About The Nook

We’re Zaffrin, Rocco and Aidan, three friends with a shared love of tiny buildings, good design and the adventure of making something beautiful.

The Nook is a tiny stone house in San Donato Val di Comino, a hilltop village in central Italy. It’s an unusual little building, exceptionally small and full of character. Zaffrin and Rocco found it first and loved the idea of taking it on as a design project. Aidan, an architect and friend, came to visit, saw what they saw in it and joined the adventure.

We live in different places and bring different skills, perspectives and instincts to the project. That has become part of the fun. Our plan is simple. To see just how much we can make of one very small Italian house.

We’re restoring it slowly, working with what is already there and thinking carefully about every centimetre. We want to use natural materials, Italian craftsmanship and thoughtful small-space design to create something beautiful without an enormous budget, while keeping the quirks and character that made us fall in love with the house in the first place.

The Journal is where we write about the project as it unfolds, and about the people, places, materials and objects we come across along the way. We share our designs and ideas, what we’re learning, the decisions we obsess over and some of the inevitable ups and downs of renovating a tiny house in Italy.

You can also follow The Nook Italy on Instagram where we share photos, drawings and videos of the renovation, the village and life around the Comino Valley.

Three friends. One tiny house. Let’s see what we can make of it.