Inspirational White Beams

 

In this post I told you about how my itchy fingers had uncovered a beautiful stone floor in the dining room hidden under a brown carpet. Well the dining room is taking shape, but that doesn’t stop me from making plans for the rest of the house.

Our home used to belong to a local doctor and here in France the doctor’s surgery is often in the residence of the practitioner. It use to be two separate houseus, with the second, smaller houses knocked through for the doctor to use as his office. It’s this room that we intend to turn into a kitchen one day, with the current kitchen becoming the family dining room.

The ‘kitchen’ has a ceiling made from some kind of large tiles. It looks a little industrial to be honest. I’ve been wondering for some time what’s underneath it. It’s   been jam packed with things after we moved and I’ve been going into it, selecting items, then moving them elsewhere for some time. Yet there was still lots in there and as the children are off school I decided I’d set about clearing as much down as I can (my thinking is, whatever I do in the house in terms of cleaning up they’re immedtaly going to undo, so I keep my cleaning at a basic level to  save my sanity).

Whilst in there I decided to have a little look see and underneath these…..

there is this….

My plan is to carefully take it down, marking each section as I go, and then using it as a ceiling in the garage beneath my husband’s office. As there’s thick insulation as well as it should be of benefit to him there for keeping the heat in.

There are two things my mind is turning to now; whats underneath the laminate floor (many old houses have tiled floors) and what am I going to do with those beams. For the latter, of course, Pinterest is my friend. Here’s what I’ve discovered.

 

As the beams are already painted I’m going to have to stick with white as the idea of stripping all of them is just depressing. This is the first picture I liked with whitish beams, though the colour is a little too light and seems to be a whitewash rather than solid paint. But the pale green contrasting tongue and groove walls are great and add interest in a mainly white kitchen. The cupboards are fitted though and, although I’ve thought of buying second hand cupboards and painting them, this would still mean fitting the kitchen. However in the brocantes near here there are lots of old, freestanding kitchen furniture I’m starting to think this be an inexpensive solution.

Marie & Alan McMillen’s home near Holywood in County Down.

Marie & Alan McMillen’s home near Holywood in County Down.

These images aren’t of a kitchen, but as we want the family dining room next door they’re making me wonder what’s underneath that kitchen ceiling (mmm, I must go and have a look). I wanted to include the one on the right in particular because I love that stone floor. There are only electric heaters in the soon to be kitchen, and if there are no stone tiles underneath the laminate we’ve discussed laying our own with underfloor heating. It’s not too expensive and you can turn it on and off, so there’s potential.

 

I love these bench islands and I’m hoping to find something similar. Both of these kitchens are fitted, but I love the rustic feel of the baskets don’t you?

The island in this one is made out of an old buffet, and again the way the tongue and groove walls are painted with pale green looks really good against the beamed ceiling. A lot of the walls in this old house, like many in these ancient stone homes, are very uneven. So I know there’s no way I’ll be able to paint without a plasterer, which could be pricey.

As I’m sticking to a tight budget I’ll probably go for tongue and groove on three, if not all of the walls. The fourth wall, well, I’ll be interested to know what’s underneath the wall paper. Some rustic stonework? It could look pretty good having one wall with exposed brick maybe. We’ll see.

Back to finishing the dining room, the house front is coming together and I’m starting to add some touches to the front hallway. I know, I know, I should stick to one room at a time.

By the way, you can follow my Pinterest boards throw the link at the top of the page.

 

It’s Worth It!

I found this chandelier in a state at a local Brocante for 4€. I was so excited because, even though it was badly tarnished, the detail was exquisite. I had placed it in the passenger seat next to me in the car and was driving to pick up the girls when I glance over at a set of traffic lights to admire my special find. That’s when I noticed it, the parts where the light bulbs where held had the electrics burnt away.

My heart sank – would I have to throw this beautiful thing away?

My mind whirred – what could I do with it instead. It simply couldn’t end up in landfil! I considered removing the electrics completely, gluing tealights holders in their place and hanging it from a tree outside as a form of external, candle lighting for al fresco dining.

Then one day in the supermarket I saw what I realised were replacement light fittings. I bought one and asked my Pops, who lives here in France, could they be used to replace the destroyed ones?

My dad’s a star! After much tinkering he managed to attach it. We ordered more and the remainder were replaced to.

When we first moved here at Christmas I took it out and set to work cleaning it. An entire week later and an aching arm saw a gleaming, beautiful chandelier.

Halfway through the project I’d lost the will to live. My mother in law was over for Christmas and she’d sat with me as I’d scrubbed with brasso. At one point, about two thirds of the way through, I looked up and said “maybe I should just paint it white?” She’s from the rougher parts of London, but as a grammar school girl she sounds posh and is a cultured woman who is able to relate to everyone, irrelevant of class. At  this moment though it was like an Eliza Doolittle moment as she exclaimed “What after all that work!!!”

So I reconsidered.

After the job was finished I put the chandelier away with the view of putting it up as soon as possible, however other things have intervened. With the completion of the ceiling medallion I couldn’t resist putting them both up this weekend.

Unlike the light under the stairs, or in the laundry room or even our bedroom this was a trickier task and I had to call in my hubby to help after I did started as it was too heavy to do all on my own. Nevertheless when the bulbs where in and the candle cap shades where on I was so pleased with the result.

The hallway is starting to take shape.

Adventures With Ceiling Medallions; Too Liberace?

I’m hoping I haven’t gone into full Liberace territory with this, so any feedback is welcome. Our hallway when we arrived was lovely and spacious, but I of course I was itching to decorate. With the most minimal means possible. As this post showed I’d removed the existing radiator shelf and had salvaged the buffet top to add a little period style, and some art nouveau style prints complimented these.

Then for Christmas my hubby’s aunt and uncle gave us a welcome gift of an Amazon voucher. He didn’t get a look in. If you remember he’d gone away to America for six months and having found beautiful ceiling medallions on Pinterest (you can follow me at the top of the page) I’d ordered one and had it sent to us.

By that time I hadn’t put up any light fittings by myself, something which I’m becoming more accustomed to, and so I’d put it aside waiting for someone to help me. In the meantime I’d concentrated on adding details to the dining room and utility, as well as putting up the odd picture here and there.

I’d managed to fix some polystyrene coving in the dining room (I’d chosen this in the end over pricier options because of, you know, price – and ease of putting it up). I’ll go into this in detail later, but I really learnt a lot from the experience.

One thing I did take away from it was painting the surface before hand. When it just comes to applying the coving and painting it white if there is a contrasting wall colour then it’s probably best to not do so, or at least be prepared to touch up areas afterwards. However when I tried to paint the ceiling medallion it was really difficult in situ, so I’d decided to paint the other one before hand this time. This is the Orac medallion before hand…

these are the steps I took to paint it…..

 

and this is the finished medallion.

I was eager whilst I was doing this to put it up straight away. However now I have a dilemma; if I do so before painting I’m bound to get some on the medallion and need to touch it up. However, if I paint first experience has taught me that the thick white glue I’ll use will go on the painted surface, so I’ll still have to touch up this, which will mean the possibility of touching up the medallion. Mmmm.

Let’s face it……only one of these options has me putting up the medallion straight away so all things being equal…..

Little Details

Just a quick post today – things are still feeling beyond me with the hubby away. So I decided to cheer myself up with some diy (😜). I thought I’d share some of the little touches with you.

The first one is the door. I love fingerplates and intricate handles and although I love these brass door handles, I knew I wanted to add something more. So I’ve been hunting out some vintage, french fingerplates on eBay. In the UK these would have been super expensive, but decorating in period style isn’t as popular in France it seems, and these were a good price.

This is the first one I’ve done, and I’ll show you the other side in a few days as it’s a little more in depth. So this is what it looked like (it’s another door as I forgot to take a photo before hand)….

and this is it now….

I love it!

Then the light under the stairs was broken (I tried to take the bulb out and it had rotted inside). So I used it as an opportunity to see if I could change it. It was a bit scary as I haven’t worked with electrics before, but despite blowing a fuse I managed it. This is the before…

and this is after….

I love the Victorian feel (but not the brown carpeted walls).

I’m trying to finish our dining room coving that I recently put up, but I want to share with you an Easter garland I did just before the holiday tomorrow. I’ll include a how to so come back and check it out.

Easter blessings!

3 Simple Steps To Spotting A Brocante Oil Painting

This post has been recycled from a former blog when we where living in our rented property. 

I was in a local Brocante, amongst the dust and the mess, next to some shelves holding a higgildy piggildy mess of pictures chatting to my Pops when I spotted it out of the corner of my eye – an oil painting. I new straight away what it was, I could see the way the light caught the brushwork and like a fox on the scent I was straight over their to pick it up.

“How did you spot that from over there?” Pops said. I’d love to say it was some Brocante buyers instinct, but it wasn’t. Just luck I guess, but confirming it was an oil wasn’t, that took three simple steps.

Look At The Back

The foolproof way of telling if it’s an oil is to look at the back; if you can see the paint coming through the canvas then it’s an oil.

Look At The Back Too

Whilst you’re round there look at the frame itself. Some oils have a canvass wadding place over the painting, but the obvious age of the frame will be a tell if it’s a clever reproduction or not. This picture wasn’t a good example of that, but my oil in the header is.

Look At The Texture

A lot of reproductions now have a textured surface to make them appear as if they’re an oil, so to be sure you’ve managed to bag a bargain, have a look and see if there are clear brush marks that correspond with the paint marks themselves. A reprint will have a consistent pattern of marks, an oil won’t.

In this selection here I have three oils, and a definite watercolour. The most expensive was 43€, then 9€, then an unbelievable 1€. Which one do you think is which?

Plans For Our French House Front

I’m coming to the end of decorating our dining room which, thanks to the fabulous floor I’ve found, hasn’t taken as long as I expected. The valance for the curtains I’m sewing our a little tricky and I expect they’ll take another week. Then I want to finish painting the cornice I’ve put up. Yes, that’s right, me – all be myself! I’ll tell you about it and the curtain valance later.

But at the moment their are daffodils outside our house; a sure sign hat spring is on its way. So my mind is turning to the front of the house and the plans I have for it.

As I said in my introduction to our French home the house front was not a selling point for me. I’d dreamed of something like this…

and got this…

Now, I’m one of those people who love, love, love to decorate. Since I’ve had my own money I’ve bought Country Living Interiors magazines and pored over them ,as well as any other similar magazines (two things to note here: firstly, I mean my first Saturday job money, yes that obsessed. Secondly Pinterest has saved me a fortune). So it wasn’t the lack of shutters or any kerb side appeal, I can do that, but it was the door. UPVC. No scroll iron work. Can’t paint it my own colour (little sigh, reminds herself that there are people actually suffering and we’ve just got our dream home).

Anyway….

I think you need to be wise with both your money and the earth’s resources; it’s one of the reasons why I post about up-cycling and repurposing. There are so many things just thrown out; better to invest some time in them rather than let them go on the scrap heap, yes? So no new front door.

Prior to buying our home we rented an old farmhouse to find out if we liked living in the country and an old house. I’m so glad we did, although I think that was more God’s design than mine as I was impatient to buy. Our dream of rural living was isolating with two young children and a second language to contend with.

The house was lovely, but it was ancient and the windows were weathered, wooden ones. We spent about 700 euros a month on fuel and as soon as the fuel went the house would freeze. Not a great way to live with two small children.

When we were waiting to move and I was pinning away, making my plans, I had lots of images of wooden, French doors on my site. I’d even made a deal with my husband that we’d get a new one. But gradually over time I started to reconsider; surely the money would be better spent elsewhere? If not given where God wants it to go.

Then when we moved; heat! Such luxury. The double glazing in the house has made such a difference to us in a cold, wet winter. I actually went ahead and ordered more fuel the other day as we’d moved in over Christmas and had only ordered a half load and I fully expected there to be an empty tank. I didn’t need the full load at all, unbelievable.

So I may not like the UPVC as it stands, but comfort and bank book is coming first and I’m making plans about what to do to get a more ‘wow’ look (I’m using a lot of the images I found or stored onto Pinterest, follow my boards for more ideas on the links above).

Handle

My plans had, of course, involved painting our front door various shades. However although I’ve researched painting upvc it’s a daunting prospect, so I’m sticking with the white. Nevertheless if you look at these examples a white front door doesn’t have to be boring.

At the moment not only is our door white, but our handle is too. Although I can’t get a black handle for upvc (I don’t think) the gold makes a difference yes? I can’t get the detail on these either, but I think that just the contrast between the door and the handle in conjunction with my other planned changes should make a satisfactory difference.

Lights

Again a white front door with contrasting hardware, but all of a sudden the lighting either side adds something, yes?

I’ve been hunting various styles on Amazon to give me further inspiration and they are relatively inexpensive. I’ve chosen brass, Victorian or Edwardian era styles as the house is so old.

Doorbell

To accompany these changes and the period I’m considering just a simple upgrade of the doorbell. Very inexpensive, but can add to the impact significantly.

Lace curtains or tranfers

I’d always wanted the metal grillwork of a French front door, but seeing this picture made me think I could have the same feel..

I’ve found this lace curtains or even this transfer from Laura Ashley that would reflect the period I’m going for.

House number

Uploading this transfer from Laura Ashley to my pins led to similar pins emerging of decals for transfer windows. How amazing are these?

I love the ones with the street name as well. Very Sherlock Homes. Classic, not Cumberbatch.

Mat

An additional image gave me the idea for an iron mat.

I found this one, which I think is perfect..

Topiary

Of course as well as framing the door with external lights I want to have some topiary, I especially like spiral clipped ones, but any good evergreen will frame the door well and add character.

I love that colour purple for our shutters by the way.

Plantings

As well as specific topiary plantings I want to have additional plants along the front of the house. There are some areas that have had the paving stones removed from of the house, so I’ll be using a mixture of in the ground and planters to get this type of effect.

Shutters

I can’t find an image of the type of purple I like, but you get the impression of purple shutters with this image

As well as the dark purple and colour scheme I like here (the greys I’m thinking of as the stone used for the house, the blue grass for planters, garage door etc).

 

Post box

We only have a letterbox at the moment, but I’m hoping to persuade my hubby to get one of these in the future.

 

Considering the door would have cost 1000s, and I would have wanted all of these to dress the house front anyway, I think I’m basically just upgrading the door with a handle, lace curtains, transfer and bell. So that will be about 100-150, not bad.

Any ideas? I’d love to hear them.