How does one go about renovating a project overseas, over 8-9 hrs of time zone differences and in a country that speaks a different language than your own? You have to have the right people helping out and thank goodness we have had the right people! People will often say to us “I couldn’t manage a renovation at my own home let alone one across an entire ocean”. Yes, it’s difficult but to a certain extent I have had to let them do their thing and not really micromanage, and that has worked out for the most part.
Let’s take it back a step. Rewinding back to the timeline of our purchase- we offered on our apartment and it was accepted in late December 2022. The closing didn’t finalize until May of 2023. Much of that was due to the loan process, and the timeline for things as we were starting to realize in France (we knew but we didn’t fully know) is strung out much more so than in the US. Our designer, Laura, was about 6 months out for taking on new projects. We were in line for her services, but the closing taking longer than planned pushed us back as well. Her goal was that we could start demolition in September or October of 2023. That was going to have to work for us! So we booked a flight for September, around my birthday, in the hopes we could begin to pick out materials and meet with the contractor she worked with to go over our plans.
We had only a few days to meet with our team, as we were splitting the week between France and Belgium. First thing we noticed, the weather in September is superb, I would say the best weather we have encountered in Nice to date! We were able to swim in the water, catch some rays, and needed a light jacket in the evenings. The town feels full of life as compared to the sleepy winter vibe we had enjoyed on the January visit. Not overcrowded, but just right.
I think one of the most fun things we did was go shopping for materials with Laura. She is a native English speaker, speaks fluent French, and has her whole list of usual vendors she works with. This is where the line between being a tourist and being a homeowner is very distinct. It was the first time being in Europe (besides hanging out with my native Italian cousins) where we were treated like locals. We went to the tile/bathroom outfitter, the kitchen cabinet maker and eventually on the next visit the furniture store, mattress store, and linens supplier. It was all starting to feel real. To me this part has been the coolest. You start to imagine “what if we actually lived here, what would it be like?” My French is decent, but the lingo for these specific details would I’m sure be lost without someone who knows exactly what to ask for.
We left for home feeling accomplished and that this project was going to be getting underway soon. But it was about to be derailed…..
To be continued, stay tuned for part 2!