Yay! Tones of green!
Iâve never forgotten the electric blue metalflake corner bath that I found reduced more than 30 years ago in a Croydon showroom. I was fitting our bathroom at the time, and really liked the idea of a corner bath, but just couldnât do it. Eventually just went for a white enamelled tin (pressed steel) bath.
Iâd say that was a sure-fire way of identifying a French personâs house!
I always loved stand along tubs on a wooden floor. Until I had one. Looks wonderful but a nightmare to get in and out, especially wet, and not have a Downton Abbey catastrophe.
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Interesting.
Maybe itâs the naff of one country being the chic of another? I remember in St. Jean de Luz there was a shop called Oxford that sold old fashioned and conservative âEnglishâ clothes in the early '90s.
Thanks for the warning!
âa shop called Oxford that sold old fashioned and conservative âEnglishâ clothesâ
Yes! Le style anglais. 
I live suburbia so tastes are very different here.
Our friends have just bought a new houseâŠâŠit is cube. I am sure you know what I mean. Horrible things. I could do better in lego.
They are trying still to sell their existing house which is a maison matire type thing.
They wonât sell it easily because no one wants to live in such a house. They are not functionalâŠâŠespecially for families. And families are the main market.
Maybe. Certainly many French people love English and American cultural stuff, like telehone boxes or having a wall with a mural of an American city skyline, or Union Jack bedcovers ⊠and how they love to interject the odd English phrase,
Maybe itâs the company I keep ⊠
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Iâm currently renovating my OHâs million year old (small) family house that is 10-15 mins just down the road from you.
I love the area but blimey is it hard work when the sun is not out. But that said, it is still one of the nicest areas of France.
Which comes back to these threads about houses and renovation.
What am I renovating it into ? It needs to be comfy in the winter. It needs to be cool in the summer. What type of rooms do I want ? How am I going to heat it ?
Very difficult decisions. Do I want farmhouse look or modern look ?
Oh, thatâs exactly the sort I like⊠I saw this one earlier this morning, but itâs in the wrong location (again!) 
That or smaller cottage-like houses with a âfaçade en pierre apparenteâ.
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Bit like that but with another level.
And that house is on a road and the road light outside will drive you crazy eventually.
Old French house are not practical. Charming yes, but not practical.
You also need bedrooms on the ground floor. It is essential with climate change.
You will go bankrupt trying heat or cool down upstairs bedrooms.
And another thing, all houses in France are a renovation. Even brand new ones.
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Ooh that takes me back - I bought a top floor flat in Battersea in 1980 - loved it. The bathroom tiles needed smartening up so I bought exactly that shade of greenish / turquoise - they were smaller tiles and the ones in your photo. I did above the bath, along the front of the bath (it went from one wall to the other) and round the window and above the sink. At the time, I thought it looked lovely - now, maybe not so much! 
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That made me chuckle - it can sometimes seem that way, especially if you like everything âdoneâ and finished. Fortunately Iâm not at all like that, so the project house suits me fine as long as itâs comfortable.
Where are you?
Ideally I would like to have solar panels installed for powering things like the heating (if itâs not too expensive). Although I appreciate theyâre less effective in those months where you most need the heating. Iâve not looked into how many panels would be needed to power an air source heat pump though. Maybe using IR radiators powered by solar panels would be a better way to heat bedrooms⊠But then they donât help with cooling them in summer.
Looks like turq. Very nice 
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Check before you buy somewhere that your area will permit solar panels. Our village has a big Non! because of the chateau, convent and general ancientness.
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Ooh, thatâs good to know. Thanks!
I dont think Pacâs are the way to go. Personally.
Insulation, insulation, and more insulationâŠ.is better with electric radiators. But you could end up living in a box.
Solar panelsâŠ.hmmm no.
If you heat only one floor level (not upstairs) your options for heating are better.
I would buy a house with a second floor level but only use it ad hoc (warm a room if you need it) or only use the second level in the summer if needed.
Live downstairs. It is not the cold you should be worried about. It is the heat in the summer. Its a killer.
Everyone buying in France today should buy a house with ground floor bedrooms. It really is a must.
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