Our Project
When we talk about “our project”, it can be split into two major parts: the house and the garden.
When you are looking for a specific subject, you can choose it below. But you can also navigate through our project information using the arrow buttons on every page.

The house.

Before we permanently live in France we do not deviate too much from our initial plans for the house.
Initially we decided to split into two phases. Phase 1 was limited to the ground floor and phase 2 introduced the first floor, the attic.
When we moved to France we renamed phase 2 into phase 3 and planned some intermediate projects in phase 2.

Phase 1.

The ground floor consists of three parts.

  • On the left you find a shed that has been added to the original house. A few years ago a bathroom was installed in the shed.

  • The living area is in the middle. There are three spaces: the old living, a side room and an extension to the rear.

  • On the right there is a larger barn with a hayloft.

In a later phase the shed door may be a small office. In phase 1 it will be a temporary bedroom. The only window of the shed is part of the bathroom. This is why we plan a window next to the door.

In the rear of the shed we have the bathroom, that will be fully replaced. You enter the the bathroom from the living. This passage will be closed and replaced by a door in the bedroom.

The old living (and cooking area and the side room will be joint into one living room. One part of the wall will remain. The wall is built under a large oak beam. Most walls will have plasterboard, allowing us to hide all the electricity wiring.

The extension that served as a bedroom will be our kitchen. The boiler will be replaced and relocated. The extension has a window, which used to be a door. We want to turn it into the kitchen door.

The barn and hayloft will be used as working space and storage. It may be come a guest house. But for the time being we will just ensure proper locking and we will install electricity for lightning.

 

Outside we want to build a kind of veranda. The shelter in front of the house will be broken down.
All windows and doors in the front and the back will be replaced. We want maximum glass surface. Litters will be replaced or installed. This will not always be possible because of the way we want to have the doors open.
We have to report these kind of enhancements - a permit is not required. You find some of the drawings that we sent in on the next page.

Phase 2.

When we permanently live in France we decide to insert a new second phase that includes the barn and stable as well as te external pigs stable. In phase 1 we already implemented part of the attic. We will complete this part in phase 2 as well. Also we include an extended kitchen.

Phase 3.

When we are ready with phases 1 and 2, we will go ahead with the attic. The attic includes the left and the middle part of the house. We want to make two bedrooms, a hobby loft and some storage space.

The stairs to this floor will be in the entrance area (the bedroom in phase 1).

We will install a few windows in the roofing.
The garden.

The 4800 m˛ around the house are probably a bigger challenge than the house itself. Except for a few bushes and a well there are just weeds.

We split the area into three parts. Each year we want to cultivate a next part. This starts with the construction or move of a fence, followed by the cultivation. The first and second part each cover one quarter of the total area. So the other half will be done in the third year.

In these three parts we want to lay out a garden, an orchard and a camp site. More about our plans for the garden in a next section of  Our project .