First Reno Stage: Demolition Archives

Our Reno in Provence: The Builders Arrive…

March 23, 2016 by ashleyt 23 Comments

Hiring Builders

Up until now, Robin has been doing all of the renovation to standard building codes (he has done some serious homework and seems to be the only person around here actually following the rules), whilst I have been looking for the finer details such as furniture, handmade pendant lights, rugs, etc. We knew we would always need a little help with one thing – knocking down the wall that separates the kitchen and the living room. This actually used to be the outside wall of the house before the extension was added in the 70s. It’s a serious wall. We needed to hire builders to help prop up the ceiling, install a new beam to replace the old beam that would now be too short, and help us with the exposing of the stone. We had 2 workers for 2 weeks. It was a race to see how much we could get done.

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Our Reno in Provence: More Ceiling Surprises

January 6, 2016 by ashleyt 13 Comments

Our Renovation: More Ceiling Surprises

So we’re still stripping back to try to get to the bare bones of our new tiny house. During the past few days, we’ve gone back upstairs to take down the ceiling that consisted of fake wood made of styrofoam and 2 layers of wonky boards, all the way up to the roof. We’d considered having Ace Roofing Company take a look at it, but for now we’re still confident in our own skills, especially as Robin has also removed the insulation, floorboards and gutted the chimney.

This back wall is slanted at such an angle that our whole house is basically an awkward triangle. The final position of everything is going to be a compromise.

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Our Renovation in Provence: Demolition Part II

January 2, 2016 by ashleyt 11 Comments

Our Renovation in Provence: The Demolition Continues!

You’re going to have to brace yourselves for a little hideousness- but we’ve started taking down the wood panels downstairs. The paneling so popular in the 70s is a form of cache misère which basically translates into hiding misery. When our real estate agent told us this- Robin and I nervously laughed. We knew there would invariable be surprises…

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Our Renovation in Provence Part I: Demolition!

December 31, 2015 by ashleyt 45 Comments

Our New House (!!!) is just the end section of this Mas (Provencal farmhouse) that is actually well known in the area as the Mas Longue (Long Farmhouse). There are even postcards of this building from 100 years ago!

We are in the center of beautiful Maussane-Les-Alpilles, just a 2-minute walk from the main square, 3 bakeries, 2 butchers, a poissonerie (fishmonger) and around 20 restaurants! We are also located in Les Baux National Park which has many walking trails in the Alpilles mountains.

Inside, the tiny house hasn’t been touched since 1970. Every wall is covered with dark orange stained wood or 4 layers of wallpaper. The ceilings are also covered in either stained wood panels or styrofoam wood! We can’t wait to gut the place so that we can really see what we’re working with. Absolutely everything will have to be redone, including plumbing and electricity; plus we desperately need to look at basement waterproofing companies so they can sort our basement out. It’s going to be a dusty 6 months! This includes outdoors; we want to create a gorgeous garden for us to enjoy and have space to just relax in the sun. We’re thinking that composite decking from https://www.dinodecking.co.uk/category/composite-decking-boards/ may be a good start in our perfect backyard journey.

The bright coloured addition coming out from the main building is the kitchen.

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