We may be dreaming, but we hope to be living in the new house by April, 2020. Our plan is to move to France in April, 2019 and be settled into a nearby rental house before the extensive renovations begin. 

The architect’s crew spent five hours measuring every inch (or centimeter) of the house and property, producing a detailed set of drawings of how it looks now. This is one of their initial drawings. The structures on the side are utility rooms and a few chicken coops. The property is quite large and there are several more structures that are not attached to the house. The architects are now working on plans for a master bedroom and bath annex, and the expansion of one of the outbuildings into a small garage.

The next step is to submit those plans to Bâtiments de France, the agency who governs any exterior improvements on structures in an historic area. Then we wait. We’ve been told it can take months to get the approval. Their mission is to “ensure the good integration of new buildings and transformations around protected monuments,” and since our house is about 300 feet (91 meters) from historic Chateau du Grand-Pressigny, we must follow their guidelines.