Hi there,

Happy New Year! We want to start by sending you our warmest wishes and a heartfelt thank-you for supporting our little newsletter and YouTube channel—it truly means the world to us.

We’ve just uploaded a new video, inviting you to step inside the Chartreuse and see how our renovation project is coming along. If you haven’t checked it out yet, now’s the perfect time!

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In today’s newsletter, I’ll take you on a room-by-room tour, sharing a bit of the house’s history along with some handy renovation tips.

The facade

The house dates back to the 1880s and was built by the concertmaster of the Bordeaux orchestra. This musical connection explains the lyre, mandolin, and other charming musical motifs adorning the front of the house.

One of our major projects has been restoring the original front door. It was in terrible condition after multiple break-in attempts and could barely close. We reached out to several artisans for repair quotes, but it was disheartening—most declared it beyond saving and quoted over €10,000 for a replacement. Just as we were losing hope, we discovered a company specialising in historic front door restoration (talk about a niche!). They were incredible, working on-site to bring the door back to its former glory for a fraction of the cost.

🎨 Door colour: Royal Blue, by Little Greene 👷 Door specialists: Renoporte, available in a few cities in France

The hallway

The hallway featured stunning original mouldings that immediately caught my eye during our first viewing. Unfortunately, they were badly damaged, and we soon realised that insulating the exterior walls from the inside was essential to make the house even remotely comfortable—this meant losing the mouldings entirely.

Knowing this space needed a complete transformation, we set to work. We replaced the 1970s tiles with a traditional checkered pattern, removed the lower sections of the walls where the plaster was in poor condition, and added wall paneling with decorative mouldings to conceal the damage.

As for the original mouldings? We couldn’t bear to part with them completely, so they remain intact, hidden behind the new ceiling, ready for any future owner brave enough to restore them.

🎨 Wall colour: Old White, by Farrow & Ball 🎨 Panelling colour: Wimborne White, by Farrow & Ball 🏁 Tiles: by Original Styles

The kitchen & dining room

This is where the real transformation took place. This part of the house was in the worst condition imaginable: a failed roof, black mould, and three decades of kitchen grease clinging to the walls. The original kitchen was also shockingly small, so we decided to remove a load-bearing wall to open it up into the dining room. We even converted an old door into a window to create extra counter space.

As the space slowly started to take shape, we began designing our dream kitchen. We fell in love with deVOL Kitchens, a bespoke English brand, but they were far beyond our budget. So, we did the only logical thing—we built the kitchen cabinets ourselves, doing our best to emulate their style!

And by “we,” I mean Hugo. This was his very first woodworking project, and he absolutely nailed it. He even cut the countertops himself, helping us save significantly on the overall cost. The kitchen cabinets ended up costing just €1,200 in materials!

For the flooring, we chose terracotta tiles and installed them ourselves. This approach sums up our renovation strategy: save on labor by doing the work ourselves and invest in high-quality materials. To achieve a rustic look, we went with untreated terracotta tiles, which we treated at home with special products to maintain their matte finish.

🎨 Kitchen cabinet colour: Hague Blue, by Farrow & Ball 🎨 Wall colour: Eddy, by Farrow & Ball 🤫 Pro tip: you might notice we’ve used plenty of Farrow & Ball colours throughout our home. What you might not know is that professional paint shops can match any Farrow & Ball or Little Greene colour for a fraction of the price. I’ve compared the matched paint to real Farrow & Ball swatches and couldn’t spot a single difference. This simple trick saved us thousands of euros!

The living room

Our living room faces north, which means it’s naturally quite dark. Since we mainly use this space in the evenings, we decided to embrace the darkness for a cozy, inviting atmosphere. I had been itching to use a bold, patterned wallpaper somewhere in the house, and this room felt like the perfect opportunity. We instantly fell in love with Vine by William Morris. While it’s not to everyone’s taste, we adore the black background, the lush green leaves that tie in with the dining room, and the playful nod to Bordeaux with the grapes.

One bittersweet change we had to make in this room was replacing the original windows. As beautiful as they were, they were badly damaged and didn’t close properly, so we had to let them go. We opted for replacements that mimicked the original style, but they still felt too modern. To remedy this, Hugo built a custom wood frame to restore the traditional look, and it turned out beautifully.

This room is still a work in progress! We’re currently working on custom shelves and cabinets along one wall for our books and TV. Stay tuned—more updates are coming soon on our channel!

🎨 Wallpaper: Vine from the Hidden Treasures collection, by William Morris 🎨 Cabinet colour: Wimborne White, by Farrow & Ball 🌳 Floors: oak parquet flooring, by Deschaumes

The bathroom

It might be the smallest room in the house, but it was by far the trickiest to design! With the layout completely reimagined and the plumbing system redone, this space started as a true blank slate. Bathrooms can be especially challenging to design, with countless variables and a wide range of prices for every element.

We began by finalising the floor plan, opting for a walk-in shower positioned to take full advantage of the window overlooking the garden. To save on costs, we repurposed wood cladding left by the previous owner, transforming it into paneling that we painted in Lichen by Farrow & Ball. For the vanity, we created our dream piece using an old chest of drawers topped with a custom granite countertop.

The results? We couldn’t be happier! The bathroom is bright and inviting, and the shower feels like a little everyday luxury.

🎨 Panelling colour: Lichen, by Farrow & Ball 🎨 Wall colour: Wimborne White, by Farrow & Ball 🛀 Taps & shower: Tres

The rest of the house

To explore the rest of the house, be sure to check out the final part of our home tour:

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There’s still so much to tackle in this home! From decorating the downstairs bedroom and creating our home office, to transforming the attic into a parental suite, landscaping the gardens, and turning the cellars into a functional woodworking workshop—our to-do list is packed.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see what we have planned for the gardens—coming soon! I’m especially excited about this phase, as it means I’ll finally get the chance to grow flowers again!

Much love,