Planning, permits & bendy zinc

Hi there,

Welcome back, and a big bienvenue to new subscribers! 

Well, the big news is… we have a competition winner! 🥂 

Congratulations to Mae et Guillem, from Andorra, who won a three night stay at La Petite Maison!

Let’s begin…

Aletheax

May days

May in France feels like the country is permanently en vacances with a national holiday almost every week: Labour Day, Victory Day, and Ascension. With many people taking ‘le pont’ to enjoy a long weekend, it can be a challenge to get anything done or find shops or services open. Throw in school holidays and the whole month becomes a patchwork of downtime. 

On the upside, it’s also the season of brocantes, vide-greniers and lively local fetes. Restaurants are re-opening after their Winter break and the tourist season is very much underway… 

Our little vacation rental is booking up (though there’s still some availability, link below) and the annual process of opening the pool has begun. I say process, as it always takes longer than I expect after the Winter hiatus! The lawns are growing like crazy, and I’ve now made my traditional (and slightly embarrassing) 🤦‍♀️ annual call to the motoculture place as I cannot ever seem to remember what kind of fuel the lawn tractor takes, doh!

Plans, paperwork & permits

The simple wooden beamed doors and large entrance at one end hint at its agricultural past. At only 11 metres long and four and a half metres wide, reaching a practical interior layout whilst preserving the integrity of the original building has been a challenge. 

I’m absolutely set on keeping the original features, particularly the remnants of the old four a pain, with all the associated oven nooks at one end, and the traditional stone sink, just off-centre on the back wall. These details feel part of the soul of the building. 

In my view it is also important to keep the exterior as unchanged as possible. Much of La Petite Grange’s appeal lies in its quiet simplicity. It also sits in a beautiful spot, with views stretching over the meadows to the village, the church spire framed by trees. From the village itself, the view back to the barn is equally lovely. I have no intention of disrupting those gentle optics. 

So when the original maitre d’oeuvre presented the first drawings back in May, I was disappointed. A new chimney spouting awkwardly from the middle of the roof, a semi-circular bathroom attached to the front, a front door leading directly into the bedroom and, perhaps most jarring, a huge steel framed extension. Internally, all the original features I was set of keeping had been obliterated by a very unimaginative interior layout. It was, without question, a hard no. 

With help from my sister, who, aside from being a brilliant shoe designer has an exceptional eye for all things design, we came up with a set of alternative sketches. Our proposal was simple, and we thought, elegant: a small, agricultural style shed extension at the rear to house the bathroom, and an extended open gable to create a small covered terrace and entrance. This would avoid the weirdness of having the front door open directly into the bedroom or living space, eliminate the need for a space-wasting corridor, and most importantly preserve the integrity of the original structure. 

The response was dismissive, and of the ‘I know best’ variety: “No, it won’t work, it’s too small and too difficult.” Aargh. My plan for La Petite Grange is as a fully self-sufficient cottage, cool in Summer, warm in Winter, powered by sustainable energy sources, including the rainwater and the Fontaine water. Keeping to a modest design, respectful of the building’s character and the surrounding landscape. 

Endless site meetings followed, involving much pacing out of metres and the frequent refrain: “Mais le probleme est…” (More explanation on that, here!) Once again, I was told I didn’t understand why my ideas wouldn’t work, and that it would be far better to go bigger and more modern. Fortunately, I managed to persuade my neighbour T, a macon who had worked on Les Plonges years ago, to join one of these meetings. His categorical support for my simpler plan, delivered with a breezy dismissal of the supposed problemes, was somehow heard where I had been ignored. 

Flipping through the bulky planning permission approval, the long, fraught process to get here momentarily faded. Step one was complete and when I was ready, this little building would be re-purposed and given a new lease of life without looking like it had been replaced by a breeze block! 

Full of the joys of planning approval success, I popped into the mairie to check on the progress of the other – and actually, more time-sensitive – planning application: the abri. My successful admin high quickly disintegrated on discovery that the abri application hadn’t actually been submitted, despite assurances to the contrary. Aargh. I’d signed off the drawings almost two months earlier. Without the abri, there was nowhere for the PVs (solar panels) and work on the chauffage and clim was already underway. Not cool. 

That evening, as the dust settled and the property again turned quiet after the noise of renovations, I considered the day’s progress. Yay, for La Petite Grange and sticking to the design integrity. Not so yay for the abri progress. No need to panic, I repeatedly assured myself. It’s a three-month process, if all goes well, we should have the planning by end of February. That’ll be ok 🤞 

I attempted to be sanguine and channel the patience I’d been studiously working on. Just as I felt like I was winning in the admin process, hitting milestones and moving forward, today’s abri news was an abrupt reminder that in renovation life, nothing ever goes entirely to plan. 

More on the abri later : )

More Snapshots of the Domaine Les Plonges ‘journey’ every week. 

Possibly you found your way here via Instagram? @domainelesplonges? If so, an extra Bienvenue! You’ll already know I love a good visual. So here I’ll share others and a little more context behind the images…

Whether it’s discovering unique work by artists and designers from near and far or rummaging through vide greniers, brocantes, and hidden treasure troves, I’m always on the lookout! I’ll be sharing my favourite artists, designers and sourcing spots here 😄 

Obsessed by zinc?

As I’ve mentioned before, when it came to the decor elements of this renovation I knew this was the area where I could, and had to, be as resourceful as possible. My overall approach was mix and match throughout: combining new materials with re-purposed pieces and brocante finds. Always on the hunt for those quality deals and quirky items that could be reimagined with a new purpose. 

And so, obviously… I became a little obsessed with zinc! I like how it weathers over time, developing that aged patina, and as a utilitarian material I felt it worked well with the property’s farmhouse origins. 

As such, zinc pipes became the go-to to conceal the gigantic solar cables on one of the garden walls – casing them into the traditional (and often a little wobbly) stone wall just wasn’t an option.   

Then, there’s the possibilities of the bendy roof zinc variety! 

Looking back, I can see now that I could have used it in so many more places – beyond its usual role around gutters and window frames. I’m pretty certain it will make a later appearance in both grange renovations… 

The buanderie is a case in point. 

Now, I do love a good laundry room. There’s something so satisfying (and luxurious) about having an organised, dedicated space for laundry. Strangely enough, when everything is in its place, it becomes one of my favourite rooms, calm, clean and oddly soothing. Just me?! But, ultimately, at its core it’s a functional space. In this instance, it also doubles as the technical room. Tucked away and pretty much behind the scenes, it’s also a sensible spot to save on budget. 

With plain terre cuite tiles on the floor,and just enough leftover kitchen tiles to create a splashback behind the sink, all that remained was to house the washing / drying machines, and storage. Easy, right? 

Ikea do brilliant plain white matte cupboards and so these were the obvious basis for the 1.5m under-counter and sink wall units. Meanwhile, a washer / tumbler tower was built using leftover stud wall wood and clad in plain panelling, complete with a (very clever and load-bearing) pull-out for a laundry basket. The panelling was repeated on the opposite wall to create an ironing board nook between the larger Ikea PAX cupboards and the hanging rail area. 

I’m a long-time fan of the Ikea PAX system. With so many interior configuration options they’re also easy to ‘hack’ and fit into your overall decor. As this one is primarily a linen cupboard, we added vents for air circulation, and instead of solid shelves used a mix of perforated metal baskets and pull-out trouser racks. With a few fun door handles (can’t help myself – look, zebras!) these work brilliantly. 

With my mix n’match hat on, I had this fixation of having a very utilitarian rustic-style counter top but one that wasn’t wood or composite. I’d seen zinc used beautifully in old rustic kitchens and decided it was the way forward. 

Possibly, the zinc counter-top wasn’t as easy to do as anticipated. I’d thought it was simply a matter of bashing the zinc into place with a hammer. Technically, that could have worked, but the charming rustic look (with upholstery style tacks) would have also guaranteed water leaks and eventual rust. Not ideal in a laundry room. 

Cue some calls to M-A the charpentier. 

The countertop was cut to size, using the most basic, budget-friendly board, and was then taken to M-A’s workshop where it was fitted snugly with zinc by whatever machine does this. An hour or so later, it was back on-site, and he finished off the sealing in situ. Removing the razor-sharp finish on the edge-cuts still needs to be done, but it looks great, is fully watertight, and I know the patina will only improve with age. 

So, all the practical perks of Ikea, with a little bit of a rustic twist : ) 

This room is now fully functional, though not quite finished. As soon as I’m able, it will be painted. Then, there’s another shelf to go above the radiator, under the hanging rail for laundry basket storage and a storage section to go on top of the linen cupboard. A curtain rod and curtains will eventually hide the technical area on the back wall. And finally, the supremely useful Coastal Clotheslines stainless-steel Dotty will go above the sink – all the way from lovely friends in Byron Bay, and hand-delivered by my brother (he was delighted by that request!).

Petit à petit!

What advice would you give yourself?

A few off the top of my head include: Don’t hire that person (!); listen to your gut earlier – it’s always right; be prepared to double your budget; be patient, it’s going to take way longer than you think; take more breaks from the renovation; remember that the really low moments will pass - and many, many more, but above all, enjoy the journey!

Overall, even in the moments of total overwhelm and frustration (of which there have been a LOT), I don’t regret starting on this project. I think I would have regretted not taking the leap even more. 

I’ve noticed a trend lately where people are sharing advice with their younger selves. There’s a brilliant book that gives perspective and pause for thought: The top five regrets of the dying by Bonnie Ware, an Aussie palliative care nurse. I remember reading the article years ago, and her book is definitely worth reading.

If you could give your younger self one piece of advice for the future, what would it be?

A small housekeeping note: apparently the format and images in this newsletter can appear ‘funny’ to some recipients on email. Thanks for letting me know.

Apologies. I’ve discovered this may be due to email servers considering the newsletter spam. A simple workaround is to add our email to your contacts. This should fix any layout issues 🤞 

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