Escape to Rue du Chateau!
It is always difficult to record the development of a project over time but little videos have been made at different times and a few are shown below. The starting point was a building that had not been maintained for many years and then had been left empty for several years. At the time of purchase the property was divided between commercial and domestic use reflecting its use as a commercial restaurant and hotel and a family home. This made the internal layout extremely complicated!
Renovation, or more accurately demolition, of Les Remparts started in October 2016 and all internal walls were stripped back to stone and old floors and ceilings removed. Two doorways were found upstairs to the restaurant, two Louis XV fireplaces, and three doorways downstairs, one forming the basis for the doorway from the hall to the dining room.
By early 2017 the process of rebuilding was able to start. The arch between the kitchen and dining room was completed in February 2017. The upstairs doorway from the front to the rear of the house was renovated in September 2017, which included the removal of another huge lump of concrete and the rebuilding of a stone entrance. In November 2017 the doorway on upstairs back landing was rebuilt in stone having also previously been a big lump of concrete. The joists in the kitchen and dining room were replaced between December 2017 and February 2018. The sandblasting was completed in December 2017 along with the rendering of the wall in the hall facing the front door.
The downstairs floor was excavated to allow for underfloor heating and was concreted towards the end of January 2018 and screeded in February after all the insulation and underfloor heating pipes had been installed. Room partitions on the screeded floor were built from March 2018 along with the replacement of the attic floor and joists. From October 2018 the massive task of jointing every internal wall began, over 300 square metres. The first plumbing for the downstairs loo and bathroom was completed in October 2018 and during the remainder of the year the downstairs wooden room partitions on the restaurant side were plaster boarded, plastered and painted. Externally, major alterations had been made to the restaurant façade and finished by July 2018 with windows and shutters installed in October. The front of the restaurant was rendered in November.
By end January 2019 the floors on the restaurant side had been tiled with travertine and work was underway with the downstairs bathroom. The kitchen floor and dining room was tiled during February. The pool and outbuilding received attention in June 2019, including new coping stones and patio. Whilst this was going on a wooden floor was being installed upstairs above the kitchen and dining room. Subsequently, partitions were made on the new floor and plumbing and wiring completed. Radiators were hung on walls wherever possible. The stairs were constructed between July and October and the wrought iron railing installed during December. In October 2019 all of the manifolds were connected along with many radiators. By end of December all the en-suites had been tiled.
In January 2020 the bathroom furniture was connected in four further en-suites and wall tiling was completed. The restaurant ceiling and walls were insulated and plaster boarded, plastered and then painted. Finishing continued in all upstairs rooms during February and the kitchen units were painted and arranged in position. The stone worktop for the island was installed in the kitchen in early March. The kitchen stone worktop and hob surround was completed in the autumn. The wooden floors upstairs were painted and stained. The floor tiling to the boardroom was finished at the end of 2020 along with the fitting of the plaster cornice, dado rail and painting the room.
The hall floor was tiled in January 2021 and the oak doors in the hall were hung. The hallway and front door were then painted. The old render was removed in the Lounge to discover the half round arch in the wall shared with the dining room. Electric and satellite cables were installed before the walls were re-finished with a lime render. The Valley bedroom was wallpapered and the radiators finally connected throughout and the system tested. Shutters were installed to the dining room. In the final quarter of 2021 the focus was on the interior, curtains, cushions, sofa chairs, rugs as well as equipping the kitchen and dining room.
In 2022 the front stone wall was constructed and the terrace was added. The courtyard was cleared of remaining building materials. All flowerbeds were planted, including the courtyard, in front of the house and the terrace.
