Autumn, Graffiti and Other Things
Autumn is firmly here, the colours are amazing. This is on the road between Castres and Mazamet:
On the way out the other day, I noticed there’s graffiti in our neighbourhood. One knows one lives in seriously bourgeois territory when this is an expression of youthful rebellion:
The garden is progressing. The border for the driveway goes in this week. We didn’t like the ones available at the local garden or diy stores (everything looked flimsy), so Olivier found us a company that made things for public places (parks, sidewalks etc.) They didn’t deliver and everything they made was big. This meant Mike and I personally made four trips to pick up 60 border pieces weighing forty kg each. We took them to be cut by a mason, then made four more trips to get them all back to the house. Now we’ve laid them out to make work easier for the man who’s going to cement them into place.
I’ll be done removing carpet adhesive from the dining room floor this week. Then comes the waxing. We have to decide if we buy a waxer or just rent one. They’re not expensive, so it may be worth buying, considering the size of the house.
My Mazamet 
The house is really progressing. How long have you been in there now?
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We arrived on March 9th at 5pm š I was as impressed I was daunted. Seven months later we’re starting to get an “inhabited” feel.
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Yes, that feeling of ‘home’ is coming through your posts. I think we’ve all loved being the proverbial fly on the wall as you wrestle the house back from the brink. I wonder. Is there some way you could do a walkthrough video of the house? Once it’s completely finished? And no, I have no idea how it’s done.
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I made the video on my new camera work last week by accident. I have no idea if I can make it work again, but I’ll try! There will be a small time lapse though because I have to give first picture options to magazines because that’s good for business š
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lol – I’ve given up on my digital camera and just use my phone for normal pics. No idea if it can take a video or not. Good luck!
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Just seeing the name Castres written by someone else had me dodging traffic down Memory Lane!
Buy the waxer, then you can rent it out to others, or sell it on ebay. š
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Castres is “The Big City” to us country folk š Fortunately it’s only 20 minutes away, so we’re there all the time.
We are leaning towards buying. Otherwise it would be a marathon of having to wax the entire house in one or two days.
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My memories of Castres are few, but I was there when the Tour de Franc passed through one year.
The largest cheer was saved for a young lad who came around a corner we were standing at riding a butcher’s bike!
The police had obviously held him up while the cyclists went through.
It was an hilarious and precious moment; especially for the kid, who I am sure treasures his ”fifteen minutes of fame” even now.
Buying is better. And you get a free course in Kung Fu, – Daniel-san: ”Wax on wax off”.
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we don’t have such beautiful colours anytime of the year.
Since you seem to like DIY, buy the waxer and on days you are bored, if that should happen, you can advertise to help others at no pay š
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But you live in a tropical climate! You must have wonderful colours all year round.
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I did like the discreet charm of bourgeois graffiti …..
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Isn’t it hilarious?! Plus a heart and a smiley face.
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That room is really coming along nicely.
Also, the graffiti was awesome. It brightened my day.
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“I have to give first picture options to magazines because thatās good for business”
?
I realize I really don’t know very much about you, yet I sure enjoy your projects and blog. Do you own some kind of a designer business or something?
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Mostly I’m an expert in fine arts, but I also work with design/property development. In the old days we built amazing homes like this: http://sotogrande.us/
Now I’m somewhat comfortable financially, so instead of making money my goal is to focus on creating great homes for people on low-incomes (who can’t buy.) At the moment I’m working on reforming a building which has seven homes where I hope to be able to cap rents at under 1/3 of the French minimum wage. If it works out, I hope to repeat the process. Wish me luck! š
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You built that house? Villa l’Africaine? And others also?
Oh wow, quite impressive. I am rather embarrassed I was giving you home improvement tips in comments. {{{facepalm}}} However I did just freeze my paintbrush today as I have to let the paint dry a few days before I do my 3rd coat, LOL!.
Low income housing will be a challenge, it seems to me almost everything depends on the price you buy in at.
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Yes, that one and others. Villa l’Africaine was my baby, my jewel š Now I’ve let it go and transferred all my overbearing attention to number 42 here in France.
And btw, all advice is much appreciated; I’ve learnt a ton from people on here.
Low income homes are definitely a challenge. What’s on our side is we’re not looking to make big profits from renters. We just want the money we’ve made to be serving a purpose other than enriching bank executives š Creating decent homes seems like a good idea as we’re building assets that real people can use.
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You guys sure have been working hard. The extreme effort to get the stones for your driveway…incredible. I’d have decided to do something else, rather than all that work, but then I’m not restoring an antique. The floor looks amazing already. Once it’s waxed it will be beautiful. It is so much fun for me to watch you do this restoration. Quite the labor of love.
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I see the house as an independent entity, with its own style and personality; so the process is really about finding what the house wants š The house wanted those exact stones, so we had no choice!
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What the house wants, the house gets.
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Exactly!
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