Funnily enough – although it was a fraction of the spend on the building, electrics and plumbing – investing money in beds, mattresses, duvets, pillows, bed linen and towels, buying for all these projected guests we may never have, felt to both of us like a real leap of faith! But invest we did, and it all arrived on a huge pallet from Hotel Mega Store (beautiful 100% cotton bed linen – you should come and test it out!!). We felt very professional when it was all unpacked.
Of course, the night before all Andy’s family arrived for our first full house, we realised that we’d overlooked single duvet covers (all the beds can be configured as doubles or twins, so we had to buy double and single duvets for each room) and had to hare down to the nearest hypermarché, which was luckily open at 8pm at night…
In the days before their visit – three months after we moved in – we managed to clear the end of the building and painting materials, garden tools, lengths of wood and other miscellanea out of the main reception room, clean the floor and windows and, finally, move the dining table in. We bought a bag of logs and triumphantly had our first dinner in the dining room, with the fire blazing 🙂
Although the bedrooms weren’t fully furnished yet, we managed to take some photos good enough to allow us to get the website up and to list ourselves on booking.com and airbnb. It’s only the start of the marketing work to come over the winter and spring, but it feels good to have a start made.
And I finally sat down and sorted through and re-sized the before, during and after photos of each room, which you can see in each of the slideshows below!
We’ve named our four guest bedrooms after the four stunning limestones plateaux which overlook the town of Vence (and protect it from the elements) – les Baous.
Bedroom 1 – La Gaude – before, during and after
Bedroom 2 – St Jeannet – before, during and after
Bedroom 3 – Le Blanc – before, during and after
Bedroom 4 – Le Noir – before, during and after
You can also have a peek at the development of main reception room, our sitting room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom!
It’s been a hot and tiring summer. We’ve still got lots of little jobs left to do in the villa and the garden has so much potential it will keep us going for years. The list on the fridge only seems to longer every day. But what’s done looks great and we’re open for business.
Now, I’ve got a marathon to run.
Villa Rocamar 