French House: Sejour Update
We’ve just returned from our summer holiday which means we are just back from the French house. And what a delight it was! I was reflecting on things while I was there and whilst the interiors of the house are important to me, actually it’s so much more about having a home that we own, the friends that we spend our time with there and the general environment of being in the countryside with far reaching views and a sense of peace and quiet.
But that’s not what you’re here for - so let’s get into the interiors.
Since last summer a number of updates to the house have happened but I’ll start with the sejour to follow on from the last post I did on the house. This room is now more or less finished. There is more I could do - small things…some more artwork maybe, some soft furnishings…maybe an upholstered ottoman for a coffee table. But for now, I’m going to say this room is done. It is the one we use the least so I’m not going to spend too much more time, effort or funds on it until we are spending more than a few weeks a year in the house.
goodbye fireplace, hello plinth
Removing the fireplace (and open fire) was by far the biggest change I made to this room (aside from the house wide changes like painting all of the timber work - door and window surrounds - and smooth rendering all of the walls and painting them. Details for this work is here).
The room now has a lovely contemporary meets traditional feel to it - which is my favourite way to style. The architectural features are all traditional French farmhouse but the room has been finished with a contemporary light feel through the choice of paint colour, furnishings and sleek new plinth which provides a platform for the new contemporary wood burner.
Interior Styling Notes
Plinth
Once we need to actually use the fire, we still stack the wood underneath the plinth in the central section and I will move the woven baskets to the smaller side sections (I need to buy a couple more of these. These ones are really great - they’re sturdy and have a lovely rounded square shape that I particularly like. Sadly though, I bought them in a random shop in Toulouse so I can’t tell you where to buy them - and I’m not even sure I can find the shop in Toulouse again).
Sheepskin
I was (am still in) two minds about how to dress the top of the plinth - two mattress cushions on either side? could do. But for now I’m loving the simplicity of nothing except for the print artwork propped up and the sheepskin. I bought this sheepskin in the Pyrenees this summer - it is exceptionally lush. You can find this one by Maison de Vacances which is similar here. I used to stock these sheepskins in the shop so I can vouch for how lovely they are - and in fact, I have two in our home in Singapore as well. I’m a big fan of the sheepskin.
Artwork
I had the artwork hung just before we arrived and the piece above is hung incorrectly. It bugs me to no end but my husband didn’t feel like playing amateur handyman and drilling holes into this lovely new wall so I will have to wait to tackle this for when the trades are back from their summer break. It should be lower and over to the left - centred between the plinth and the wall.
Furniture
I put links to everything in this room in my previous post here. But I have fallen even more in love with this sofa range this year. My daughter was a big fan this summer of curling up on this love seat armchair for mammoth 8 hour reading sessions. All very good and well, except that all of us walk around with the dirtiest soles of our feet in this house. Being located in the middle of the countryside there is an overall level of dust that coats the floors. Plus we are outside, inside, outside all day long. Each morning I sweep the terrace outside to help with traipsing the dirt in and I vacuum and mop a couple of times a week, but there’s no escaping it. Anyway, as you can imagine, the dirty foot imprints on the armchair were something to behold. I let it go while we were there - there was no point in washing the cover only to have it get dirty a day later and I wanted everyone to live in this house and enjoy its spaces. But before we left I threw the cover in the washing machine with some towels and other bits and pieces (in other words, no special wash consideration was given) and it came out lovely and clean and what’s more, putting the cover back on was a breeze. This is so rarely the case. Usually sofas with removable covers are designed so that once you remove the cover you can almost never get it on again without it ripping at the seams somewhere. Getting a sofa cover back on after washing is a bit like trying to get a sleeping bag back into its teeny tiny drawstring bag - like how did this ever fit in that??. Not so with this sofa range. The cover is suitably loose and there are sturdy velcro fastenings on the inside of the cover that correspond with the chair. Big tick. Also, I’ve said it many times before, but white sofas are the best for cleaning. You can use whitening agents without fear because there is no colour to contend with. Yes, they show the muck, but when they’re this easy to clean that’s not an issue.
a new front door
Thrilling, I know. But yes, a new front door. The old one had seen better days and probably could have just been pushed on to allow entry even when locked. Not ideal. So the door frame and a five point secure door was required. I had it made to replicate the original door that had been there. And then I sourced a door handle that felt in keeping with the home. Link for the door hardware business is here. This is the French website but they also have a UK one. I plan on making more purchases for door hardware in the future from here as I love their aged brass handles as well. Although I do love the black.
The window hardware is all original. The carpenters feel like the windows need to be replaced but I have decided to leave them as they are because I don’t want anything else new added.
dining area
Nothing new to report here, except the artwork was hung (correctly).
a look back…
This video is from my husbands look-see prior to us purchasing the house. Here is the sejour, as it was in December 2019. We bought the house on the basis of this one visit (and for me, this video) in February 2020 just as Covid hit. It would be 2022 before we would actually travel to France and stay in the house for the first time.
