ON THE TILES
/The pressure was on last week to choose the tiles for the bathrooms. It always seems to come to a rush ending! You spend weeks and weeks perusing Pinterest and Houzz, gazing at bathroom after bathroom in order to formulate your own plan then "bam" the tiles need to be ordered and you are under pressure.
This past week I have had two new best friends, well they must be my new "amis" why else would I spend so much time with them? The reality is they are the assistants in the tile shop in Villeneuve sur Lot. It is true that the tile shop is extensive, tiles of every shade of cream, white and grey imaginable. There are all the different sizes of tile you could want and every texture too. What is a girl to do with so much choice! I sumised that I had been in that shop for a good five hours though not all on the same day. I did achieve a two and a half hour stretch that led me to my final choices, along with several calls to the project manager checking suitability and with a bit of wrangling over availability......choices done!
The tiler is now here and those very same tiles carefully chosen with love and care are going on the floors and walls. It has been no mean feat to organise five bathrooms ...and all at the same time. I think just as one has a good house wine (does one???) then one should also have a good house tile. Our house tile seems to be travertine, the travertine is going on all bathroom floors except Lauzerte. We want Lauzerte bathroom to have a more urban look so we have gone for a grey colour. The tiles in this bathroom have a matt appearance, really important as this is partly a wet room.
Over the last few days a Kubota digger has been busy channeling trenches to the septic tank to connect the new bathroom and ditches have been dug to conceal pipes on the east lawn. I'm just glad that it's the start of the grass growing season, so it will quickly recover. The drive and parts of the lawn have been filled with vans and trucks, as the different trades arrive. The men stop for their lunch hour and can be seen sat around the table, partly in and partly out of the pool house. They are enjoying a little peace and quiet in the spring sunshine without the sound of drills and hammers. Its good to see and reminds me that it wont be too long before the pool cover will be rolled back and we too will be enjoying sitting by the pool. Roll on May!
Top right and left: Montaigu and Tournon ensuites. Bottom left.: the fireplace gets the travertine experience. Bottom right: cream wall tiles.