a Curious Canadian in Provence : photography, art & renovation!
Here are some photos of the full before and after renovation bedroom and bathroom. The difference is just as radical as it is anywhere else in the house. This is officially my favorite room of the house; it’s beautiful and cozy. What do you think?!
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So you’ve bought your fixer-upper in France. The romanticism of Peter Mayle has snared you into the dream (or perhaps my blog?). You’re not a millionaire but you’ve got essentially a ruin of stones to work with. At least that’s a start.
You most likely don’t know anyone. You’ve heard horror stories about local tradesmen. Everything in the DIY stores seems more expensive. You’ll have to be careful about your budget…
We had a budget of only 25,000 euros to completely renovate our tiny house. We were able to accomplish this because we did most of the work ourselves. I have to admit, that Robin is a certified tradesman so this helped enormously. His experience really helped us stay within budget.
If you’re planning on doing the same, here are some tips on how you can spend the least amount of money possible while not compromising on your materials or safety building codes.
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It can be difficult to find stores near you in a foreign country. This is especially true of builder’s merchants in France. Your common knowledge of simple store names just isn’t there. If you’re renovating a house in France, depending on where you’re located, this is where you’ll find your building materials:
Fun Fact: Robin, in addition to offering project management on renovation sites, offers to take his clients to various antique and repurposed material warehouses depending on your needs. Find him on Facebook, Instagram, or renovationprovence.com.
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If you’re interested in the full Before and After of our house renovation here in Provence; voila! The kitchen, when we first bought the house, was entirely brown. We were desperate to give it a complete makeover. We decided to add tiling in order to comply with the rustic feel we hoped to create. The last time the house had been renovated was in the 70s. The ceiling was styrofoam made to look like wood, behind that, there was asbestos. The ceiling leaked and there was a hole in the floor to access the water meter. There were layers upon layers of unnecessary wood and tile. It was dark, moldy and awful! The only thing that remains of the kitchen now, is a rather odd triangular shape.
We raised the kitchen roof, insulated all the walls and basically replaced everything!
The following pictures are taken from about the same angle to show the real before and after of our DIY renovation in Provence. I have to admit, I’m really pleased with how the kitchen has turned out. There are still a couple of things that need tweaking but overall, I’m really happy with everything!
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