MAKING THIS MAISON OUR HOME

"Kai No Jokan - Love at Second Sight"

(a Japanese saying)

The day starts cool in the summer. I wake up early, the energetic chirps of the swallows do not allow me to sleep long.  And as soon as I open my eyes I think about the garden - the earlier I start working there, the more I get done before the heat of the day forces me back indoors. And in the afternoon, when it becomes too hot to work outdoors, I can take out a few more boxes, dust off more furniture to take down from the attic, and find new places for them all. With the shutters closed to keep the inside cool, there is no need for air conditioning - the old stone walls and shaded windows keep us comfortable.

One of the most dramatic transformations in our house was the entry way. The narrow passage (in orange) was made taller, we added a new front door, changed the floors, removed the layers of paint off the staircase and the banister, and the stone imitation wall paper... And we got rid of the orange wall paint!

After the first cup of coffee, I take my second one to the garden, where I walk slowly by the rose bushes, and flowering clematis, down to the "potager". I see more squash is ready to be picked. There are so many, that I will call my neighbours and offer them a few. There are also a couple of lettuces ready - one for us, and one for the neighbours. The tomato plants are heavy with reddening fruit, and the basil plants have enough big juicy leaves to make into pesto.

I walk all the way down to the "mar" (a little standing body of water, which long time ago was a stream), scare some frogs, and meander back to the house, passing by an old wall with the fig tree against it. I am proud what has been accomplished here so far, how the garden is taking shape, with the vegetable patch giving us so much, and the flower beds getting organized as well. Most of it did not exist when we moved in close to two years ago.

Not as a dramatic change as inside the house, but all the shutters were repaired and painted, and the garden planned to grow flowers and vegetables

It is the almost the end of the summer and the house is basically finished. With a few tweaks here and there, and the work on the laundry room scheduled for September, we now have this house for ourselves to live in and enjoy. Looking at it, we managed to stick to the restoration rather than renovation concept. The layout of the main floor was left unchanged, other that making a new opening to create a bigger and wider doors to the kitchen, closing the old doorway (which was low and narrow), and enlarging a stone passage from the entryway to the corridor. We appreciated that nothing was trendy open-plan here.

One of the small bedrooms was transformed into a "dressing" (a walk-in closet)

The second floor was slightly reconfigured - originally we had five bedrooms of various sizes, but only one bathroom and no toilet room on this floor. Who needs five bedrooms, most of them teeny tiny? We carved out space for the powder room out of one of the bedrooms, and two other smaller ones became an ensuite second bathroom and a closet. Another small and narrow bedroom is now my "playground", aka a "dressing" (a walk-in closet). The house stayed as far from what's "trendy" as possible - we brought in modern amenities, but the spirit says "tradition".

Our salon was transformed with a new paint job, and electrical work. The built in bookcases also add to the functionality and charm of this room. But it is the wall color that almost by magic turned it into a light filled room.

As I mentioned before, it was not love at first sight. When we "met", I had a feeling that one day I will love it. And now, after the dust literally settled, I do. Every room in this house had to be refinished. But the end result gave us a home filled with light, with plenty of beautiful details, and natural materials finishings. Some decisions had to be made on the go, teaching us flexibility. For example we didn't know what we would find before a wall of plaster board in the kitchen. We discovered original stone, and decided to keep it. Other parts were brick, and they were covered with plaster. And as the layers of paint came off the wooden doors (three pairs of them!) to the spaces downstairs, we saw that it would be a shame to paint them again. Our builder agreed, so they are now in their raw wood state (protected by a thin layer of clear veneer), admired by everyone.

A glance at our bathroom - the space desperately needed new paint, and a little bit of charm. I don't have a "before", but be assured that it didn't look like this...

I read somewhere that it really takes a while, like seven years, to fully settle into the house. At first it sounded like a stretch. But now I get it. Now that we are in what I call the "beautification" stage the ideas that were in my head when I first saw this place, and later lived in it for a year before the project started, have become real. I am slowly taking stock of the artwork, the bibelots, and the antique and vintage collections, being careful how and where they can be placed. I want to take my time with them, especially with the placement of the artwork on our walls. Most walls are stone, so I will need to use a drill to make holes for hooks... So now there are paintings propped around, and I walk among them every day, pensively shuffling them around, thinking what would be the most perfect placement for each of them. I am taking my time, and it's OK.

It will take me a bit of time to find the right placement for all of these...

The little things are slowly finding themselves new surfaces to rest on. I am making long lists of projects that will need to be done by me. The easy chairs in the salon need to be re-upholstered, fabrics found for the drapes in most of the rooms, trellises constructed for the garden. A newly purchased sewing machine is still in its box, but when cooler days come, and I the garden will go to its winter sleep, I will have more time to attend to these tasks.

Taking stock of my collected vintage art

And there is life - seeing friends, new and old, visiting this region which is still new to us, entertaining our neighbors, and taking part in the village life. I mentioned a few times that living here, in this small place in the middle of the French countryside, often feels like dropping back in time. Looking at the landscape around us, one feels like looking at a painting, and some moments feel like from a Marcel Pagnol book. There are no cliches and no tourist traps. Just life.

To be continued...

XOXO

Joanna

We are finally able to invite friends over - this was out first "apero" hosted after the renovations