French la Vie

 

The renovation in Cassis continues. Rene and his team have been tackling the project with gusto even with the setbacks that come with additions and surprises that are found when renovating a century old property.

One addition was to change the window casings which are white plastic ones known as PVC to aluminum tinted charcoal throughout the entire home.. This will give it a more loft chic appeal. Yet changing the windows was purely an aesthetic choice. Which meant a delay in the kitchen as the windows being replaced are above the kitchen counter. As the windows are very large and the entrance very small we will have to go up four flight and over a balcony with a crane. Should be interesting, but not as challenging as moving things upstairs with a ladder on a flatbed truck over an awning.

The other set back came with renovating the sinking stairwell in the entrance. Sinking yes, but probably would have not collapsed for another hundred years, but when you walked on them the impression was it could happen tomorrow. The surprise came when they found out that the stairwell was an old addition over another apartment below. The stairwell was made as they were made before: Make a frame, add whatever you have around to fill the frame and block the steps off with branches to hold them in place. The steps we discovered were also extremely shallow in depth. Therefore they are being completely renovated in iron and eventually cement. A massive undertaken in a tiny space. 

 

 

The two men at the bottom are at the entrance level, the two men on top are at the bedroom first floor inside the apartment level. The stairs leading up go to the kitchen, living space and large terrace.

The stairs leading to the kitchen/living space were not as old and had been made in cement.

 

 

 

Branches that were used to form the stairwell.

 

 

 

The kitchen floor and the stairs leading downstairs, these are not as old, as the entrance stairs. I decided to take the tiles off and then case each step in iron and trim the border in iron as well.

 

 

 

 

The old steps at the entrance with the new iron casing.

 

 

 

In any renovation, there is always truckloads of debris.

 

 

 

Joel the mastermind ironsmith, who did our stairs in Cassis is working on this project.

 

 

 

The bottom steps to the entrance have iron front panels to support and hold the cement that will be poured in later.

 

 

More to come. 

 

 

Meanwhile, under the two dropped ceilings we found this underneath an arched brick ceiling with rusty iron bands holding it in place. We decided to keep the ceiling. Rene is plastering the ceiling to fill in the nooks and crannies, then he will sand it off to give it a used look. I cannot wait to show you the final effect.

 

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Meanwhile, next month I will have the two French la Vie Journeys. If ever you want to join me in seeing Provence through the eyes of history, lovely meals, looking around the corner to the hidden secrets and of course through brocantes let me know.