Before and after photos of the renovated façade of the barn with newly-exposed stones ♡ I repainted the shutters too, though I tried to find the same shade of bright pink because I really like it...
And I thought I'd take the opportunity to talk about the business project I've alluded to a few times in previous years—I've been superstitiously avoiding to talk about it until I was sure it could really happen, because it was quite a large project, but it’s nearly done now— I've been having the old barn building next to my house renovated to create a guesthouse 😊
It has two 2-bedroom flats upstairs, and a common room downstairs with a big fireplace and library. I've recently moved the chicken coop a bit closer to the house so guests can more easily get eggs in the morning, and I've planted quite a few fruit trees nearby :) It's a nice place for a holiday if you like the French countryside, books, woods, opinionated animals, unhurried mornings and unreliable phone reception.
(I will work on my pitch.)
In terms of entertainment, well there is no internet in the guesthouse (yet) but llamas can be observed in their pasture from the south-facing windows, except when they have escaped in which case they can sometimes be observed in the woods from the north-facing windows.
Everything isn't quite finished yet, I will need to make a website, and I'm still missing a few pieces of furniture and still in the process of unboxing all my books for the common room library, but all the major stuff is done— I should be able to open next year I think, though in the meantime I will have some relatives and acquaintances staying over as test-clients...
It's pretty amazing to see this renovation project almost done when I look at the pictures of the barn from a few years ago, when there were no proper ceilings or walls, rubble everywhere... Here are before/after pictures of a corner of the 1st floor:
And here's what the ground floor and the fireplace looked like when I first moved here - and now...
There have been lots of difficulties and setbacks, it's a project I first started forming eight years ago, it's nice to finally be able to make this post— and I'll definitely make more guesthouse posts in the future, this one is just a faire-part as we say!
