Wednesday 20 April 2011

The Master Plan

My Little House is bigger than it looks. It has 2 large downstairs rooms, two double bedrooms and a huge grenier that runs the length of the house.

My original plan was to spend my entire budget renovating the attic. WHY? I have no kitchen or bathroom. What fricking good is an attic going to be if I can’t eat or bathe? Perhaps I could practice yoga up there until the stench of my unwashed body drives all thought of food from my mind. Or maybe not. Hence the need for a new plan.

I have been back and forth, round the houses and to the foot of our stairs and back trying to decide what to put where.

Some things are fairly obvious. Like having the bedrooms upstairs. No point in being contrary for the sake of it. We’re not in Salford now.*

Other things are less obvious. Like which room is the kitchen and which the living room. Where do the things go that need water and electricity? Where the heck am I going to put the second toilet? Andy D. gets me thinking outside the box and the plan starts to take shape.

The kitchen has to go at the back because I am going to have a utility room in the courtyard. With … and this is the bit that has me jumping up and down… a terrace on top. L'Architecte des Bâtiments de France won’t like it. So flipping what? He doesn’t need to see it. I think, if I remember rightly, if he can’t see it, I don’t have to apply for permission. I’ll have to check.

My nice neighbour AJ is a bit doom and gloom about it, but I’m sure it’s only because I’ve rejected his idea of a glass roof as a passive heating system. I want a terrace dammit! Geraniums! Croissants and morning coffee!

Even if I’m banned from having a terrace it makes complete sense to utilise the courtyard. It’s too narrow and the walls are too high for it to work as an outside space, so making it an indoor space is sheer genius.

Paul comes round tomorrow morning. Terrace terrace terrace terrace terrace…

I need to check the Architecte's rules.

*Urban Splash's achingly trendy Chimney Pot Park sees Salford's old red brick terraces reinvented as loft-style living areas by, yes really, putting the bedrooms on the ground floor and the living space up above with terraces and balconies.

2 comments:

  1. I have stumbled upon your fab blog again after Dan mentioned it in his & I feel the need to tell you how full of admiration I am of your intrepid venture au belle France! Your dealings with the likes of notaires & bank managers especially. It is all wonderful to read & you must carry on updating we staid Angles in suburbia regularly so that we can continue to live the good life vicariously through your exploits! ; D
    Well done, I know you'll make it work & be very happy xxx

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  2. Thanks for the vote of confidence Sally, much appreciated! X

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