Pushing forward
Weeding, pruning, cultivating.
Here in Moulins spring has brought us all to life. The bright days invite some gardening. James and Daniel are very busy at work on their house and front yard, upping the energy level several notches. Louÿs runs circles around us, one after the other. Excitement is in the air.
Tumbling buildings have their own wabi sabi charm.
We went into Noyers earlier in the week and drove the back roads to the post office. I like this part of town which has an air of benign neglect about it.
Spring's yellow forsythia calls attention to itself set among the evergreen pines.
Behind the wall, the river Serein flows serenely past. Here the bank is private property.
Cross road leading to the post office.
This week a delivery of elegant oak baseboards arrived by truck. Measuring, staining, cutting and installing them has taken up a large percentage of time for James and Daniel. Each wall had its own measurement and each angle to attach the next piece had to be calculated and cut individually.
The wisteria blooms in late spring and early summer. What is now barren will soon be glorious.
The garden room (what would we do without it?) became the shop for preparing the boards for installation. It was a huge job but it was accomplished with skill.
Every board was stained twice to accomplish the correct shade to match existing beams.
The ground floor of James and Daniel's house was one large room at first. A wall was added to create a master bedroom and WC. The windows were enlarged and a kitchen was added. Those basic things were done last summer. For this summer the project involves the finishing touches. The addition of the beautifully stained baseboards is a real upgrade.
The base boards definitely add class.
Furniture has to be purchased and installed. Several important pieces are on order. The first one to be delivered was a lovely oak table for the kitchen.
The furnishings are a mixture of antiques and modern fixtures. The dark wood goes well with the white walls and dark beams. James and Daniel have ordered some of the bigger pieces from Selency, which we used for various articles on our own side. It has a huge selection from brocantes and antique vendors all over France.
In both the kitchen and bathroom, an antique cupboard was integrated into the design.
My own spring cleaning project this week has involved organizing all the beautiful ephemera that I have been collecting over the last many years. I have had drawers stuffed full of every kind of antique paper and I never know quite where to begin to look for things when it's time to think about collaging. I got the idea to collect all these in books, to tuck them into purpose-made book forms which have elasticized ribbons to hold the papers in place without damaging them. I made a few forms this week and after pulling out all my various stashes of papers, organized them by type and tucked them into the elastic ribbon which holds them attractively in place until the day comes to put them to use.
Fat books filled with beautiful old papers of all sizes.
I also made a few special bundles of various papers, fabrics and images that seemed to go well together, tied them with ribbon and put them in a drawer as a future book project, already half concieved. I liked so much the way they looked and I could begin to dream about how to put them together in some kind of journal.
Tamashi bundles.
Out my atelier window I can see the layers of bright green lilac leaves framing the flowering plum tree with a soft blue sky behind. This time of year brings so many visual delights that it makes one almost breathless to take it all in.
Flowering trees never last long enough for my taste.
Happy Easter to one and all! I will be taking the next few weeks off from blogging but I'll be back in May for sure with updates on the progress we're making around here. In the meantime, enjoy this lovely time of year.
