The beauty of tufo stone revealed

It's the end of the second week of work on our new home in Italy and I am thrilled to see the tufo stone exposed in the holiday apartments.

Firstly, because it has been hidden under plaster and like any good period detailing, I consider it a feature and want it on show.  And secondly, because it has been hidden under plaster, so you never really know what it's going to look like 'til you get the plaster off!

The local tufo stone is a creamy to sandy brown colour, but some buildings have as much as 20% in a darker, terracotta brown colour and in my friend's house you can even see fossils in some of the stone.  Being so close to the sea, I wasn't sure just how much brown (or dead things) I was going to get!

Truth be told, this renovation ragazza likes pale neutral creams and greys and wasn't excited at the prospect of orangey brown in her home, so I'm loving the fact that 99% our stone matches what I hoped we'd find.  And the other 1%?  Well that just serves to highlight the beautiful imperfection of nature!

Plaster removed to reveal beautiful barrel vaulted ceiling in tufo stone

I couldn't wait to share it with you as the effect is so soft and earthy, quite different from the perfect red bricks we see so often in UK.

Exposed stone, double height rooms and vaulted ceilings = a big learning curve so I'm still gleaning all I can regarding optimising the use of space, lighting and interior design, but they also create such an exciting exotic blank canvas!  I love my tufo barrel vaults!

Wall seamlessly curves into the vaulted ceiling