We started preparing for our Italian adventure in the fall of 2017. Our goal was to buy a house near Lake Iseo in Northern Italy and renovate it into a beautiful vacation home.

We were thinking of ​​doing something completely different for some time. After our graduating  from university we started working in an office, and after a while we both had the feeling that life has more to offer. During a vacation in Italy the idea was born to buy and renovate an old Italian house. After we told our friends and family about our plans it suddenly became very real. We were going to do this!

In August 2019 the time had come: we bought our Italian dream house! Two months later we quit our jobs and took off to Italy. The house we bought had been uninhabited for fifteen years, with moss growing on the walls and the roof leaking in at least fifteen places. We worked hard for twelve months straight and turned it into something wonderful.

We rebuilt everything ourselves, except for the roof. Only the walls remain, so we had to renew every room, two bathrooms plus a large kitchen with a self-cast concrete countertop. With the help of the do-it-yourself courses we took, and a lot of YouTube videos, we learned plastering, tiling, plumbing, levelling, laying floors, installing sewers, bricklaying, installing insulated glazing, cutting down huge trees, installing and renewing electricity and many more do-it-yourself skills that we never thought we would have.

It took a lot of effort to convert our Italian ruin into our dream home! There were times that we wondered what we got ourself into, and why we underestimate everything so much. Looking back we can only be proud and cherish all moments, good and bad. It was all worth it! We built a beautiful house. We hope you will enjoy it too!

If you would like to know more about our adventures, we blogged (in Dutch) for Italy Magazine's website. More photos can be found on our Instagram.