"What is Your Biggest Challenge?"....

....That's the theme for this month's post
"By Invitation Only"

Actually, my "biggest" challenge is life itself.
A daily challenge but mainly in a positive way.

 As I'm far away from being a talented writer,
particularly in English (a real challenge for me!),
I don't know where to start without going into life-philosophy.

A great challenge was certainly when we decided in 1997 to convert
and extend
one of the outside buildings of La Pouyette into a Holiday house.
A small barn which was original a Bergerie dating back to the early 18th century,
 used for any kind of farm animals like pigs, hens, goats, rabbits or......
and included a large bread-oven built of bricks and field stones.
As we've done the architectural plans, clearing out entirely the whole building from old stuff,
  repairing all of the existing old walls, knocking down walls, 
building new ones in the old style with field stones, 
repairing roofs, building new ones also in the traditional way, etc...etc...
all mainly by ourselves, it took us quite a few years!

At the same time I was also occupied with finding and buying the Antiques for
the Decorative Antique Fairs in London where I was exhibiting 3 times each year,
and to serve some of my "old" German customers.
So, between the building/restoration work, the designs for the interior,
where to run the electricity, where to have the plugs, what kind of floor tiles,
finding the right materials, right for our/my standard
(we're living at the country side - something like in the middle of "nowhere"),
the designs for my stands at the fair, the buying trips and restoration of some of the antiques,
paying attentions to my regular customers,
running back- and forwards to my upholsterer......restorer....and....and....
decisions...decisions....decisions....
 daily CHALLENGES !

Now - this year is the 10th anniversary of renting out the Holiday House.
And here is a little report of what we've done:


Before:

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After:


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Before:


After:


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 Before:
 
  No, this is not Oskar, it is Minky our previous cat who lived partly in the hangar,
partly in that small building, partly in our workshop,
at the time when we had our dog Molly,
and before she finally managed to move into the main house!




There was an open hangar where we stored our fire wood and garden utensils,





 we extended the building and built up the walls half into the hangar area

 and half of that hangar....

 

....has now an upper floor, was tiled and leads to the pool area

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part of court yard of the main house in 1990.....rather charming, 
the oleander still in the pot,
later planted next to the entrance of the restored "little house" 

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Some images during building work:

July 1999

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 No point to have a Holiday house without a pool!

This was originally the place of our vegetable garden,
no straight borders...and rock!
It took over 10 days for digging the hole for the pool!
Just solid rock!

Another challenge!

September 2000

We had to wait for about a year to let the ground around the pool settle down
before starting laying the foundation with the preparation for tiling.

Meanwhile I created myself a little beach, enjoyed a sunny September,
and was fascinated by the "water-mirror"....(because of the black liner)

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 Now, all these small trees and shrubs had to be taken out.

What kind of fence? And what to plant in a soil with a lot of lime in it,
 only about one foot deep and on top of solid limestone rock???

Designs....decisions.....working very hard....

2001

keeping the poor soil condition in mind....watching our limited budget!

It worked!

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Inside the house:

Between outside work, planting, gardening,
paint work,
waiting for the tiles, crépi, plastering, and so on....
I stored the Antiques in the unfinished rooms which was rather interesting,
interesting for my customers, a "rough-and-smooth" look.

 the rooms in progress...

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 2003 - the final result:

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 ready for our guests

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 The kitchen:

 
before....




....and finished

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There is nothing more satisfying than to say at the end of the day
"I've done it - I've mastered the challenge."

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I'm certainly not bored
and - again - "under construction...."
in the middle of renovating/updating at the moment an old bathroom,

  

  (it's not me!)

working on a small budget, with one helper,
- another challenge -

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The next work will be in our attaching barn... 



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 There will be a large bathroom with a dressing room
and another large bed/sitting room in a kind of a loft or....




I have already the plans made....
and hope to start sometime this year...

So, no shortage of challenges!

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“Life is a challenge, meet it!"

 

"Life is a dream, realize it!" 

 

 

"Life is a game, play it!"

 

 

 "Life is Love, enjoy it!”

 Sri Sathya Sai Baba (Indian Spiritual leader, b.1926)

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For all the "Challenge-posts" of our group
please link in to Marsha's blog  
here

 If you like to see more of our Holiday house,
please click here  and  here