workroom and see the big bare board with nails poking through, the stacks of styrofoam walls dropping little styrofoam pellets everywhere, the general construction clutter, and no villa anywhere in sight, my mind slips sideways into a time warp. 

But finally, those few scattered elements have come together into the bare beginnings of my vision for the villa. At least I can walk into the room now and see villa walls instead of styrofoam! 

This is the big pile of walls and arches that I carried down to my basement workroom last fall when I finally came in from the cold garage.

I erected the walls loosely so that I could determine whether they all fit together properly.

And of course they didn't. The living room end wall was 1 1/2" too short. If I needed a clue to find my mistake in measuring, that was a dead giveaway, since my styrofoam is 1 1/2" thick. I had drawn my floor plan correctly on graph paper, but misinterpreted it when I copied the plan onto the plywood base and cut the styrofoam for the walls. Instead of the living room wall abutting onto the front wall, thus giving me the 1 1/2" that I needed, I had done just the opposite, so that the front wall would have joined the end wall almost at the window. Not good.

But - as I've said time and time and time and time again - Styrofoam Is So Forgiving!

(Yes, I have said it that many times!)

I secured a 1 1/2" section of styrofoam to the short living room wall, but I made a 3/4" adjustment to the back wall section, so that I wouldn't lose too much space from my limited front area. Of course, I had to move the anchor nails for the front arched openings and for the back living room wall. Later I had to add 3/4" extensions to the fronts of all the walls. It takes so much time to remedy just one teensy little mistake! Styrofoam may forgive, but I'm not sure it ever forgets.

There were other minor adjustments that needed to be made before the walls could go up. Because the styrofoam that I like to use is so thick, it's sometimes hard to cut evenly all through the thickness. But since Styrofoam Is So Forgiving, repairs are easily made. Add a bit here, subtract a bit there. 

Then cover the whole thing liberally with joint compound.

All the repairs have been accomplished; now I must wait for the joint compound to dry.

Which it did, eventually, and I took the pieces out to the garage for sanding. Thankfully it was warm enough that I could complete the sanding in comfort. Then the painting began, but I soon realized that my base coat mixture was running low. Time to replenish my supply.

I had mixed the base coat paint colors when I was working on the staircase. I want you to know that since I'm such a careful worker, conscientious in the extreme, I did not fail to record the formula for my original paint mixture. So imagine my complete surprise when I didn't have the faintest idea how to decipher my "formula!" It's so hard to determine how long those long squeezes are. And is a quick squeeze half as long as a long squeeze? And how many dollops equal a squeeze? (Or is it the other way around?)

I discovered that paint is not nearly as forgiving as styrofoam, but through much trial and many errors, not to mention a few curses (under my breath) I finally came close enough. 

It's a good thing that the base coat will be covered by four color washes.

The painting goes on...

...and on.

At last! The FIRST wall is permanently up! This is the wall between the living room and the entrance "hall." To secure the wall in place, I smeared glue generously on the protruding nails and carefully pushed the styrofoam wall down over the nails.

Next came the back wall of the entrance hall, where the stairs are located. Some spackling was necessary on all the joins of the walls and along the floor in places.

The wall between the entrance hall and the dining room, and the frescoed back wall of the dining room are secured in place. 

And FOUR - count them - FOUR walls are up!

I painted all the spackling repairs with the peach base coat. That was easy. The hard part was putting all the color washes on the paint touch-ups.

Two more walls are up - the back wall and the fireplace wall in the living room.

And the spackling goes on...

...and on.

Now wall #7 is up! This is the wall between the dining room and kitchen. The far door on the right leads into the kitchen, and the nearest one leads out to the loggia. I won't do further work on the kitchen until I've completed more work on the other lower-level rooms.

And back to rectifying my initial measuring mistake. I cut 3/4" strips of styrofoam to add to the fronts of the walls. I could have done that before the walls were put up, as I did for the living room wall. But my confidence was shaken. I wanted all the walls secured in place before I did any more measuring!

I secured the new styrofoam strips to the front walls with the usual toothpicks and glue.

Even though the extensions won't be visible when the front arches are all installed, I felt compelled to apply a layer of joint compound to each one...

...and give them a light sanding and a coat of paint.  I can't explain why.

While I waited for various things to dry - joint compound, spackling paste, and paint - I installed the living room fireplace. Even though I'm not quite ready to start the electrical work, I did place the wiring and a lightbulb in the fireplace. That needed to be done before I could lay the fire, and I wanted to lay the fire before the front arch is added, since I must work sort of sideways to reach the fireplace. My "fire" consists of bits of orange tissue paper, a bronze metallic paper, and tiny logs, all layered on a grate over the lightbulb. Last of all, I added ashes and small pieces of charcoal.

Here is the villa-fattoria in its immediate entirety - all repaired, painted, and ready for the next step.

To celebrate the successful villa wall raising, Robert and our grandson, Leo, baked some pizzas in our pizza oven. That's a promising beginning to the Merry Month of May!