A Lady In France

After (Effects)

This is the after-effect of our storm front moving in.

I told you so Spring plants, but you wouldn’t listen! Poor daffodil – I can so relate with my own storm front moving through my life.

No, just kidding. I’m doing much better. I feel like I have the kindest blog friends and IRL friends and family who all show me lots of grace when I whine.

Everything is pretty much fine now. I took the day off so I’m getting some needed R&R, I made my first batch of sugar-free, gluten-free teff peanut butter cookies, and who said nothing good is ever free? My procedure is scheduled for next Wednesday so everything is all set on that front.

Except … well, maybe the hormones from the pill are affecting things but it seems like the problem may have tapered down to almost nothing. I would feel pretty sheepish if … after all this whining on my part …

But no. We won’t contemplate such humiliation of making a fuss over nothing.

Alright. Since I had to clean for my English classes yesterday anyway, I thought I would break out the camera to do my “after” shots from our upstairs renovation. For those of you who missed it, explanation is here. Now, it would be less pictures to scroll through if I didn’t repost the before pictures, but I think it will be easier to visualize if I do.

So I will.

Keep in mind that I am not an interior decorator (I was happy to sleep on an air mattress and put my clothes in milk crates when I was working in Manhattan, although I’ve come a long way since then). It’s Sir who brings all the decorating talent into the marriage, but he’s busy with a full time job so he doesn’t have time to do all the decorating he would like.

Of course I have all the time in the world and I spend it just sitting home and eating bonbons so it’s really too bad I’m not the master decorator between the two of us. But I cook real good so my husband is sticking around.

(I’m being playful in case this has escaped you).

So before. The view from the back door down the corridor here

becomes this.

Wall knocked down.

Our bedroom where we were sleeping

is now this, viewed from the angle of the fireplace.

We really need to replace these comfy sofas with something more refined one of these days. (Maybe when the kids stop staining them).

Another wall knocked down to get more space.  

The window on the left used to be the back door that would lead to the outdoor staircase so that you could get down to the basement.  This view is prettier in any other season than this one because of the huge lime blossom tree that fills the window with green (or golden) leaves.  I should also add that this is a work in progress.  We plan to replace the enormous tv with a flat-screen (not shown, but near the fireplace) and put floor-length white cotton or silk curtains.  We also can’t put the other paintings up until we get our new piano and figure out where to put it.  

Actually it’s a very old piano – hand-picked by Gonoud himself. He’s a French composer who wrote Ave Maria, and it’s being given to us by friends of the family.  So, like I said, it’s still a work in progress.

The living room/dining room here

becomes this.

The kitchen

is now this.

And again here.  Counter space!!!

(the workers need to come back and hide that ugly cord tied with orange duct tape)

And here’s another view from the kitchen, peeking out into the living room.

The kids bedroom

is now our guest room

slash office.

It’s a very light grey with white trim.

And this flower bed

what was once this

is now a stairwell, viewed from the top near where the hedges are. Notice the outside wall on the left side where the railing is.  It has all the texture of an outside wall, but has been repainted a shiny white. We will eventually put family photos here. The floor tiles down there were chosen because we liked them, but then we noticed they were named “1930,” which is only a decade after the house was built so it seems that they fit right in.

Now we don’t have to brave the cold to go downstairs to the bedrooms (where even more shocking changes have taken place).  

That’s all for another post, where I’ll also talk about the timeline on all this in answer to the person who asked about how long it took.  But that, my fine friends, is what you do when you can only afford 600 square feet of space in a really good neighborhood with really good public schools.  You make do. And you make up for cheap housing by spending it all on construction.  Sheesh!  No wonder we’re broke!

I love you guys.

Comments

I love to hear from you, friends. You can comment using the box below or your Facebook profile. But FB doesn't notify me of new comments, so if the post is more than a week old and you want to make sure I see your comment, it's better to use the comment box. Merci!

Comments

  1. Stephanie says

    Wow! just WOW!. I have trouble living with in a house with really small projects being done, cannot imagine living through all those changes. Cannot wait to see the bedroom area 🙂

  3. Madelyn Reyneke says

    My dear friend. I love the way your kitchen looks now and remember our hang outs there. I really love the way the staircase turned out and everthing else. When I see this I really miss you all so much. Have fun in your amazing house. Bisous!

  4. Abby says

    The house is amazing Jennie! Fantastic job!

    We bought a doer uper here – nightmare! Builders are so unreliable!

    I was on the brink of giving up but seeing what you’ve achieved has given me new hope – I hope it lasts….

    All the best,
    Abby

  13. Katharina says

    Looks like sooo much work has been done! very welcoming and homey . . . everywhere we call home is always a work in progress, and I know you must be very pleased with what you have done. 🙂

  14. mep says

    I adore the pink accents in the kitchen and am so impressed with the way you have made the most of the space. Location, location, location, right?! Congratulations to being close to the finish line on this project — would love to see a post on the piano when it arrives. Man do I love “Ave Maria.”

    • ladyjennie says

      Will do! And I keep forgetting to correct the spelling on Gounod in the post. Schubert wrote the more popularly known Ave Maria but I love Gounod’s better.

  15. ladyjennie says

    Hey Abbey – I’m really appreciating having a small space that doesn’t need to be cleaned from top to bottom! Or it does, but at least it’s a SMALL space.

  17. Harmony says

    Wow! That looks great! I love it when people have the vision to see what would happen if they remove walls, change the function of a room, etc. I can’t think that way, but it always gives such dramatic results! Bravo to you all. 🙂

    • ladyjennie says

      Hi Harmony!

      We just had to get creative. We couldn’t afford a proper-sized house in a good neighborhood outside of Paris so we needed to think outside the box. I’m pleased with how it turned out, but I’m already thinking about how to add a stairwell and redo the attic so my brain is still whirring.

Recent Posts

Archives

Instagram

Let’s Be Social!