rachel68's activity

Thanks for that - I just tried to create a photo album for the 'renovating forum'  and got as far as loading some photos but all mine appear to be in the wrong format ie. need reducing in terms of size/content. They are just normal photos loaded staright off my automatic camera onto iPhoto. Any ideas how to 'reduce' the photos to a content acceptable to the gallery?

Thanks so much for all your views...keep'em coming! The nice thing about renovating our casale is that in a few months we'll have the outbuilding made habitable and then can really take our time (good job given our present budget!) to make sure we really get it right for the casale. It will be our main home until the end of our days hopefully so we don't want a quick fix but also can't just throw silly money at an architect and tell him to get on with it! I've had experience of tanking and 'lime putty versus incompatible modern plaster' in a UK cottage we renovated in the past so this is all advice I totally understand. What's important is that I can show our builder our thoughts so we don't get an approach which is his preferred way but which might come back to haunt is further down the line. It's an simple old building but with highish ceilings and with 300M2 to play with so I think we can really do something special....even if it takes a decade! In renovating we love to peel back an old building to it's raw roots and then add understated new elements which put the mark of our age and taste on it. Does anyone have any books or images of succesful modernish meets ancient renovations of casale they could point me towards? Many thanks again...I'll see if I can attach a picture although I can't see how to do it!   Rachel

Hello Molinello, Did you manage to get a one-way hire from UK to Tuscany? I can't even find a one-way hire from London to Edinburgh let alone Italy! Best of luck with the move!    

Fillide,  really heartened to hear of a thinking person's approach! We have already found the cotto tiles infact from the local builder's yard @ €22 M2 so it's good to hear how they will be finished. If we are happy with them as they are without grinding them perfectly smooth with the terrazo machine would you just finish them them=n with a wax buff (coloured wax or neutral?) and also would you advise sealing them with an invisible matt seal before laying?   Thanks     Rachel

Regarding stevegwmonkseaton's point on a mortgage in euros rather than GB£ keeping pace with Italy's economy -  that's precisely my thought! It seems the easiest way to protect ourselves against the 'eurocrisis' uncertainties - short of not doing the renovation of the farmhouse at all and sticking with living in the 'tiny' annex.. but then those are lost years enjoying the place... It's so easy for this doom and gloom to stop us all doing anything! Great recipe for making an economy grow...I don't think!

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Thanks for your suggestions everyone. I have discovered Barclays do Italian mortgages both for Italian residents and non-res Brits with homes in the UK so it'll be interesting to see how they'll view us. Re-mortgaging in the Uk is as much a nightmare as Italy seems to be now. I also thought given the currency issues it might be safer to have a mortgage that would keep pace with what the euro was doing in Italy as that's where I'll be resident...if the very unlikely event that the euro goes in Italy I guess the mortgage would just be rolled over into lire...?

Penny - you're a star! It seems perverse to be worrying about paying 'luxury' goods taxes when I'm looking at a caved in roof and straw on the floor...!! Thanks again. Rachel

Thanks Penny, So if we let our home in the UK, but as Italian residents, we wouldn't pay any taxes to the UK? Or do we pay taxes to both countries and if so how are the proportions decided? I read somewhere of the Italian tax system charging a straight 15% or was it 20% tax on rental income but does this mean deductions of travel, maintenance, mortgage payments etc are not deductible in the way they are in the UK?