French la Vie

 

 

The Cassis Home is in a building from the 1900s in the center of Cassis, but the stone walls date further back, possibly the building was two dwellings that merged into one. Part of the interesting discoveries made when renovating an old place comes from underneath the layers of previous renovations. Point in question is when we started to renovate the stairwell.

The two upper staircases, the top staircase leads to a terrace with a panoramic view of Cassis and the second staircase leads to the kitchen/living room with a balcony facing the castle, were created possibly in the 1980s or thereof, but the third staircase that is not shown in the photos here, is much older and we will completely renovate it. Refurbishing the stairs meant having the tiles taken off the tread, then adding an iron return nosing (which is the tread to the inner and outer string above the riser) which will add a contemporary definition. Joel the ironsmith who created our stairwell in Cassis and his employee Guillaume are the masterminds behind the intense amount of work of rebuilding the steps. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thread riser blocks and wedges are put into place to keep the thread in place.

My vocabulary is expanding with stair terminology, though the French translation of those words is slow going, I point often or charade. Fortunately, the team I have worked with so we get one another, trust one another and I know they know their job.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The handrail was a massive three pipe thing that was horrendous, Joel removed it (no need to go to the gym when you have to carry solid iron down four flights of stairs). Joel created something lighter with a movement for the handrail. The main goal was not to have the handrail be the focus or draw attention as the lights above (not pictured because there is too much work to be done before they are installed) will be the focal point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When cutting into the stone wall to secure the handrail we discovered a century-old window with a stone encased frame. Unfortunately, we cannot keep the opening, as it would take far too long to have it approved, and most likely it would not be approved. That is one of the examples of the surprises one finds in renovating old places. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see three parts of the four sets of stairs in the Cassis home.

The bottom steps will be completed renovated.

As you can see it has a way to go before it is done.

 

 

 

 

The next step will be filling in the threads and risers. We are going to use polished cement and not use tiles nor wood. Do you think I should keep this color palette or go for a darker color on the risers and or threads? I am leaning on a neutral palette as that is what I believe Ching and Gary would like.