Life on a Shoestring in Sicily

November 18, 2010

People ask: Do you, uh, have a trust fund or something? How can you afford a house in Italy?

Answer: We’re just a couple of free-lance artist-teacher types, wondering from which tree the next job will drop. I acquired the house in Sicily on a shoestring budget by sheer force of will. (Prices in Sicily are, certo, a fraction of those in Tuscany.)

We practice frugality. We schmear paint on the walls ourselves with big sponges, sand plaster from raw stone, putty every crack and crevice.

Our coffee table is a weathered old skid scavenged from the street. We extracted the rusty nails and polished the brittle wood to a shine.

We eat from mismatched china scavenged from Sunday-morning flea markets.

Old Caltagirone Ceramic Bowl, copyright Jann Huizenga

Old mixing bowl from the Modica flea market, €5

Glasses found in a flea market in Sicily, copyright Jann Huizenga

Glasses from the Modica flea market, €1 each

We decorate with “trash” that Sicilians have tossed.

Sicilian sconce chandelier, circa 1950, copyright Jann Huizenga

Sicilian chandelier, circa 1950, from the Modica flea market, €10

Old Sicilian church chair with woven seat, copyright Jann Huizenga

"Found" antique chair, gratis

Green door, copyright Jann Huizenga

Bath door made of found wood (and flea-market knobs, €2)

Baroque Sicilian Chair, copyright Jann Huizenga

Flea-market chair, €30

We shop the sales at Upim.

Italian Flatware from Upim, copyright Jann Huizenga

Flatware purchased on sale at Upim (Italian version of K-Mart), €1 each

We frequent church bazaars, jam-packed with cheap new or vintage homemade goodies.

Sicilian Crocheted Potholders, copyright Jann Huizenga

Potholders crocheted by a local woman and sold at a church bazaar, €2

And did you know that in Sicily you can bargain for new beds and couches (like for cars in the US)?

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