It’s been way too long since my last post with some before and after pics from the long renovation of our French home. My last post promised more pictures, so here we go.
The stairs.
Fortunately, the old oak stairs from the ground floor were in good shape. During the renovation process, I insisted on keeping the old bits of the house intact whenever possible, and it was such a relief to be able to keep them.
Now that they are paired with the exposed stone walls, I think it all looks the way it should.
The stairs up to the attic bedroom, however, were in sad shape so they had to go. We saved the lovely old oak planks hoping we can find a use for them later.
The process of measuring the old and installing the new stairs was fascinating to watch. After numerous measurements were taken by the menuisiers (carpenters) months before, the stair components were fabricated in their shop. Once the pieces were on site, it took a couple of weeks, and a lot of head scratching, to fit them into place. None of the walls are square, so it was a real challenge for them, but I’m sure they are used to that here in rural France.
Out with the old, in with the new.
The guest bedroom.
Before, it had linoleum floors and layers of wallpaper over plastered walls. The fireplace was drafty and covered with wood. The entrance to the only full bathroom in the house was at the top of the stairs just outside this bedroom. We decided to move the bathroom doorway to be inside the bedroom, and when the plaster was removed, it was discovered there originally was an old doorway into the bathroom in the exact spot we wanted to put it. Our house was being restored in more ways than one and that made us so happy.
Now the room is beautiful and cozy, with a wonderful old crooked doorway to the new bathroom. The lovely stone walls and the carefully restored cob wall (a mixture of mud and straw) make this room a comfortable place to sleep.
A doorway revealed.
The only other room on this floor was a bedroom for the 11 children who lived here. It’s a mystery how all those children fit into this room. One of them told us a few kids sometimes slept in the living room downstairs. The room was divided by a very thin wall, probably separating boys and girls. We removed the dividing wall to make a large space to be used as a combination office, TV watching room, and exercise space. We decided it would be called the Situation Room. As the layers of plaster and drywall were removed, we uncovered what looked like a bookshelf in the back right corner (photos below show before and after it was exposed). We knew from the other side of that wall there had once been an arched doorway there so we kept going, removing the remains of the bookcase that had been there.
A gorgeous arched stone doorway was revealed. Isn’t it stunning? This photo shows the temporary beach we had during the sandblasting of the stone walls. I made a curtain to block the sight of all the stuff we now have stored in that area.
The attic space.
This was a dark and spooky place when we bought the house. We had visions of this being a luxurious guest bedroom and bath, with a spot to read and enjoy the gorgeous view of village rooftops.
I’m still waiting for inspiration to strike before completing the decor up there, but at least now the attic space is a functional guestroom and bath. All we need is guests.
A garage is created.
What was once a small storage room with a door just wide enough for a person has undergone a grand transformation. Tons of earth was excavated, walls were built, saving the old stones to be replace around the new opening, and voila, we now have a beautiful garage with an upper level for storage.
We even have a cool garage door that opens on a track sliding sideways.
The mezzanine.
Before, the space over the small storage room was used for storage of garden tools and a collection of discarded items.
Now it’s the upper level of the new garage and we have lots of storage space.
The Summer Kitchen.
This term was new to us. We would have called this a patio, but as there are now four patio spaces, we adopted the Summer Kitchen title, even though it’s not much of a kitchen. Before, it was enclosed by corrugated metal sheet walls and roof.
Now it’s a wonderful space to sit and read, entertain friends, and enjoy the view of our neighboring chateau. I love sitting out there when it rains.
This renovation journey has been so fun for us to watch. I was on site almost every day and loved seeing this beautiful house emerge. We are proud to call it our home and know the work done here has been top-notch. We have so much respect for our builder and his team.
First, in case anyone missed me, my blog was irritatingly out of order for a while. It seems to have magically repaired itself, so let’s give this a try.
Before, the house was crying out for some love.
It’s a house full of love now, with new everything, but done in a way to keep the integrity and age of the structure intact as much as possible. Two new dormer windows bring some majesty to the house. The exposed stones give the exterior some charm, and the fresh color of the doors and windows perk it up. In this photo, you can see three of our homemade window screens which served us well during the summer. We’ll be taking them down soon.
Someday I will be able to take a photo of the house without a cement mixer in it. We have been looking for a better light fixture for above the front door, one of many little things we will be dealing with for quite some time. The plan for building a small covering over the door has been put on hold now that there is a very imposing pergola nearby. It seems that maybe we should not add any more heavy structures to the front of the house – we’re going to wait and see what we think when the courtyard is finished. Speaking of pergolas….
It’s a prize pergola.
We love it. It’s super sturdy and provides just the right amount of shade on sunny days. A couple of days ago we had a group of 40 people for lunch. Really, 40! We managed to get them all seated either under the pergola or across the courtyard in the new – but of course not yet finished – cuisine d’été, which was a phrase new to us, but the name fits for this space that was previously part of the rickety buildings across from the house.
Cuisine d’été (Summer kitchen).
We had tables and chairs for 24 people under that roof last week. It’s not very pretty at the moment, but when it’s done it will have old French tomette floor tiles, a sink and small countertop, and maybe even a weather-hardy chandelier (why not?). That giant post in the corner measures 30cm across, and it took six men to carry it across the yard and heave it into place. It’s holding the weight of that structure, so it is right for the job. I insisted that the guys reuse some of the old beams and posts in that structure and they managed to do that too. The downpipe is yet to be finished and will be more attractive than the grey pipe in place at the moment.
The entry.
Before, the first impression of the house was an icky brown closet door, yellow walls, an uninteresting tile floor, and a dark stairway.
Now you see exposed stone walls, travertine floors, and refurbished original beams and stairs. The long bench was found in one of our outbuildings, and it fits perfectly under the coat hooks.
The kitchen.
It previously had green walls, brown painted beams, and a toilet next to the kitchen.
Now the kitchen is an open and light-filled, happy space. Through that door in the back is a new pantry.
The perfect pantry.
Oh boy, did this ever have a transformation. Before, it was dark, dirty, and a little spooky. Three giant stone steps led from the kitchen into this space (those stone steps are now benches in the garden). A small digger was brought in to lower the floor level by about 3 feet, matching that of the kitchen. This space is two-story and as wide as the house. The beams had to be taken out and replaced, so in the last photo you can see the upper level, which is now a large closet off of our office/TV room upstairs.
Now this space is a bright pantry with room for everything we don’t want cluttering up the kitchen. At least all that clutter is behind a door.
A wall was built at the far end of the pantry area to create space for a small bathroom off the living room.
The wonderful old ladder was found in one of the storage spaces and makes an excellent hand towel holder.
The living room.
We started with a space that had a mixture of floor tiles, wallpaper, more painted beams, no visible fireplace, and an odd sort of dividing wall.
Now this warm and comfortable room is the center of our home. The new wood burner in the magnificent exposed fireplace is used every chilly evening. We spend a lot of time here, and there’s nothing about it we would change.
That large built-in cupboard was part of the original room and the doors were carefully stored elsewhere during renovations. I love the hand-tooled metal escutcheons with little serpent heads.
The master bedroom.
We wanted a home where we could live mostly on the ground floor. After looking at many houses and finally deciding on this one, we knew we’d have to add a bedroom downstairs. Unfortunately, that meant the chicken coops had to go.
This room is our elegant sanctuary. The size of the addition was limited to a certain percentage of the original house. This gave us the challenge of fitting a large closet and a bathroom into the space, but after several tries on paper, we found a way to make it all fit.
That’s it for the ground floor. Stay tuned for a post on the upper floors.
On May 20 it will be two years since work began on renovating this old house. The interior is pretty much finished, we’re just waiting for some curtains to arrive and a few other odds and ends to be done. The house is gorgeous and we couldn’t be happier with the way it’s turned out. I hope to post a few before-and-after pics soon.
It’s been raining for 10 days, which is great for our garden, but not such a good thing when you’re laying tile outside. Somehow they’ve managed to get some of it down, but it’s a soggy job. The travertine cobblestones are beautiful and they work well bridging the exposed old stones on the front of the house with the new walls and stones on the bedroom addition.
Once the tile work is finished, a pergola will be built over the patio (the space in the photo in front of the double doors). Hopefully, soon we’ll have wisteria growing over that pergola. We’re also planning on having a small wood covering built over our front door. The photo below is the kind of thing we’ll have – it just seems practical to have a protected place to stand when you are fumbling with your keys, or to leave a package.
Making a garage.
Once all that work is finished, the crew will move on to the final project: creating a one-car garage out of a small storage room. This little room is under what we call “Outbuilding 1” (because we have 3 outbuildings) and is attached to our neighbor’s house. The work will involve some excavating, some demolition and reconstruction of the building in order to support a new slate roof, and making interior steps from the new garage up to the courtyard. This means we will not be rid of the construction site view out our front windows for a couple more months.
As I type this, a crew from the power company is in our street digging a big hole because they have to move the power line that is to the left of that little door. It must be moved in order for us to enlarge that space to make the garage. It has taken many months to go through the process of getting the power company to agree to do this work, and then to get it on their schedule, so we were very pleased when they showed up yesterday and started digging. I’m not sure the neighbors are quite as happy as we are, but they must be used to our noise and street disruptions by now.
Finding the right spot for things.
We moved a lot of stuff from California to France. A lot of stuff. As the house was nearing completion, we started thinking about exactly where we were going to put all that stuff, especially our art. My father-in-law was a prolific artist and we have enough of his paintings to fill a small gallery. Fortunately, we both love his art and knew it would work well in a 300 yr. old French house. I have always felt that the best way to find a place for a painting is to walk around the house with it and let it tell you where it should be. We did just that with our art, and I think they found perfect spots.
Another treasure we wanted to find a place for is this beautiful old Alpine walking stick that belonged to my husband’s grandfather in Austria. These walking sticks were treasured by hikers and were proudly adorned with small badges called “
The Situation Room.
We wanted to make the large room upstairs into a multi-purpose room, serving as a TV room, a workout space, and an office. This had been a bedroom for most of the 11 children who lived here and was divided by a thin wall. We removed the dividing wall and returned the room to its original size. Our crew built a short wall to separate the office space from the TV area. It’s now a comfortable room and we are happy with the way it turned out. We’re calling it our Situation Room, which is described as “an intelligence management center” at the White House.
Meanwhile, out back…
Things are looking good out there and I love wandering through the garden every day to see what’s new. One thing I hoped to do was reuse many of the things left from the demolition of the old chicken coops, so this old gate will soon be covered with Lablab vines that a friend gave us (it’s actually called Lablab purpureus or Hyacinth bean, which has gorgeous purple flowers and bean pods, but I just like saying lablab).
At the moment, we have lots of allium and red poppies happening. The honeysuckle vines and climbing roses are making their way up to the wires that will support them, and the vegetable garden is coming along. Spring is definitely here in the Loire Valley, and later this week we will be able to enjoy eating at restaurants with outside terraces for the first time since September.
The stonework continues. All of the
The gate was refurbished and painted grey to match our doors and windows. The metalworker did a good job with the renovation, keeping some of the dented ruggedness of the old metal when he could, and even replacing some missing curly bits at the top. We had found the original gate bell in the old mailbox, so he put that back in place too.
We wanted to move the mailbox from the gate to the wall, so that meant a portion of the wall had to be partially dismantled and rebuilt. The wall has been strengthened in places as some of the stacked stones were loose and needed mortar.
The narrow road that runs by our house was a two-way street in years past, and as the house sits right on the road, one corner of it had been damaged by a collision with a large truck. Fortunately, the road was changed to one-way years ago and now that cars must slow down to make the turn, it doesn’t seem likely that we will have any more problems on
Spring is coming.
We entrusted our large backyard to a local couple who are experts in local landscapes. After consulting with them a few times to give them our likes and dislikes, they came up with a simple plan. It’s been fun seeing what things are popping up here and there.
And, as of this morning, we have 12 asparagus spears. We’re resisting the urge to cut them and will let the plants grow and strengthen for next year.
With most of the work done on the inside of our house, the crew left us for a couple of weeks to rebuild a collapsed roof somewhere. It was pretty quiet here for the time they were gone, and although we enjoyed the peace, we kind of missed having the guys here every day. I had become used to having a crew here with every conceivable kind of tool at the ready…they were always available to cut a piece of wood or hang this or that for us. It all looks so easy when the proper knowledge and gadget is at hand to complete a task.
Now they are back, and work has begun to replace the render on the exterior of the house. What is render? I had to look it up. It’s a premixed layer of
Once the bulk of the render was removed, it revealed some areas were missing stones and had been badly patched over the years, so those will have to be rebuilt with new stones. Today I went out to check on the status of the removal of a big bulge that had been visible on the upper level. All the stones have been removed in that spot along with bits of cement and filler that had been used to patch it. And they found a good-sized squirrel nest inside the wall cavity with a number of walnuts that some enterprising squirrel had stored there.
This job will take two or three months to complete. The wet weather this time of year is also a factor, so it will be some time before the finished house is ready for its big reveal moment.
The back yard.
Our giant back yard served as a construction storage area for the past year.
Recently it’s been cleared of all the tools and rubble, and the landscapers got to work. The large area has been divided into several zones: a smallish vegetable garden in the rear which is bordered by a row of grapevines, a large central grass area surrounded by a small hedge, and planting areas for perennials on either side, including a row of climbing roses and honeysuckle. In the upper yard, we’ll have two kiwi vines and a Williams pear tree, which is similar to a Bartlett pear, a nod to my mom’s heritage. Her maiden name was Bartlett and family lore includes a story of the first appearance anywhere of a Bartlett pear was when our ancestor exhibited his pears at a county fair in Maine.
Hopefully a haven for a hedgehog.
As is common here, we now have a compost bin set up in the back corner. And near there, we’ll put a hedgehog house a friend made for me as I’ve become obsessed with the adorable and gentle creatures that are endangered and protected animals here. This is not a photo of our hedgehog house, but it’s pretty similar. The little creatures need a safe and warm place to hibernate so I hope somehow one will find its way to our yard. Maybe next year.
A few framboise (raspberry) bushes are now growing along the low rock wall, a
It’s looking a bit sparse now, but soon things will be popping up in this yard and it will be fun to watch it come to life.
Although we’ve been living in the house for over a month now, we’re not alone except on the weekends. We still have a crew of 3-5 men here every day. At first, they were handling big jobs like installing appliances and wall tiles. Then entire days were spent putting in light fixtures and internal doors. Now with the big tasks mostly finished, it’s come down to the smaller jobs. Toilet paper holders, hooks in bathroom walls for robes, kitchen drawers adjusted to glide more smoothly, and the garbage disposal was installed in the kitchen sink. This last one is a puzzler for those unfamiliar with the gadget. Our builder had never seen one before. But we are so happy to hear that whirring sound again. By the way, for anyone interested in how I found such an American gadget in France, it was pretty easy. I ordered it from amazon.fr.
Finding just the right thing for that spot.
We found this wonderful old row of hooks at a brocante. We were told it is from
And this cheerful old metal bouquet light fixture is now in the attic bedroom. The previous light fixture just didn’t work for us so I traded with a friend for a mirror she didn’t need. Win-win.
We had to rethink a sink.
We got creative with the sink for the ensuite guest bathroom on the first floor. Once the bathroom door opening had been moved from the hallway to the bedroom, and the small space had been reconfigured for the toilet and a good-sized shower, it was clear there was no room left for a sink. We decided we needed to find a piece of furniture to hold the sink just outside the bathroom. Because the area brocantes are not happening, I’d been looking on Facebook Marketplace, where individuals sell an item from their home (much like Craigslist in the U.S.) and found just the right thing being sold by someone about an hour away. Once in place, a piece of leftover kitchen countertop was cut for the top and a small backsplash. Then the mirror was hung, and it was finished. I think it looks really good.
While we’re in this room, take a moment and notice the old wonky bathroom doorway. It’s wonderfully crooked and charming, but we’re trying to figure out how to fit a door into that spot. Even if they could manage to construct a door frame to fit the space, how would the door work? There’s not enough space for the door to swing in, and if it swings out it will either cover the light switch or interfere with access from the sink area. Maybe two narrow doors instead? Or just a curtain? We might even end up with no door at all. Would that be so bad? The pondering continues.
This guest bedroom is now our favorite room in the house. The beautiful beams, ancient walls, and the old stone fireplace make it cozy and comfortable. We are looking forward to having guests enjoy it someday. In the meantime, we’re staying in that room because our bedroom downstairs isn’t ready yet.
An armoire alteration.
Another Facebook Marketplace find, this beautiful old armoire was listed for just 50 euros ($61). We enlisted the help of some friends with a trailer and set off to pick it up.
It took some effort to get it outside – the giant thing wouldn’t fit through the door so we had to send it out the window. No easy task, but we got it home and left it in the hands of our work crew to put into place.
That’s when we discovered that the dimensions given in the ad had not included the large top molding and the feet which extended past the sides. Unfortunately, it could not fit in the tight spot we had planned for it. Since there was no other place to put this large piece in the house, we had to get creative. I remembered something we had seen done in a house for sale back when we were looking, so I suggested that we cut off the front frame and modify the top molding and feet. I think the guys thought I was nuts, but they got to work. I did feel a little guilty when I saw the rest of it discarded in the yard, but a few hours later, it was done, and it looks great.
This old beauty was given a new life, and unless you open the doors you would never know it had been so radically modified.
It’s now deeper than the original piece, so we have more space to store our shoes. We’re calling it our
An old cupboard back in place.
One of the things I loved most about the original living room was this beautiful old cupboard. We knew we wanted to keep it, so it was carefully removed and stored during construction.
Recently, it was time to put it back into place. Once it was there, we had to sacrifice some of the interior space for the electrical box (“Linky” here in France) that had been relocated from the entry. When the cupboard was being reinstalled, it was clear that some of the wood had disintegrated, but it was handled carefully and new shelves and a base
Once the shelves were in place, it looked to me like it needed a little jazzing up, so my patient husband spent a couple of hours wallpapering the inside (which obviously would have been much easier if the thought had occurred to me before those shelves were built). He did a great job.
Then our talented painter got to work and made the new wood on the base look much like the old wood.
The kitchen is done – no, wait a minute.
The kitchen was pretty much finished when the refrigerator was put in place and we realized that the large refrigerator handle prevented an adjacent cupboard from opening completely. Ugh. In just a minute, our brilliant builder came up with a solution, and soon they were cutting into the freshly painted wall behind the fridge to make a niche into which it would fit. This was done pretty quickly, the wall was patched and repainted, and the fridge was back in place in just a couple of days.
The next task was putting up the open shelving. I found the perfect iron shelf brackets online from Cascade Iron Co. and had them shipped from Oregon. I’m sure we might have been able to find something we liked in France, but once I found these online, it was easier to just order them and move on to the next thing.
The other side of the kitchen was complete once a narrow piece of countertop was added to fill in the space against the uneven stone wall.
The powder room is full of judgement.
Several months ago at a brocante, we found an old painting of a French judge in traditional costume and knew it would be perfect to hang over the toilet in the powder room, so now he presides there.
We love the way this small bathroom turned out. The wallpaper looks like tile, and the custom walnut countertop and industrial iron legs have just the right feel for this room.
The bedroom addition.
This room is ready for use except for a couple of major things. The water heater on this side of the house wasn’t producing any hot water so it was replaced just this past week. And since we still don’t have any curtains in the house and this room is situated at the front, it is a bit too visible to the workers and any others who are in the yard. We are comfy in the upstairs bedroom so we’ll wait until we have curtains before we move downstairs. We also want to use a large area rug we brought from our previous house, but it’s too big for this room and we have to find a way to get it cut down a bit and have the edges bound.
See that headboard? My mom was a creative genius and had repurposed the back of an old sofa for their headboard. Many years ago it was given to me and I have always wanted to use it. It has moved with me from house to house and remained unused for about 30 years. Finally, this house was the perfect place to do it. Now that it has been recovered with gorgeous fabric, it looks so good, and I know my mom would be thrilled to see it being used again.
Another armoire treasure.
I spotted this gorgeous old armoire in my favorite brocante shop, and snapped it up immediately, knowing it would look great in our bedroom. It was a traditional French style with open doors and just “grillage” (we call it chicken wire), but since I knew we would be using it to store linens, I wanted to find fabric to put into the doors. I asked if the shop owners could put the fabric into the doors if I supplied it, and they agreed. Back home, I found a good source of fabric from the UK, and yay, they ship free to France, so soon I was back there to turn over the fabric. Several months later (we were in no hurry since the house wasn’t done yet), the armoire was delivered in a bunch of pieces and I watched as it was reassembled in our bedroom.
Another job done. And it’s the perfect thing for that spot.
Our old gate goes off for a refresh.
Our front gate is pretty much the first impression of the house. It had lots of charm, but it was rusted out in several places and needed some professional attention. Recently the crew showed up and removed it, replacing it with a temporary construction gate on wheels. Our gate will be back in a few weeks. Those big stone pillars will also be redone with a few new stones as necessary, so stay tuned for the debut of our new entrance.
I’ll be back with more updates soon. Please stay safe!
After 17 months (78 weeks and 6 days, but who’s counting) we have moved into the house. We could easily go another week as there are still many things not finished, but we’re tired of waiting, and decided we’d just go for it. I will post some pictures, but there are so many bits here and there yet to be done, these aren’t glamorous photos of the final outcome. For instance, this was the living room the day we moved in.
Seriously. What crazy people would move into a house looking like that? Well, the answer is people who have been waiting 5 months longer than the original plan, who visited the site every single day and eagerly watched it all unfold. People who are tired of living in a rental house and then having to move into the house of some friends for the past month because the rental house had a new tenant moving in. People who just want to GET ON WITH IT NOW. That’s who.
Power to the people.
Let’s back up a few days when I arrived at the house and saw a very welcome sight. The EDF truck was there, and our electricity was about to be turned on. It didn’t actually happen until the next day when the electrician had to return to do something, but we now have (almost) all our electrical things working. Not surprisingly, there are some light fixtures that don’t work, and there is one light under the entry stairs that stays on. This was discovered yesterday when we put a bulb in it and could not find a light switch to turn off the light. The electricians were there, so we asked them to investigate, and they were perplexed. It seems they wired the light, but somehow didn’t put in a switch. So, the options offered were: 1) put a switch way back under the stairs just for that little light, which is only there to illuminate the coat rack we will hide there; 2) install a sensor so that when we walk under the stairs the light will go on. We’ll take option number two, please.
Speaking of lights.
I’ve had a lot of fun shopping for light fixtures. A while ago I discovered a UK company called Industville that ships free to France. Their industrial look works well in our old house, so I chose several fixtures from their Brooklyn line. These are in the kitchen and dining area. I think the copper lining looks so nice with the rock walls, and they cast a beautiful warm glow.
Everywhere I look I see things that still need to be finished, like that space between the wall and the countertop in the above photo. They will fix it soon.
The kitchen of my dreams.
This kitchen. I think it’s simple and beautiful. We chose not to have upper cabinets to allow the stone walls to shine. It’s nothing fancy (well, maybe that giant 6
The living room.
The living room is looking good, but we’re not sure of the furniture layout. Our sofa is just a few inches too long to go on the back wall the way we had wanted. It fits there, but we have some end tables yet to be put in place, and they won’t fit back there with the sofa. We’ll try this for a while and see what we think. We love the
More lights.
There’s so much more of the house to show you but that will have to wait until more boxes are unpacked and things are in order. In the meantime, here’s a teaser of some of the fun light fixtures.
first floor guest room 
Industville in stairway 
perfect fixture, wrong bulb 
this one was originally intended for our entry but it was too big, so now it makes our attic stairway pretty elegant
À bientôt.
I’ll post more soon, in the meantime, please stay home and stay safe.
We’re so close. After 17 months of renovations, we were planning to spend our first night in the house this weekend. So many things are happening at the last minute that it’s difficult to know if we will be able to do that. One of the big tasks left is that the floors have to be sealed, and we don’t want to move a bunch of stuff in that would then need to be moved for the floor sealing.
And it would be helpful to have stairs.
Last week the old stairs from the 1st floor to the attic were removed. The stair crew kept as much of the beautiful old oak as they could so we can use it for something. Then they showed up with the new stairs and got to work.
And then they stopped. On Friday they showed up for an hour, collected their tools, and left. OK, so maybe they were just going for a long weekend? Then Monday arrived, but they didn’t. We now have a floor of the house that isn’t quite finished and our crew can’t get up there to do any work. Even going up to the 1st floor (2nd to Americans) is a bit tricky, as you can’t touch that precariously-placed railing that is perched on the crossbeam. All of the stair parts are stacked neatly in our lounge on the 1st floor. Finally, on Wednesday, a crew showed up and made a lot of fuss, going up and down and measuring with lasers, but as of yesterday, it looks exactly the same as in the above photos.
There’s movement in the electrical department.
At long last, EDF showed up to assess the work that needs to be done. They said our electrician must pull some wires through one of the big columns at our gate before EDF can do their work, and asked that a photo be sent in to prove the work had been completed before they would schedule their part of the work. The photo was sent in yesterday, so now we wait, again.
Moving out and stressing out.
We must vacate the house we’ve been renting and have arranged for a moving company on Saturday. It’s looking like we may have to move everything into our new bedroom, as that seems to be the only room that might be able to hold it at this point (and the floor there is still not sealed). All the rest of our possessions will remain in storage units nearby until the house is further along.
Last night I received a call from the moving company. The man said they wanted to do our move today instead of tomorrow. Really? I said that is not possible. He was pretty insistent, saying their truck was already in our area. I said the move was absolutely not going to happen today. He was not happy, but said he’d call me back today with an update. So now we have an irritated moving man.
I’m a pretty calm person and it takes a lot to stress me out. This may be one of those times.
Last weekend we took a break and went to a brocante.
The monthly brocante in Chinon, about an hour from here, was a welcome distraction. Strolling under a canopy of huge trees along a river was just what we needed. We wanted to buy this old light fixture but the seller wouldn’t budge on his price. I’m regretting not getting it anyway. It would have looked good way up high above the (missing) staircase in the attic landing.
Wish us luck.
Somehow the stars have to align so that we can move out, move in, and make some livable space in a portion of the house.
We were hoping to move in last week, but this is France, and things often don’t go according to schedule. There is a lot happening at the house. One day last week, there were 11 people working there. A few big things, however, have been delayed. We thought the power company, EDF, was ignoring our request, submitted months ago, to update and move our main power box. It seems everybody is using
Meanwhile, the house we are renting has been committed to a new tenant, so we have agreed to vacate by November 1. No pressure.
The floors are almost done.
On the ground floor, the travertine is all in and it looks great.
Upstairs, the bathroom floor tile has a very faint stripe in the background, which the installer hadn’t noticed. Fortunately, I was able to point that out before the grouting was done. This is why I am at the house every day.
It looks much better now. The wall tile is finished, and the first of our wall-mounted toilets
In the attic, not much left to do.
The tomettes have been acid-washed and now just need to be sealed. The painting is almost done in there.
The stairs to the attic are in pretty bad shape so will have to be replaced. The stair man said they would install the new stairs “probably” this week, which really means next week, or in two months.
Back downstairs, plastering and painting are happening.
In the new bedroom addition, the ceilings are 12 ft so the plasterer needed some vertical help.
And now that room is painted and ready for light fixtures.
Our Ikea closet modules have been assembled. This is a huge closet by French standards, and it is much appreciated by us happy Americans.
The kitchen is starting to look like a kitchen.
We decided not to have any upper cabinets,
And we’ll leave the pretty stone walls unencumbered on this side. (And yes, those outlets are too high, but that seems to be the way it’s
Focus on the fireplaces.
The original house had four fireplaces. Over the years, all but one, in the upstairs bedroom, had been covered by plasterboard. It’s a pretty fireplace and will remain as a feature, but will not be used. (Who wants to carry firewood up the stairs in winter? Not us.) The rest of the fireplaces were uncovered and considered for use, but two of them weren’t worth keeping: the kitchen fireplace has now been completely removed, and the one in the upstairs lounge has been recovered with plasterboard. The best of them all was the living room fireplace. It has gone through quite a transformation.
A fireplace was hiding under that wallpaper. 
Now it can breathe again. 
Giant stone corbels were ordered. 
The corbels are being inserted. 
Corbels in, and the oak mantel too. A woodburner will be installed soon.
The outside area will soon be underway.
This area along the front of the house will be tiled. 
The courtyard will be full of flowerbeds. 
And the backyard will be grass and a few planting areas.
Almost there.
We’ve managed to endure 17 months of full-time renovations without too many ouches. The work is almost done, although no area is completely finished. The end is in sight and we are so ready to begin life in this grand house.
I’m overdue for an update. You would think that with the extra downtime due to the
The new bedroom has doors and windows.
The beautiful stonework around the new doors and windows make the cement block building look similar to the old house. The color of the house will change when the entire structure is rendered, but that will be done after we’ve moved in, and it will take about two months to complete.
Following the rules of the Bâtiments de France, the doors and windows on the new bedroom have to be the same traditional style as the main house, which makes total sense and we were happy to comply.
The travertine floor has arrived.
I learned that Opus 4 means that the tiles come in four sizes, and there is a “French pattern” to be followed.
The entire ground floor will be travertine. Fortunately, our floor guy is familiar with the pattern and soon had it moving along. I interrupted him a
I’m itchin’ for my kitchen.
The kitchen floor is off to a good start.
And the grey cabinets will look good with the grout color.
Once the grouting is done, the floor is acid washed in two steps, then will be sealed. Next was a test run of the kitchen cabinets. It turned out we had received an extra cabinet (whether we paid for it is yet to be determined), so we are considering moving the dishwasher – that we rarely use – into the adjoining pantry to allow for the new (and hopefully free) cabinet to fit in
We opted for no upper cabinets, not wanting to cover up the beautiful stone wall on the left side. And yes, I said the cabinets are grey – they will be when it’s all done. That big piece of cardboard
The attic bedroom and bath are coming along too.
The bedroom is pretty much finished except for paint.
In the bathroom, the shower pan is in place, but one of the glass shower sides is just a tad too tall to fit under the angled ceiling, so they had to gouge into the plasterboard a tiny bit to fit them in. It all won’t show (much) once it’s all finished off. This bathroom only has one window, near the floor, so we ordered a frosted one that just opens by a small tilt.
Subcontractors and frustrations.
Once the last bit of the doors and windows were delivered, I thought it would only take a week to get them installed. No. The man who came to install them did one window on Monday and left. On Tuesday, he arrived and fit another window, then left, saying he would return on Monday. What? There’s still Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday left in the week! And his vacation was the week after next so if he continued his casual attitude the next week, we’d then have to wait until September for completion. We weren’t happy with this
We still aren’t done with the door and window guy. Once he finished with all the installations, we noticed there was one tiny opening in the upstairs storeroom for which he didn’t have the window. He said he didn’t remember that window. We had stood in front of the window and talked about what kind of thing would fit in there! So frustrating. Also, there were several
The clock is ticking.
We are still planning to move into the house mid-September. Walking through the house yesterday, it seemed that
Stay tuned!