Day 29

In which Sean discovers our entranceway was made in Italy, we find antique medicine containers in the attic, I expose a stone wall by the back door, and our neighbor gives us advice about treating possible woodworm in the rafters

This is our entranceway today! But it’s a good thing because the tiles leading from the front door to the stairs were pretty vile.

We decided to replace the tiles with the same ones that are in our living room, since we’ve found heaps of unused tile everywhere – the cellar, the attic…

The tricky part is creating an even join between the living room and the entranceway.

Look what we found in the attic while hunting for tiles! We keep finding little bits and bobs everywhere. It’s so fun.

But…after bringing some of the tiles downstairs, we swept the rubble away and saw this beautiful design…kind of industrial /urban…

We thought : uh oh! Do we actually like this look MORE than the tiles? Then we bent down and read the writing impressed in the cement: Made in Italy.

I think that sealed the deal, since I lived in Italy for four years prior to moving to France, and since Sean visited me in Florence over 50 times…in a very real sense, Sean and I were “made” in Italy.

Italy left a deep impression on us too.

How poetic that our new home in France would have an entranceway paved with a secret message from Italy beneath the tiles…it seems prophetic or prescient that the foyer to our home comes from Italy too.

Plus we just love how it looks! Dark, distressed…

On a side note: we were happy to find a perfect footstool for our new (used) H&H chair! It’s an old wooden box.

I love how whenever we want or need something, we can usually find something in our house that fits the bill. An old box becomes a footstool, and an old shelf becomes a table in our foyer…

The Chesterfield style chaise longue was a steal at the La Blanc Emmaus for €40! It’s our favorite place to flop down, faint, or, well, to lounge. It’s wonderful having a real living room after a month of demolition site glamping!

Almost done stripping up the hideous tiles…to the left is our staircase, behind me (I’m taking the picture) is the back door, and to the right and back is what will be the kitchen, then the living room, then a guest room or two, all in a line.

While Sean removed the tiles I worked on the mini-tower by the back door. Previous owners had covered it in cement. Why??

It’s so very beautiful, and will be even more so after we render it with lime in the medieval style.

Our super old back door joined to the stone wall – here you just see the cement covering. Check out the hand-wrought ironwork on the door!

Eventually Sean’s piano will sit in this nook, after we replace the back door with a large window. We’ll save the door because it’s so lovely, but it’s too old and rickety to be practical. We don’t need a door there anyway. So this old green door will probably end up in our art studio!

Lastly, we make a shopping list :

Electric drill (all month we’ve had no electricity so we’ve done everything with good old muscle power)

Some kind of natural varnish or sealant for wood & woodworm treatment (our neighbor came and showed us what kind to get)

Translucent laminate for window privacy in living room

Sisal rugs for entrance and a large sisal area rug for living room

Drapes for living room

Sheets & blanket (and another mattress?) for our bed so we can start sleeping here

So…

Before heading back to the airbnb tonight we’ll stop at a home goods shop and see what’s available, and then we’ll hit up IKEA later in the week.