To the left hand side of the dining room table, large ‘orangerie’ style double doors open on to the pedestrian street that leads into the village… Walking though the small passageway you arrive at the sitting and dining room… off to the right, through an opening, is the kitchen… All one space… all open plan… The dining table and chairs are at the end of the room and the seating area is to the left as you look through the entryway door… The painted bibliothque, my favourite piece, anchors the room and houses some of my much loved leather bound books and small paintings… Opposite is the guest powder room… The sunburst mirror and the floral watercolour were both found in the flea market at Villeneuve-les-Avignon.Ĭollecting the furniture, the paintings and the decorative objects has been the exciting part of this project… and finally unpacking and arranging them… well truthfully, I felt like an over-excited child unwrapping her Christmas presents…įor me, this past year has been all about, what would look pretty at Le Petit Bijou… what would make it feel like a home away from home… what would make it feel welcoming and comfortable… We want our guests to feel as if Le Petit Bijou is their home in Provence for however long they stay… Passing through the ‘garage’ there is a tiny entrance hall… with a sweet commode and mirror that we found at the deballage in Avignon…Ī visitors book, so that we can have a reminder of all our guests, is coming… For the moment, I have placed a collection of vintage pharmaceutical bottles… If you are brave enough to bicycle then there are beautiful promenades all around… On the other side of the ‘garage’ is a bench… a place to throw down the hats and baskets… or whatever else needs to stay put at the end of the day… Le Petit Bijou is right in the centre of town… the Wednesday market is a minute away and all the boutiques, food shops, restaurants and cafes are close by… it’s easy to wander on foot, with shopping basket or the rolling caddy to buy whatever you need… The copper pots, with their metal leaves, were handmade in Avignon… the urns are from our garden… We found them in southern France, way back in ’95… shipped them to Australia and then sent them back again when we moved to Europe in 2000… These urns are back where they started… It is a garage but not used as one… For now it is an entry hall… a place to leave the bikes, the baskets and the shopping caddy… On the left hand wall is a painted iron stand that once graced a florist shop in Paris and above a mirror frame and wall lights that we found in the brocante at L’Isle sur la Sorgue…
The entrance to Le Petit Bijou is through the ‘garage’. The old door above is no longer in use… but it wasn’t something that we were prepared to part with… the stone surround has been repaired, the walls strengthened and the paintwork touched up a little… the hardware is as we found it.
I have loved every moment of this project… and although one part of me is sad that the building work is over… I am so happy with the result and excited to show you… Le Petit Bijou, our village house is up and running… The planning and restoration have taken some time… finally, the doors have opened and we have welcomed some wonderful guests already.
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