Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: It’s been a long eight months of renovation in our tiny village house here in Provence. We had a deadline, as the house was going to be filmed. Ever since the mania of trying to get everything to look presentable we’ve been taking it easy. …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: We figure that our kitchen is so tiny that in order to make it look good, everything in it has to have character and charm (well, maybe not the damn washing machine). I’ve fallen in love with all the shabby chic/farmhouse french kitchens that …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: Robin wanted to stick to the traditional non-baked cement tile. They add a lot of local character. Check out my Instagram for a couple photos of local cement time floors. These tiles are well known in Portugal, but have been used all over Europe. In …

By David Taylor: As many of our regular guests know occasionally it rains in Provence! Over time this has impacted the condition of our entrance driveway so in the autumn of last year we started gaining advice and estimates for the work to be carried out before the start of …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: We’ve recently painted our upstairs with chaux/lime wash. We wanted to apply a wall covering that respected the age of the building. It’s important that old walls breathe in order to reduce trapped moisture. We quite liked the texture of the traditional lime wash …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: Up until now, Robin has been doing all of the renovation to standard building codes (he has done some serious homework and seems to be the only person around here actually following the rules). We knew we would always need a little help with …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: Replacing the steep, narrow and dangerous staircase in our house with a space-effective spiral staircase was always part of our renovation plan. We looked online at beautiful industrial era staircases from Britain and compared those to the rickety plastic structures available at the local …

Contributor Blog Post By Ashley Tinker: Shopping for Antique Patina Doors in Provence The treasure and charm of antique doors. It seems that we like to make our lives difficult; dating for 5 years long distance Montreal-London, moving to a new country without proper jobs, buying a tiny house in …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: Our Renovation: More Ceiling Surprises So we’re still stripping back to try to get to the bare bones or our new tiny house. During the past few days we’ve gone back upstairs to take down the ceiling that consisted of fake wood made of styrofoam …

Contributor blog post by Ashley Tinker: Our Renovation in Provence: The Demolition Continues! You’re going to have to brace yourselves for a little hideousness- but we’ve started taring down the wood panels downstairs. This panelling so popular in the 70s is a form of cache misère which basically translates into hiding …