Randomshenans French Renovation Journey

[randomshenans]

We had some meetings over the weekend and discussions about maintaining rear access to the site, and redid some of the drawings.

Would keep ground floor access from the rear and also give some way of me getting bikes in and out, which was a concern of mine before.

Need to confirm with the architect, to get them to confirm with the mairie that we would be allowed to do this piece as the estate agent is bugging us to sign the forms. Obviously we don't want to sign unless we can get the approval on what we want to build though. Coming along though and this week we should have more movement forward.

On the gadgets side I've been looking at things like speakers in each room, and using some pis to create some internet enabled speakers etc. as well as running kodi in each kids room on them direct from the wall.

 

[randomshenans]

Balls ***** ****. Mairie won't allow us to do what we want on the house. I've come up with a very simple renovation for the house and lowered the budget significantly with the view to trying to renovate and make a profit on it. Sent this to the architect and will see what they come back with. Our issue is that there really aren't that many properties that come up in our area (where we want to stay) that match this criteria and scope. If we can get this one and do a good job on a budget, we could hopefully not only make somewhere nice to live (wife is so desperate to move due to building work around us) but also get us some cash out of it in the end and the next build will be even better

Mairies are a pain in the ring.

 

[randomshenans]

Been working with architect and changed things up but still should give us everything we're after. Signed the sales agreement last weds, kicked off mortgage process friday and met the architect today to start building out full details for the mortgage with costings etc based on spec. Should have some drawings by next monday and rough starting estimates.

 

[randomshenans]

Current plans from the architect, which we have already changed slightly but gives you an idea. We have moved the office wall back 1m to make that room smaller by a bit but open out the dining room some more. Wrap the kitchen worktops and cupboards around the south facing wall and move the island down a bit. Remove the wall between kitchen/dining and the stairs and have wine cellar under the stairs. That's a pantry behind the kitchen to store a lot of food/ appliances in to free up kitchen space.
First floor will have chambre 4 made slightly bigger by moving the main bathroom slightly as this is my eldest's room. Otherwise this floor is OK. Top floor we're going to move this all around but also bear in mind that there are sloped ceilings, so main space in the middle sections while utilising the sloped space for storage.

Next step is our changes and trying to get some cash monies ha

 

[Quartz]

Build / Renovation budget is 450,000 EUR

Add 50%

 

[randomshenans]

Add 50%

Funny you say that... it's now been upped to 600k ha

 

[eviled]

that will be an epic master suite

 

[Quartz]

Funny you say that... it's now been upped to 600k ha

Make that 900K then.

 

[randomshenans]

Ha

Make that 900K then.

It can't be... well, never say never but that's not including furniture or anything but the main build. Build cost comes in at about 320k, and 230k house price. We've added on 50k for the rest of the unknowns. That 320k already has some contingency built in, so let's hope!!

that will be an epic master suite

With full open ceilings and exposed beams too, so should be nice. Will be about 55m2 I think. Need to do some work to maximise the use of space with dressing room and en suite too though. Still trying to work that one out.

 

[randomshenans]

One of the things we need to do is raise the ceiling heights in the house, which means in doing so the space in the attic area is reduced. The compound effect of this floor move is quite a bit at the top being lost.
The way we want to combat this, to ensure we have big open space up in our suite is to add dormer windows, or one large one all along the inside edge, overlooking our courtyard side.



The benefit of this would mean full height maximised as well as much better windows out, compared to the velux ones before.

This would make the layout, something like...



Though, we now need to get this change approved by the mayor, as they obviously hold all the power and they're away for the next week.

Typically, the current roof doesn't conform to the current rules for planning, as they came in after the roof was constructed. So we can't make minor changes, as it will mean that the roof is not within the rules. So we need to make changes that are enough to make it conform, it's just whether this option will be allowed or if it breaks any other rules that they see. One possible outcome I see is that they might make us start the dormer further down the building, not right on the bathroom edge, due to a rule of "you must build on the boundary line, or 4m from it". You can argue against this for a number of reasons, but I think it really just depends on what the mayor had for lunch that day and how many lunchtime vin rouges.
Will have to see...

In the meantime our mortgage broker is trying to find someone who will give us some cash monies to pay for it all no pressure.

 

[randomshenans]

Still a couple of changes here, but minor things to change.



So you can see the velux windows on this floor now as we are moving the floor up, and this is going to mean on this side the rood pitch puts us having a part double height in those rooms and then setting the floor above back slightly. Also moving that toilet, back to the main bathroom.



Top floor now has dormer roof, so much more space on that side. Means we can actually use it, but we will have much bigger windows present and our dressing room will be smaller as we're putting the bedroom below on split levels.


All windows will be grey, not sure why it shows white. Also front door much bigger.





Hopefully have indoor renders soon and everything moving the right way... hopefully!