The agent’s photo of our back door, 2007. This is the picture that was in the shop window.
To my absolute relief and delight I recently found a CD with the original immobilier’s photos from when we first viewed the house in 2007.
I have hunted for them many times in the last few years and thought they were lost forever. I was very annoyed with myself for apparently having deleted them from the computer.
Then I was very pleased with myself when they turned up in a tidying-up of the study a couple of days ago. ( When I was hunting for something else, that didn’t turn up!)
I can’t explain why I felt it was so important not to have lost them. They have no value, even though they’re interesting. But having looked through them I am reminded that we have in fact made quite a few improvements to the house in the six years we have owned and loved it.
It was when we were standing exactly where these photos were taken from that we decided “this is the one”.
How many changes can you spot? I think I can see six. Plus one that is a change but you can’t tell from the first photo. (That’s a clue.)
(And the fact that the château does not seem to be peeping over the top of the kitchen in the second photo is to do with the angle the picture was taken, not a genuine change! The château is definitely still there. If it ever falls down, we’re in trouble !!)
Bon weekend !!
My observational skills need sharpening but here goes:
ReplyDeletePatio dug up and re tiled
Window bars removed upstairs
Shutter added upstairs
French doors changed
Pointing on gable and cleaned
And the whole lot looks a million times better - A lovely home for two smashing folk!!
ps. And a soil pipe to the right of the french doors (as we look at it) removed!
ReplyDeleteThat's most of the differences, I think!
DeleteThe upstairs shutter is the same, it was closed in picture 1, but the window is new.
As above, plus new windows upstairs? And no window box - just pots on window ledge, also in courtyard. It looks lovely and smart, and a proper sun trap, I imagine! I love the Loire Valley area - a colleague and I camped at Montlouis many years ago en route from La Rochelle to Caen, and I would love to re-visit the Chateaux and explore other parts of that region. Sadly I'm not sure whether we could do it now, with age & infirmity causing problems with travel insurance, and also with driving long distances! :(
ReplyDeleteHelva, the back of the house gets sun all day, which is lovely.
DeleteHelva... you can get to Tours by train.
DeleteMost places can be accessed by bus... flat rate fare 1,80€... from Grand Pressigny to Tours [45K] or t'other way round.
Jean, you've done wundaz! See you soon... DON'T buy salad!! We have an embarrasment!
I think C&E have highlighted up the differences that I can see.
ReplyDeleteI prefer the terrace tiles and is your new window double glazed?
Gaynor, we saw lots of houses with those crazy paving marble tiles. They were obviously all the rage at some time, but they were awful, impossible to clean and lethally slippery when wet. Having the new terrace was one of the first changes we made.
DeleteAll the new windows are double glazed, it's made a difference to the draughts.
Can't see anything that C & E haven't mentioned. Photos 2 just shows how loved your house is :-). That terrace really makes such a difference!
ReplyDeleteAnd of course also all the pot plants around makes it so much more lived in. Have a good weekend Diane
ReplyDeleteThe difference is huge! And when I saw it last year, it was even better yet. You did a fabulous job! Those marble tiles were a thing of the seventies. They are outside my mother's veranda door too and I know for sure the transformations to the house date from 1977-1978. It was considered as being very fashionable and hip at the time :) Martine
ReplyDeleteMartine, we thought it was probably 1970's.
DeleteI think it must be 70's. We have them around all of our terraces, and our house was built in the 70's.
DeleteThe place is much improved. Did anybody mention the clothesline is gone?
ReplyDeleteWell spotted, Carolyn!
DeleteWe couldn't understand why anyone would want to hang their washing directly over the main outdoor seating space! We put a line up between the trees at the back instead, out of the way.
How intrusive those crazy-paved tiles are! The double-glazed doors and windows and the removal of the soil pipe make the whole picture a lot less "bitty" as well - I bet it feels more spacious.
ReplyDeleteI still have the estate agents leaflets from my house moves in 1976 and 1987 and brought them to France with me, I'm not sure why either.
we still have the photos and estate agent details of the house we nearly bought near Amboise in 1995! No idea why.
DeleteWe have all the pictures we took of the many houses we looked at and did not buy. They are part of the memory!
DeleteSame here, we could make a horror movie from some of them!
DeleteSo many changes. I started to list them all and then got lazy. It was charming and so inviting before; it is beautiful and even more inviting now. I could see what drew you to it in the first place!
ReplyDeleteI was totally lazy and read all the comments before looking for more than the most obvious changes. :-) Your terrace looks so pretty and relaxing and I imagine you must almost live out there when the weather's good.
ReplyDeletePerpetua, you're absolutely right. We spend all our time there, as long as it's not raining.
DeleteWe have been known to sit out in woolly hats and scarves, just because we can !!
It is much improved Jean - beautiful. The change of terrace surface makes a big difference. Also the relocation of down pipe. I think the French think that us Brits are quite odd for all the changes we make when we buy a house there. I recall that when we told the seller of our house there that we planned to replace the 70's kitchen with a new one, he was horrified saying "why would you change it out - it's only 40 years old"!
ReplyDelete