Past Imperfect

I have so enjoyed reading all your comments about the possibilities of the little house in my brother's French village. I know I made fun of it when sharing those photos but, in all honesty, I still have a feeling about that little house and how it could be restored into a comfortable vacation home. This weekend my brother and sister-in-law plan a stroll through the village to try to locate the property and report back. Until then - look what marvelous places these village houses have become once loved, renovated and cared for....................................

In the beautiful book 'Les Maisons Romantiques de France' by Barbara & Rene Stoeltie, the imperfections of the tiny village houses of France are shown lovingly restored. Sometimes from the outside they do not appear inviting, stark stone walls and creaking delapidated gates.

Colette wrote in My Mother's House ~ "A large solemn house, rather forbidding, with its shrill bell and its carriage entrance with a huge bolt like an ancient dungeon, a house that smiled only on its garden side."

What do you think? Do you agree that every house has the potential to become a true home if one has a vision and is prepared to take on the job? Money is a huge part of the equation of course. Some strong, hard working craftsmen would be needed...................and an understanding husband who owes his sweetheart a really special Valentine gift could make this dream come true.

Well one has to have a dream, right?

A 'fixer upper' in France!

You may have seen my posts last year about my brother's beautiful home in Southwest France. He and his family relocated to a small French village from London. They love their life in this village of 1100 people. They purchased a large 200 year old village house with lovely gardens and have spent over 4 years renovating a somewhat uncared for property into a gorgeous home.

Last week I found this house for sale in their village ~ if I was 20 years younger I might consider purchasing and renovating too! I would love a little house near my only sibling......near the incredible outdoor food markets.......the brocantes and antiques markets.......next to the olive groves and vineyards. This is hardly in the class of my brother's house, however with a little TLC and a whole lot of back breaking DIY, perhaps it could become a romantic little French home. What do you think?

Description by the owner reads as follows ~

This is a charming 500-year old stone village house that was upgraded with electricity, water and sewer several years ago. 13 klms NE of Carcassonne in the heart of the Languedoc wine country. The decor remains very rustic although I have added double pane windows and wall mounted electric heat to assist the wood stove for heating. The three floor house is located on a tiny rue and consists of 3 rooms in the basement that are now being renovated for the second bedroom, toilet and shower, and the wine cave. The second floor is the kitchen, eating room, and bath with claw foot tub and sink. There is a tiny terrace ample for eating and socializing. Upstairs is a bedroom, sitting room and toilet and soon a second terrace. The village of 1100 residents (which includes MY brother, sister-in-law and niece) contains an Abbey, hotel, bar, bakery and other services, and hosts a number of concerts and other activities each year.

This quaint little house is perfect for artists or writers, or those wanting to live a simple and authentic French lifestyle.

That last sentence says it all as far as I'm concerned. I will now make YOU want it too, all of you who long to live in France (thanks Peter Mayle - your books made it sound such fun), and all who bought and love Kari Meng's The French Inspired Home, Vicki Archer's My French Life, and numerous other decorating books and magazines depicting the glories of the French home from Versailles to.............well, to a little tiny rustic village house like this.....


I'm thinking this is the assigned parking space for the village house. It would require competence in backing up - that's 'reversing' in Europe. Perhaps a colorful armored car, as this appears to be, would be sensible as the houses are quite close together, and those 500 year old stone walls look a lot stronger than the materials most autos are built of these days.

The front entrance and foyer perhaps? Could make it welcoming - and of course we'd all paint that mirror frame white if the owner leaves it behind, wouldn't we?

If this is the sitting room - well there are chairs - I'm a bit concerned about the staircase to get there. This appears to be just like the opening to my top attic which means a ladder and then hoisting oneself up and over - let me tell you, this expends a week's worth of energy for we members of the AARP crowd!
The basement workshop don't you think? To become, owner's words, "second bedroom, toilet, shower and wine cave". Hey man, forget the bedroom, toilet and shower, after looking at all the DIY involved here let's just make it a really big wine cave - we're going to need to store a lot of bottles with which to drown our sorrows if we buy this house before YOU finish the renovation!

Nice armoire though, tall and definitely a French antique - would we, could we, paint this too?
I'm thinking this must be the second floor comprising of, quote, "kitchen, eating room and bath with claw foot tub and sink".

And here it is - recall he didn't say 'bathroom' so perhaps it's really vintage - like in ancient -where the tub was in front of the hearth and one bathed monthy after heating cauldrons of water over the coals!

I really love this area though - no need to faux finish the walls, already done and they're the real thing. The copper cookware is gorgeous, and I've always wanted open shelving so I can grab my EVOO, Balsamic vinegars and sel de mer without having to dig through cabinets with sticky fingers. Hope he throws in the little cupboard, and again I'll be painting the dark wood clock....................help me I think I'm falling, falling in love with a little village house in the South of France. There are craftsmen who build staircases, plumbers who run pipes to real walk-in showers in a room of their own.........bankers who give loans - big loans I fear. Then of course there are husbands - perhaps he'll agree to the chandelier for the bedroom if I promise not to move to France!!!

I'm away to the terrace (to ponder all this) where the owner says eating and socializing is possible - just keep the party small I say. Perhaps my brother would let me invite you all to a real party at his large house with the pool and the garden, the huge rooms and many bathrooms - then you could pop over here for a cuppa with me, one or two at a time. We could ooh and aah over the exposed beams, the stone and real plaster walls, the tile and brick floors.......and hoist each other up into the sitting room or, better still, just trot down to the 'cave' and clink several glasses of local wines - there are some good ones produced in the Languedoc I assure you.
Hope this kind owner, who obviously has done much to start bringing this little house back to life, will leave these chairs. I'm sitting here wondering about him. Is he alone eating that little meal for one - did he have a dream - is the work too much - has he given up? There is potential here for the right person. This could be a home in France. This could be the place to live the simple and authentic French lifestyle.