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.