Brian Boitano Decorator

It's two months today since Alberto is gone. I have been keeping busy. Each little milestone like today is hard. Let's face it, every day without Alberto is hard. So many of you are going through the same thing of missing someone you love. My heart goes out to you.

In the spirit of keeping busy, I am trying to do more decor posts. Back to the new normal.

Brian Boitano goes back to his roots in Italy to renovate a ruin of a family home

A few weeks ago I chanced on an HGTV show called The Brian Boitano Project. From HGTV: "On a recent vacation to the old country, Olympic figure skater Brian Boitano discovered his Italian family, and the town his relatives migrated from. He also discovered, and ultimately purchased an old family home in desperate need of repair."

The house was a more like a ruin with some old family furniture. The Italy Boitanos really didn't know their famous American relative, and it is sweet and funny to watch the bonds of family connect. One funny episode involved two aunts selling Brian the furniture in the house. He was very excited about this, not only for the sentimental value, but also for the help it would be with his limited budget. He went back to the USA after making the initial plans to renovate, and when he returned to Italy to work on the project found that the aunties had taken all the furniture. Something was definitely lost in the transaction.

The show aired in January. It was hard to find. Then there was a marathon of episodes on the sister channel DIY Network one Saturday. I wish HGTV would stop all the House Hunter spin offs and the constant rerunning of them and get back to more shows like The Brian Boitano Project.

Enjoy this round-up of images I culled from the Internet.

The kitchen before

The kitchen and dining area after - Brian spray painted the chairs lacquer green at his uncle's auto body shop

The chandelier was made from a huge wind jug that was found on the property - a fixture from Ikea was put inside the glass

Installing the wine jug chandelier

So cute

All the walls were washed with color to maintain an antique patina

The master bedroom

Detail of nightstand

Little niches were carved into the walls all through the house

The master bath

A vintage table was used for the sink base and old stone was left revealed

Another bedroom - Brian shopped at the local Ikea

Ikea pillow

Another great bathroom using ordinary fixtures to maximum effect and anotherr great exposed stone wall

Another niche cut into the stone

Another cute bedroom

I love these niches all over the house

And another great little bathroom

Old shutter hardware

Brian Boitano did a great job renovating his new villa in Italy

And please indulge me....

Beautiful Alberto