My eventual kitchen is getting much closer to being my actual kitchen. What do I mean by that? It means I may have a functioning kitchen, complete with hot water, by end of the month. Or at least the next month.
Milestones are meant to be celebrated. And I am sure it would make far more sense to write about the kitchen once it is done. But sense is not a word I tend to apply to myself. Excited, yes. Eccentric, probably. Practical, possibly. But sensible, is not really my, or thus my eventual kitchen’s, forte.
Restoration Home
For context if you are new here, I purchased a wee Medieval house in the centre of France. Actually I have since discovered it is older than medieval. There are some Roman bits. And the part of the village I live in goes back to the Gauls, to about 200 AD, so honestly the house is really, really old. Or at least parts of it. Because like all houses of longevity they undergo various transformations over time, to suit the needs of that particular owner.
Fast forward to modern day and I am doing just that, transforming to suit me. I moved into its 3 (sudo 4) rooms that are in a medieval layout, that is you walk through one room to another. This house came with no electricity and only cold water, for a sink and toilet (the latter in that sudo 4th room), for amenities. True bare bones, giving me scope to decide how to configure it and make it work for me.
The room you walk in to through the front door appeared to have no purpose other than to be the entryway to the rest of the house. Go straight and there was a sort of recognition that one room was a lounge. Purely because the 1930s wallpaper lent it that air. Or turn left from the entry and go into the supposedly original kitchen. Designated the kitchen only because it had a sink. Nothing else. But still, because of that sink, practicality designated it as my kitchen. Until I could make my new kitchen.
Location, Location
I chose the entryway room to be my eventual kitchen for a few reasons. One, it had an old fashioned French red tile floor, called tomettes, perfect for a kitchen. Two, the water mains was located under the Roman(?) granite sink in a corner of the room, so access was easy. Three, with 4 doors (eventually) into the room, one in each wall, I couldn’t think what else this room could be used for. So my eventual kitchen it will be. The hub of the house, if you will.
My house is L or V shaped, with the eventual kitchen in the point of the L (or V). So all paths lead past or through it. A perfect meeting point. And after all, we all know all good parties end up in the kitchen. Which in this case, because my front door leads into this room, means I can also incorporate the rose garden out front into the kitchen by adding a dining area out there. Such are my dreams.
Time Will Tell
I’ve been in the house a little over a year now and tomorrow the plumber arrives. Why so long before getting access to hot water? First, though not primary, it’s France. Nothing happens fast in France. (Those wishing to move to France be aware.) Primarily, my house needed all new wiring for electricity. Queue hiring an electrician before the plumber. Electricity is needed for the hot water tank. (Of note, I have had access to water this past year, just not hot water. So think on it like glamping. A bit like camping, but with solid walls.)
The electrician started in the eventual kitchen, six months into my living here. (Another side note, I did/do have use of electricity, all via extension leads, as he works on each room, one at a time.) Part of that was settling into my new home and determining who my electrician, plumber, etc were going to be. (All locals from the village ideally.) The other part was taking the time to sit in the house and look at it. Take the time to live in it and determine how it would work best for me. And then get to work on the decisions, which included bringing in artisans where my capabilities lacked. In amongst this was a new job of wine tour guide. Luckily this job has busy and not so busy times, giving me opportunity to focus on the house, and then go out and make money for the house.
Decisions, Decisions
I consider myself very lucky that I do not have to, or maybe if you like choose not to, get all the work done in one go. Finance comes in to play, but also that new job I mentioned. I just don’t have the time to focus 100% on the house. So my time gets split. This helps me lean into the whole things take time in France. Very helpful and so so less stressful. And bonus, it really gives me time to make decisions.
No rushed ‘which tiles do I want at this moment’ or ‘what types of cabinets to put in’. Rather, I get to sit in the space, look around, and let ideas filter. It’s a first for me, and it has been an eye opener. My creative side is absolutely loving it, and is certainly making the most of it by coming up with some very curious and some might say really out there ideas. I’m looking at you moody sky ceiling. (More on that below.)
Copper pipes
I’ll give you an example. The one that started the direction of my kitchen’s style. I have stone walls, thick stone. One meter thick stone walls. How the heck I was going to imbed electric channels into these walls was a very real consideration. And a very time consuming thus expensive one. So a re-think occurred and a passing kitchen image with exposed copper pipes to hang my pots and pans from, and voila a concept was born! I adore the tones of copper. Suddenly-ish I knew how I wanted to manage my electricity conduits, through copper pipes. Then I had to convince the electrician. Luckily for me he had an uncle who had done something sort of vaguely similar. And my electrician is amazing! Willing to go with the flow of my ideas.
Another reason it took 6 months to start the electrics was I had to prepare the kitchen itself in readiness. There was the bright pink painted plaster to take off of a wall to expose the limestone underneath. Then pointing, tidying up the stones with mortar between them. Which meant I had to learn how to do that first. Also painting over the pink chalk paint on the other walls. Then there was the dingy, dark, moody ceiling…
The Ceiling
Luckily I have high ceilings, so looking up in the eventual kitchen meant it didn’t feel oppressive or claustrophobic. There’s reasonable natural light into the room, but not upwards towards the ceiling, so it wasn’t necessary to lighten it by say painting it white. Though of course that was always and still is an option (if I ever wish to change it). Rather, the varying tones from almost black to a weirdly sort of golden light brown made me think easily of a moody sky.
I started to wonder if I could in fact turn it in to a moody sky, reminscent of a storm coming in. Many times on my drives home from work I would see these amazing cloud formations rolling in, to great dramatic affect. It had me considering. Let’s add in I am not a great fan of painting walls. Or ceilings. However, painting a painting appealed much more. So, after several video tutorials that made it look easy, I figured it was worth giving it a go.
It’s surprisingly simple, as long as you stick to white. I had a false start when I began making it more complicated and adding colours, making one corner too threatening. And taking way too long. A start over found me sticking to the tutorials and very quickly I had my sky. You can see it here. All the moody colour tones were what were originally there. I simply added white to make clouds.
The Cafe Corner
Because the room has/will have a door in each wall, that leaves only corners to deal with. One is to be a window seat, looking out to the front of the house. Another houses the granite carved sink set in the wall. I suspect this is from the Roman period, due to the stonework. A beautiful feature this niche will house glassware. The biggest corner has the countertops, in an L configuration reminiscent of the house itself. This is the actual kitchen area for prepping, cooking and washing up.
Then there is the fourth corner, the cafe corner. As the room has limited storage potential, this corner will have a wall of apple crates to give the room more than double its storage. It will also house my prohibition bar (hidden behind a soon to be completed tapestry) A marble topped round traditional French cafe table with chair is tucked into this corner. My little space for dining or simply a cup of coffee.
More To Do
There’s still so much more to do. I am anticipating the plumber may be finished by the end of this coming week. So then there will be a sink with hot water available. Then it is tiling a splashback and the corner of my kitchen countertops. Sanding the apple crates and fixing them to the wall, then adding my storage jars. Fixing the prohibition bar in to place. Hanging art work from the copper pipes, not to mention the rest of my pots, pans, wok and what nots.
And finally, ultimately, I have to build my plate drying rack that will house my dishes. Set to the side of my sink, it will rise vertically. Once plates are washed they will slot into the rack to drip down, back into the sink. I so much prefer this method, rather than washing, drying and storing away dishes. Less time consuming. And so much time is needed. There’s still the rest of the house to do once the eventual kitchen becomes the actual kitchen.
More?
You will find all my posts on the restoration work of my house and garden in my Restoration Findings. (They are in date order, from newest to oldest.)
That picture at the top of this post is not of my house, but is of a medieval house. You will find images and updates of the restoration work in my house on Instagram. Come follow me there.
If you like what you read, or simply wish to support my restoration work, consider joining in and Nourishing Pumpjack & Piddlewick. Or buy me a coffee (that little cup of coffee in the bottom right corner) as caffeine certainly plays a part in keeping me fueled and full of energy.
Or take a browse of My Shop. I sometimes put some of the strange finds from the house or garden there, definitely finds I find in France. Here’s a taste:
Simply click on an image to see more.