France Life

My friend Delana messaged me on Facebook and said she could wander over to my blog to catch up on our home renovation, and I thought, uh oh.

I didn’t blog at all in September as we hurried from Columbus to Florida to France. Then after we arrived, it’s been breakneck speed working on the house, teaching every afternoon, squeezing in drinks and dinners with friends we missed over the summer. 

We’ve been house sitting in France for 3 weeks while we work on our new house. But today, although it’s far from ready, we moved all of our French belongings into our home. And we drove to Perpignan. 

The weather is always gorgeous in Perpignan “le centre du monde” or the center of the universe as Dali called one of his paintings set in Perpignan. 

Now we’re on the train to Barcelona to meet Tucker at the airport, so all work must stop while we live in the renovation zone. 

What has happened in our house? The linoleum was pulled up in the kitchen to reveal gorgeous tiles. We’re still working to make them look their best. When they’re wet, the color is deep and beautiful. 

I painted this room which used to be the kitchen.

We’re calling it the cozy room because it has a giant fireplace and a door that cnl close it off from the rest of the house. I plan to put a pullout couch in here in case we need an extra, extra bed some time. 

I also painted the back of the cupboard to match the chair rail. The bottom of the cabinet will need a new wall before it’s painted. 

We have a refrigerator, a stove, a washing machine and microwave. You not the refrigerator is hooked up as we await a floor, electricity, plumbing and cabinets in the new kitchen before we can fully unpack.

Earl tore out part of the wall between our living room and what will be our kitchen. There were electrics there and now they dangle in the middle of the doorway. 

The former utility room has been water-proofed, the floor raised and now our friend Jules, plus Earl have been working on tiling it. 

We’ve purchased a blue leather couch and a stately chair. We received a green floral love seat. But our living room, the salad n, is full of boxes of tile and mortar. 

Upstairs, Earl tore out a closet and part of the wall between the two bedrooms so we can eventually put another bathroom there. 

Jules painted the guest bedroom, in anticipation of Tucker’s arrival,  then I followed up with a second coat. It looks very blue, but once the room has more furniture it shouldn’t be so overwhelming. 

We bought this bed with drawers underneath for 30 euros on a Facebook post. 

In the master bathroom, our builder Kris and Earl installeda sink with three drawers underneath for storage. Then just yesterday, Kris added a toilet so we don’t have to go downstairs to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. 

Friends have been so generous, offering meals, places to stay, tools, advice and help with the renovation.

I can’t list them all because I’d be sure to leave some out, but the list of people who will be sharing our hospitality once our house is finished is quite long. And we’re so grateful.

A rainbow as I drove from a trip to the home improvement store.