Renovating Our Home in Biarritz
In the last post, I left off where we had finally made it through the home buying process and we were beginning the grand journey of renovating our new home in the heart of Biarritz. It was cold, rainy, and a little breezy because we had demolished the first floor and top floor within the first few weeks with some help of our friends. In the meantime, we were cozied up in the basement with the leaky shower and glorious cow tile (no, really...."oh la vache!"). Originally, the artisans (renovation workers like; plumber, electrician, and drywaller) were supposed to begin at the very start of January. No such luck. Just like anywhere, it can be challenging to find dependable craftsmen/women. Here are the photos of our house BEFORE any renovations…
Main level (Niveau 0): Kitchen, Dining & living room
Second Floor (Niveau 1): Bedroom, bathroom & tiny room w/balcony (little ocean view)
Basement (Niveau -1): Bedroom, bathroom & house plan
Delayed Expectations
In comes February. Mind you, we don't have a functioning kitchen and the leaky shower is beginning to create a bit of mold, held back only my persistent spraying of vinegar and re-sealing the silicone at the base. After many phone calls and much begging, the electrician and plumbers arrive! Woohoo....let's do this. But then we find out over the course of the next few weeks they are routinely only coming one one day a week. March rolls around. It’s snowing outside and I can still hear bursts of wind whistling through our tiny holes in our 1900 walls upstairs. "God, please don't let our walls crumble," was a constant thought as I went to sleep at night. After further pressure on the artisans to put us as a priority, they start to come more often—2-3 times a week. At this rate, I'm not sure if we will be able to finish for Summer.
Finally, in mid April, the drywaller arrives and the upstairs starts to take shape. After the walls are up, the plumber and electrician come and install the toilet, shower, bathroom sink, and electrical outlets. In between the days the plumber would come, we had to hurry up and tile the shower ourselves and lay the flooring for the entire upstairs. Large format tile was awesome because it took much less time, but word to the wise----get a quality tile cutter, not a budget one. Nothing will drive you crazy like being hands deep in tile glue and having uneven tiles. Now, even though the drywaller seamed the pieces of drywall together, we were tasked with sanding the mud down to have smooth walls. Ok, whatever. At this point I had so much energy and drive to get it done that I shifted into overdrive. We sanded all the ceilings and walls upstairs as well as painted a primer coat plus 2 coats of satin in the bathroom and mat in the bedroom.
Yes, our arms were rock solid at this point. And there was so much more to do. Once the floor was down, we wasted no time in moving upstairs to a clean environment. We built the majority of our bed before taking off to attend a house warming party for my co-worker and then returned home to finish it and fall asleep. Later that weekend, we hung the barn doors for the upstairs bedroom and bathroom as well as wallpapered a piece of artwork in our stairwell. The home was starting to take shape!
Needless to say, 5 months later (May)....we had a renovated upstairs. This timeline was not what we had original agreed upon with the artisans and we decided to go with another company to finish what we needed in terms of plumbing, electricity and drywall in the kitchen and basement. This would prove to be the wisest decision we made. Shout out to Renoba in Biarritz for respecting our time and by treating us well. If you are in the Biarritz area and need a renovation, these guys (and girls) work hard.
Photos of the RENOVATED upstairs:
Crunch Time
We had until the first week of July to have the house completely liveable because our good friends from North Carolina were coming to visit for a week. The good thing was as the original workers had been taking their time, Alex and I had gone to work on resurfacing the walls on the main level to get rid of the 1980's crepi style textured walls. 3-4 coats later plus primer and 2 coats of mat paint.....it was about ready to rock. Now we needed to completely demolish the basement. Luckily, a few good co-workers from Alex’s came to help and we were able to get Renoba in and rebuilding the basement by the end of May. The father of one of the co-worker's also helped us install our IKEA closet doors and make a custom plug of wood to go in our spiral staircase pole so there wouldn't be a hole---everything worked very well and we are thankful for all the help. After the basement door was gone, new window in, new ceiling up, new LED lights installed, and a new room dividing wall complete----now came time for the kitchen.
Photos of basement, living room and kitchen AFTER renovation:
Within 4 weeks, Renoba had finished all their work and we were able to work alongside them as Alex and I finished installing the flooring on the first floor and in the basement as well as the tile work for the basement shower. We were exhausted. But we were so excited to see how well everything was turning out! Just a little further.....the last major work left was to install the IKEA kitchen and tile the backsplash. I have a huge bias towards IKEA because of their ethics and views on sustainability, so we tried to buy as much from them as possible. And their kitchens really are gorgeous and functional. The cabinets were super easy to build and install and for the wood counter top we needed a professional carpenter who knew how to cut all the crazy angles (there is no 90 degree angle in my house BTW).
As we watched the FIFA World Championships, I tiled the backsplash and could hear Biarritz's excitement as goals were scored. We had a 20 second broadcast delay on the computer so we could anticipate the goals because of the yelling outside and this made us even more excited. It was a great day to be able to see France win the championship and on the same day, finish the last major work on our house. We went outside and allowed ourselves to be immersed in the joy and happiness that was around us and finally realized, we really do live here. This is happening. Its real.
Several little projects happened after our Summer visitors that made our house feel even more like a home and I anticipate I will always find something to fiddle with for some time, but we are very happy with the results and are awaiting the work to start on the outside of our house which will take place whenever it stops raining (its the rainy season).
Tips for fellow "Bricoleurs"
Pick a loyalty card or "Carte Maison" at one of the home improvement stores you see yourself frequenting----immediately. Not only do these stores offer big discounts for doing this, they often have perks that can save you huge headaches, time and money. For us, we chose Leroy Merlin and chose the 3 year carte maison. We got an immediate 20% off our first purchases (be strategic!) and then 10-15% off after we would spend a certain amount. Also, we could return anything we purchased--no questions asked with a full refund. I can't stress this enough....this was such a help. (Same goes with IKEA, so get a IKEA family loyalty card).
Measure EVERYTHING (twice). I think this one goes without saying for anywhere in the world, but really double check. Look at all your product specifications before you buy them too. Before we purchased all our bathroom and kitchen products, I used the IKEA 3D builder tool to see how everything would look and ensure we would have enough room.
Find a deal on a rental utility vehicle. If you need a vehicle to cart off all the demo materials or to bring your products home, check out E.Leclerc's rental vehicle called a "benne." As long as you live close to the dechetterie (dump) or place where the products are, this thing is a flat fee rental and then charged per mile. If you don't have far to go, 15 euros is a great deal!
Time your purchases. You can find some of the best deals on building materials and tools around the end of and first of the year. That, coupled with your loyalty discounts will make you a happy bricoleur : )
See it in person. Things look different online. We saved a product list in every shop and went to each one to look at the products in person. Some were great, others....not so much. Visiting the products in person makes a big difference.
Bonus tip......get an artisan who respects your time and who will work hard. Check up on their reputation. It could mean the difference between 1 month and 4 : )
Feel free to contact me if there is a specific project you would like to know more about.
