You are doing very well… looks like you have the means for washing and cooking… both were absent from our house when we bought it… 
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That looks positively palatial compared to a house that a Belgian friend has just bought as a second home.
At least you have water, cooking facilities and a means to get clean! Those tiles on the kitchen floor are very popular in my ‘neck of the woods’, and I suspect elsewhere here.
Do hope that all goes well for you, whereabouts in France have you landed ?
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All looks tickety-boo to me, too. Our gas cooker is identical and if anything slightly more tired looking, but works perfectly well, save for one ring burner that seems seriously unenthused about heating anything. Our sink and cupboard beneath is a close match too. Very cosy.
Our motto is “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?” 
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If you ever need any spare parts just shout!
Very thoughtful of you, Mat 
. I will keep that in mind next time the door drops off 
We are quite attached to the curiously old-fashioned thing, it seems to have served three former proprietors over the last fifteen years or so, maybe because it’s dead simple and serves its purpose 100% effectively and consistently (as long as the door stays on).
Just over a year later I thought it may be time for a quick update.
We have been knocking down walls and removing ceilings:
This is to create an ensuite.
This is to create a bigger kitchen/dining room. (Today’s job is remove the rubble to dechetterie = living the dream!)
Just a quick lick of paint and all will be good!
Also removing cladding to uncover a nice barn behind which will be great in the garden:
Still to do:
Barn Roof
Remove render & repoint
Insulation
Electrics
Heating
Bathrooms
Kitchen
Tiling
Painting
Gardening
For any Instagramers - my wife if posting many photos via MyFrenchTownHouse - which seems to be proving popular.
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Love the stone fireplace!
It is a gorgeous feature. Look forward to seeing the finished renovation!
Bravo, Mat! The naked door-frame is surreal, full of promise, and the barn seems to have straightened it’s spine: you can see the wide smile on its handsome face!
I hope you have retired the cooker gracefully. Our scabby Brandt is still working and plays like an old spinnet or harpsichord, can’t bring ourselves to dump it.
More updates please 
They are incredibly versatile, I have lots, and they roll up very neatly. Being waterproof they might make a good outdoor bath for dirty dogs. Not that I have a dog that needs one.
Love stories like this Mat ( except for the buying issues), but the renovation/refresh; I follow to see how people do things, and get around issues. Great work. More pics and descriptions if you have time please 
The main works start in about a month, I will post pictures of the works from then onwards if people are keen. In the meantime:
And here it is many years before:
One of the major works to do is remove the render and repoint the stone behind. I have removed a patch of the render - it looks like the stone will clean up well:
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Very nice looking house, love the old pictures. That job of rendering looks a long one.
Quick update:
More ceilings down, fireplace removed and stripped bricks from fireplace:
Trip to dechetterie now:
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Nice clean work Mat. I’m particularly interested in the electrics and how they run the wiring, and all the nitty gritty detail, but that could be a small way off yet.
Plenty of other things of interest along the way 
cheers
Hi Matt, on the web journey with you, a great house and I have started to follow your Instagram feed…. I’m new to the forum and am planning my move to France in a few years…2nd life, I don’t think you retire just find folly to entertain you and hopefully some $ to support the folly! I have done quite a lot of renovation in the past so am willing to take this on…keen to understand what your must have list was for the house-did you have any limits on building state ( how much structural work?) during your search? Did you have a preference for stone or other materials, or is this relative to budget?
Look forward to your insights…
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Pulling down ceiling with not even a wooly hat on head?
If only I was the age now I was when I did this 
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I admit I wasn’t wearing the suggested safety headwear! It would be far too hot!
Excellent work on your project.
The house we are renovating is for use as a 2nd house or a gite. We live about 10 minutes away so location to our other house was important.
Building work here is expensive so I would avoid significant structural work. Be careful with the purchase price of houses as the building costs mount up.
On this house the work is:
New windows
New shutters downstairs
Remove render/repoint walls
New electrics
New plumbing
New heating
New kitchen
2x new bathrooms
New cloakroom
Insulate walls by drylining
50% new ceilings with insulation
New tiled ground floor
New log burner
Decorate
New roof on barm
We are doing some of the work but mainly using contractors - so far the low skilled demolition we could do ourselves.
Approx cost of the works is about 110k euros - so just be very careful with the costs as they do mount up. We had been advised at 1000 euros per m2 renovation - it seems fairly accurate.
We will be stripping the render from the house to have exposed stone which will improve appearance.
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