Dreams of a Vintage Kitchen

Some people count sheep to get to sleep but I occupy my mind with interior design schemes for the house in Cognac we are moving to next month.  One of the bigger challenges that we have to overcome is the kitchen. The existing one is a funky orange number but we would like to move the main kitchen to the lower ground floor leaving the orange one as an utility room/come museum of 1960's design .

I've heard people pay good money for vintage kitchens like this one!

It's a big project because the space on the lower ground floor is currently damp and dark but what first caught my attention was the fact that the beautiful staircase (crystal knob and all!) leads all the way down there instead of changing to a more utilitarian one.  

OK so it's a bit shabby but it will brush up beautifully in time

Putting on my Sherlock Holmes cap I took in the lovely red and white tiles at the bottom of the stairs and moving into the workshop found an old fireplace hiding behind a desk and deduced that the old kitchen may have been on that level originally.

Original features in old houses are to be cherished although they
sometimes take some elbow grease to bring back to life

The very well hidden fireplace was a lovely find

My next discovery was a little room off the workshop that I thought would be ideal for a pantry and to my delight I found in the corner just inside the door some lovely old tiles above an old stone sink.  This may not seem very exciting to most people but I was truly thrilled that my hunch seemed to be correct and that we would be restoring the house back to it's original layout.

The original pantry that will be shelved out and much loved

Whenever I choose a look for a room I try to let the house talk to me rather than impose my ideas on the house.  Because the kitchen will be situated on the lower ground floor it will only get direct sunlight in the morning so it will potentially be a dark space so there is a danger of it being oppressive and dingy.  

Can you see the potential yet?  You think I'm mad don't you?  It helps if you squint!

The obvious temptation is to have everything in white and pepper the ceiling with spotlights in the hope of brightening it up a bit but often I think the best course of action is to actually work with what you have and to go with it.  With Spike being a chef we need a good strong working kitchen that is designed well and my needs are to create an interesting eclectic ambiance (and for Spike to cook me yummy meals).

The old cluttered workshop inspired me to choose an industrial/bistrot look and I could immediately visualise intimate lighting in the little snug area, industrial spots for the working part of the kitchen, stainless steel worktops and mirrors galore... the more distressed the better.

I envisage aluminium atelier doors to give it that Parisian artist's workshop look and a polished concrete floor because not only is it hard wearing and ideal for underfloor heating but the high sheen finish will hopefully bounce a bit of light around too (as will the mirrors).

Parisian style atelier doors would be ideal for the entrance

A view of the back of the house showing the potential kitchen
at ground floor level

A couple of weeks back I was looking on a my favourite French classified website called Le Bon Coin.  It's an invaluable resource that has all sorts of things for sale from cars and houses to antiques and chickens... you name it they sell it.  Anyway, I was interested to see if I could find some kind of marbled topped table or bistrot bar to use as a kitchen island instead of buying one off the peg from a kitchen supplier.   To my delight I came across an old butcher's counter that would fit beautifully into the space and was not far from us in La Rochelle.  I will be back on Le Bon Coin once we have made the move to source a small industrial coffee machine (oh joy!)

Exactly what I was looking for - a real vintage centrepiece for the kitchen

I kind of wish I had seen the counter after having moved as we found it weighed a ton when we went to pick it up but the chance of someone else snapping it up was too much of a risk so we hired a van and a friend is kindly storing it for us.  

Many people we know think we're nuts to leave our voluminous, light country kitchen but we have often commented that it's size is rather wasted on us because we tend to eat at a little bistro table in the living room so we cook and run (unless we have guests).

Our beautiful kitchen we created from from a formally unpromising space 

The only potential problem with my plan for the new kitchen (aside from the obvious damp issues) is that when we do entertain the dining room will be up a flight of stairs and I am not known for my dexterity and elegance when it comes to carrying food (soup is definitely off the menu for a start!)  

All may not not lost though!  I have been tapping walls (a nasty habit that all serial renovators have) and there is a place that looks like it may have been a shaft for a dumb waiter at some point (fingers crossed) but without getting the sledgehammer out there is no way of knowing for sure so I will have to wait until we get the keys to get to the bottom of that one and no doubt the house will have many more surprises to present to us over the next year or so.  

As Clear as Crystal

Well I finally managed to tear myself away from planning and daydreaming about our move for five minutes and visited a brocante fair last weekend in spite of suffering from yet another rather nasty cold.    

We went to a market in Cognac and it was their Foire aux huitres which is an annual oyster fair that is held alongside a flea market.  We arrived rather late in the day, due to my cold, but still managed to find some lovely sparkly things in preparation for the Christmas holidays (I know it's only October but people do like to be prepared).

Lovely local oysters

The first thing I found was a particularly unusual piece that I thought would be wonderful for a party.  What gathering would be complete without an absinthe fountain? Or if, like me, you're a whiskey drinker what could be more convenient... or should that be more dangerously tempting?

A very quirky truc - see more pictures on my Etsy shop 

I love finding unusual trucs and I think this one is absolutely gorgeous and even more importantly it's all in perfect working order.

The second sparkly find was this WMF silver plated and cut crystal cocktail shaker.  It was pretty mucky when I discovered it but after a good old clean it revealed it's true beauty and I was really pleased with the results of my labour.

See my Etsy site to view more pictures of this elegant shaker

We did find numerous other trucs but seemed to keep finding things for ourselves rather than stock for my Etsy shop including a vintage leather satchel originally destined for my shop but found to be very useful when lugging around papers regarding the house we are buying, a lovely lantern light for the entrance hall of our future home (never even considered for the shop for a second) and this beautiful boxed set of six lead crystal Cognac glasses and decanter that Spike understandably fell in love with.

The occasional bribe keeps my brocante buddy, Spike, happy
as he accompanies me around the flea market circuit!

Having reviewed my post I have realised with slight embarrassment that it does look like I view the Christmas holidays as an excuse for a good old booze up (it is after all the English way!) but I was also thinking (honestly) that the holidays are a wonderful excuse to push the boat out a bit, welcome friends and family to your home and make it come alive and sparkle over the darkest days of the year.

A Distracted Brocanteuse

I must confess that my mind has been a little diverted of late so unfortunately I have not been concentrating as much as I should on my brocante business.  The stock of my Etsy shop is at an all time low and I have various pieces of furniture and mirrors in my workshop waiting to be transformed.

The reason for this lack of progress is our imminent move to Cognac.  With a large renovation awaiting us next month we have been busy sourcing and pricing materials and getting some pretty scary quotes from various artisans.  As you will see from the following photos there are some hurdles to overcome.

The barn has slight roof issues!!!

The groovy orange kitchen is not to everyone's taste but is strangely
on trend and destined to become a utility room/animal feeding station

The new kitchen will hopefully blossom from this
unpromising workshop

and it's possible that the bathroom may need a little updating!

On the upside the house has a beautiful swirly staircase

and if it all gets too much we can always
raid the wine cellar

Putting my designs ideas for the house aside for a while I have promised myself to take a little time this weekend to concentrate on doing some shopping especially as stocking up for the Christmas holidays has begun to slowly creep to the forefront of my mind. There is a very reliable brocante in Cognac coming up so I have no excuse not to give it a visit although I can't promise that I won't take a few minutes out to have a sneaky peek at the outside of the house while I'm there!

Instruments of Torture!

Well now that I've grabbed your attention I wanted to share with you my love of beautiful vintage technical instruments especially having found a couple of super examples at a brocante in the small village of Fontenet, just down the road from us.  

I have always been impressed by the beautiful craftsmanship that went into the making of tools and vintage scientific instruments  and anyone who has frequented auctions or flea markets will no doubt have stumbled across various enigmatic objects made from lacquered brass, often housed in a precision made wooden case. 

Last Sunday I found one of the most common trucs of this sort, a barometer.  But what attracted me particularly to this example was the fact that it had been made with a chrome case the shape and size of a traditional alarm clock.  I was particularly pleased that you could clearly see all the coils and inner workings of the barometer with the added bonus of a lovely bevelled glass over the face.  I know that the case is slightly pitted but to me it adds to the vintage and slightly industrial feel of the piece.  

I love this little barometer and if you do to you can find it on my Etsy Shop

OK so it's not really an instrument of torture unless you are the unfortunate partner of someone that cannot pass a barometer without tapping the glass.

Another find that myself and Spike both loved was an old clockwork Bakelite timer that would at one time have sat on a bar to time people using the telephone. Having an old vintage phone ourselves we thought it would be fun to put them together in the hope that one day we will find an external bell to make the set complete (don't ask... or if you are curious see my post entitled 'Ring Telephone Ring').   

Known as a minuteur téléphonique in France this is a super little truc

This wonderful contraption is still in perfect working order and we have already thought of how we can use it to annoy our teenage niece and nephew when they come to stay. The obvious use of course is to time their inevitable endless telephone calls back to England but we also came up with the idea of timing their showers because they do have the habit of using up all the hot water in the house (especially my nephew).  

Luckily for me I'm almost positive that they don't read my blog as the ramblings of their middle aged Auntie is not likely to be their kind of truc.  

On the quiet though I thought I might also use it on Spike for various 'time and motion studies' as he is often to be found gazing out into the distance when on a simple quick errand (thank goodness we're moving to town where there are no scenic views of the countryside to distract him!) 

The final little find was from a market we visited a couple of months back and is a lovely little brass compass that we bought quite well and congratulated ourselves on endlessly as we smugly continued our shop.  As with all things 'all that glisters is not gold' and it turned out to be a very well made reproduction from India.  

I love this little truc in spite of it being a reproduction

We were disappointed at first but on the positive side we have not only learned something valuable (which is par for the course in my trade) but because it is so pretty we have decided to keep it as a decorative piece and as a reminder that if something seems too good to be true it usually is.  

So next time you come across an old spirit level, brass telescope or pair of binoculars please give them a second look as you will really see some excellent craftsmanship worthy of closer inspection and your admiration.

The Sleeping Beauty

Last week I was lucky enough to visit a wonderful château about an hour away from where I live.  I must admit that given the choice of châteaux in the area it really came down to which one was still open for visits in September, which one had a guided tour and, if I'm completely honest, the presence of a café and gift shop possibly tipped the scale for me in favour of the beautiful Château de la Roche Courbon.  

The first tantalising view of the château is glimpsed through an imposing stone gateway,

followed by an elegant driveway lined with topiary yew trees

that leads to the stunning gatehouse.

We passed the enclosed courtyard on the way to the gardens ready to come back after lunch when a guided tour of the interior was been held.  Being a little out of season the tour was only available in French but at only 11€ per person for the gardens, guided tour, prehistoric caves and a couple of small museums I think all in all it was very good value for money.

 Although incredibly formal the gardens had a wonderfully serene quality that quite charmed me and

at the the end of a long promenade, past an ornamental pond with swans and ducks,

you arrive at some stone steps that offer you a wonderful view back to the château.

The guided tour of the château was very interesting buy sadly they do not allow photographs to be taken of the interior.  However visitors are able to take a few pictures of the cellars that house a little museum of antique wooden toys and an informative exhibition charting the history and many incarnations of the château itself.

By the 1900's the château had fallen into disrepair but luckily it was to find a spokesman in the form of the well known writer and explorer, Pierre Loti, who wrote an article for the French newspaper, Le Figaro, calling for someone to come forward and save the château from it's dilapidated state. He knew the château from his childhood having spent many holidays in a nearby village staying at the home of his sister, Marie.

In the article he coined the phrase "Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant" - The Castle of Sleeping Beauty'

It really was a magical day out and as well as falling in love with the romance and beauty of the château and gardens I also fell head over heels for this handsome fellow made of terracotta.  Sadly he is suffering from a few cracks and breaks which is no doubt why he had been secreted behind a wooden bench but I would happily have taken him home if I had been allowed to.  Well even on my days off I'm still always on the lookout for beautiful trucs!

Vendu!

I have been literally bursting to share the happy news that we have recently accepted an offer on our house.  It happened a few weeks ago but I wanted to make sure that the sale was definitely going through before I started bragging (I have been known to fall flat on my face in the past after becoming rather too pleased with myself!)

Our current home in the heart of the French countryside

Anyway, last Friday we sat down in the office of our Notaire (a sort of solicitor in France) and signed the Compromis de Vente which is a contract where all parties agree to the terms of the sale.  With French law the buyer then has a cooling off period of a week before they are well and truly bound by the contract to either go through with buying the property or to lose a large deposit (around 10% of the property price).

Now that I have covered the technical stuff the self satisfied gloating can now well and truly begin.  OK, so we were very, very lucky to get an offer on our house just three weeks after putting it on the market but we are particularly pleased that we avoided paying estate agents fees and sold it on the internet without spending a centime on advertising... oh clever ,clever me (I'm really asking for it aren't I?)

To be honest though because we received a serious offer so quickly it came as a bit of shock but we are now very excited about the move and after much toing and froing and a few sleepless nights we managed to eventually secure a lovely house in Cognac that we have had our hearts set on for the last 10 months.

Our soon to be new home in Cognac

The house is a major renovation project (as always) and in our favourite quarter of Cognac situated near the river and just a short walk from the lovely historical centre of town.  It's going to be quite a departure from the life we have now but I can't wait to have all the facilities that Cognac has to offer right on the doorstep.  

With all this excitement my brocante business has unfortunately taken a bit of a back seat but our move is scheduled for mid November so I will have time over the next few weeks to get back to the flea markets and start building up stock again for my Etsy shop.

So please keep your fingers and toes crossed for us that everything goes through without a hitch and hopefully in the future I can not only share with you our experiences as we renovate this poor, tired old house back into the beauty it once was but also keep you up to date on our adventures as we adjust to la vie en ville.

Art Therapy

I am feeling very sorry for myself today as I have come down with a horrible head cold. I have been feeling a bit under the weather for a few days now so to cheer myself up (and to spare you the fascinating details of my malady) I thought I would share with you an enjoyable visit that Spike and myself made a couple of months ago to the Le Musée de l'Art et d'Histoire in Cognac.

The elegant façade of the museum flanked by archways to the park

This wonderful little museum is on the periphery of the Jardin Public, the pretty park in the heart of Cognac, and is full of beautiful impressionist paintings, art glass from Lalique, Daum and Gallé as well as numerous sculptures, ceramics and trinkets.

If I wasn't feeling so rotten I would probably natter on about it all, but my poor aching head is struggling to keep upright as I type so I will keep my comments uncharacteristically short and share with your some of my favourite exhibits.

A beautifully crafted Art Nouveau cigarette case

A superb Emile Gallé trinket box

An elegant René Lalique vase that sadly my
photograph does no justice to at all

A stunning Daum perfume bottle that I covet so much
I am considering becoming a cat burglar

I had to include this particular painting because the subject
reminds me of our lovely doggie Jake

You can almost smell the sea air captured in this coastal painting

This lovely painting of a tree lined square illustrates one of
many things I love about French towns

A bust of Voltaire - Please click on the link to enjoy
some of his many witty and thought provoking quotes

If you ever have the opportunity to visit Cognac I do hope that you find the time to visit this charming museum because the exhibits I have shared with you today are only a tiny selection of the magical treasures to be found inside.    

I will be back next week fighting fit with a new post (be prepared - it may be a long one!)