Tag Archives: renovation

Our New Office

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It’s not really an office. That’s the word Jean Michel uses in French; it means a place next to the kitchen or dining room in which the table service is prepared. Well, it’s sort of that.  I would call it an upstairs kitchen but Jean Michel has names for all the rooms so I’m happy to call it an office. The bureau is downstairs.

upstairs_door

Closerie Falaiseau, our late 16th century house, has a funny layout. Despite its 200 square metres, it only has two bedrooms. The upstairs living room is where our Renaissance fireplace is and it is probably the most pleasant room in the house. It has large proportions, lots of light (and it will have even more when the solid door becomes a glass door), a view out the mullion windows and, of course, the fireplace.

day_bed

When we first saw the office, it was a sort of museum for musical instruments. There was also a daybed. Jean Michel thought of turning it into a small kitchen early on, when we turned the bottom floor of the house into a gîte, but I couldn’t see the point.

However, after we renovated the fireplace and started using it to cook côte de bœuf, it seemed it might be a good idea. One thing I was certain about though was that we’d block off the really low opening between the living room and the kitchen where I nearly killed myself the first year. We used a wrought-iron and glass console which doubles as a serving hatch.

Looking from the office into the living room with the console protecting our heads
Looking from the office into the living room with the console protecting our heads

Then we used that neat Ikea on-line software to work out where to put all the kitchen appliances and cupboards. We finally fitted in a normal-sized fridge with a freezer, a dishwasher, a sink, a two-ring induction plate and a microwave with enough room on the table top for our espresso machine.

Jean Michel putting the cupboards up
Jean Michel putting the cupboards up

We found some second-hand oak kitchen cupboards on Le Bon Coin to suit the style of our living room furniture because you can see them through the hatch. We picked them up miles away but it was difficult to find exactly what we wanted. I also spend quite a while removing decades of accumulated grease.

The induction plate also came from Le Bon Coin (never used) and we bought the sink from Leroy Merlin because the size meant it wasn’t standard and we didn’t want it to be chipped or anything.

To bring water into the office required drilling through 70 cm walls
To bring water into the office required drilling through 70 cm walls

Jean Michel then started working on the plumbing, wiring and lighting. The plumbing was complicated, as usual, by the fact that the walls are 70 cm thick and the lighting by the visible beams.

Extinguisher at the read just in case the insulation caught fire
Extinguisher at the read just in case the insulation caught fire during soldering

He spent quite a bit of time in the roof space doing the wiring for the little spotlights we finally decided upon. At one stage, I had to hold a torch and be ready with a fire extinguisher while he soldered the pipes in the attic on the other side of the kitchen.

Little fridge and dishwasher in place
Little fridge and dishwasher in place

All this was done last winter while we still had the gîte and had the major advantage of providing us with a dishwasher. We used a small fridge we picked up at Troc de l’île while waiting for a larger one after we moved. But the final touches were still missing.

Normal fridge in place with sink induction plate and of course the espresso machine
Normal fridge in place with sink induction plate and of course the espresso machine

Yesterday, Jean Michel finished it completely. He combined two corner shelves to provide somewhere to put the jug and toaster and made a wine bottle stand to put in the recess which now also houses the bread board & bread, the water jug and teapot.

Niche with wine racks made by Jean Michel
Niche with wine racks made by Jean Michel with our Australian lithograph above

We have a chest of drawers for cutlery, utensils, tablecloths and teatowels and use the cupboard above the induction plate and sink for important things such as nibbles, tea and breakfast food. The glass-fronted bookcase in the living room takes the plates, cups and glasses.

Looking from the living room into the office
Looking from the living room into the office

So now we have the perfect place to prepare breakfast, apéritifs and coffee. We also have everything we need to have a barbecue in the fireplace.

Oh, and I nearly forgot. I framed and hung up the lithography that our very first home exchange guests from Australia brought us as a gift.

Who wants to join us?

SAD and Au Vieux Campeur

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I don’t know if displaced tropical Queenslanders are more likely to suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder or Winter Depression) than others but I can’t find any other explanation for having felt so down this week. Already the days are short (it’s only light from 9 am to 5 pm max) but the scaffolding on the balcony cuts out most of what natural light there is and gives artificial neon light from 8 am until 7 pm. The flower seller at the market found me so down on Sunday that he gave me a kitchy little pot of four-leaf clover!

Four-leaf clover to cheer me up
Four-leaf clover to cheer me up

Relationnel was told the scaffolding was moving to the next set of windows today so about 10.30 am, I went downstairs to find some workmen to ask. They reassured me it was D-Day so I raised my arm and said “yey!”. They looked a little surprised so I explained that they were my windows that had been obscured for the last four months.

The scaffolding outside my window
The scaffolding outside my window

The sun was out, the sky was blue and just going downstairs seemed to cheer me up so I thought I’d go to Rue de Rennes to look after the missing suitcase invoice problem. First stop was a shoe shop called Arcus. I gave them the date and amount. They were very friendly and immediately tracked down the purchase and gave me a receipt.

The scaffolding seen from downstairs
The scaffolding seen from downstairs

Then I walked down to Boulevard Saint Germain to one of the Au Vieux Campeur shops. Parisians swear by this shop, though I don’t really understand why. It used to be just one shop on rue des Ecoles selling outdoorsey stuff. It is now a series of speciality shops – 29 in the Latin quarter alone – selling everything to do with sport and camping.

My objection, apart from the prices, is that the shops I go to (mainly for walking shoes) are always full of people. I spent a full hour trying on every possible pair of shoes in the shop before we went to Australia in September. I finally bought some ugly looking turquoise and grey shoes that gave me horrendous blisters in Tasmania. And then, when I had finally worn them in, they disappeared with the suitcase!

An unknown church on the way from rue de Rennes to boulevard Saint Germain

So I went back to the shop where I bought them, stood in line and asked for a receipt. I was sent to the “main shop”, two streets away. I queued there as well only to be told that I had to go back to the first shop. The lady rang up the guy and told him he had to give me a receipt. I went back and stood in line and gave him the details. He couldn’t find my purchase of course. “What time was it?” You gotta be joking – I’m supposed to remember the time I bought the shoes? I only know I was there for too long.

He finally sats it is not in his cash register. “Is this the only place I could have paid for the shoes I got downstairs?” “No”, he says relunctantly, “there are those two as well”, indicating a couple of computer screens further along the counter. “You mean, these three cash registers are not connected up ?” “Er, no.” “Are you telling me I have to wait until there are two more sales people to check?” “Well, I could turn them on.” Which he eventually did and I queued again while he served another few people.

The bistrot with the awful food - Le Cluny
The bistrot with the awful food – Le Cluny

Not that I blame him, it must have been very annoying for the other customers. Anyway, he still couldn’t find any trace of my purchase so I dispiritedly went out, by which time the rain was absolutely pouring down and I didn’t have an umbrella. I took refuge in the closest brasserie, Le Cluny, and ate an absolutely awful meal of spare ribs and potatoes. The young waiter commisserated and gave me a free coffee.

So, here I am, back home, still waiting for the scaffolding to move and it’s already 4.30, which is terribly close to knock-off time.

Next day’s update: removal of the scaffolding is now postponed to 7th January.

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