Renovations!

Ever since Dad went to join Mom at the Residence - where each now lives in a modest 15 m² room, cherished with the care they deserve - the great expanse of their 470 m² home has fallen into silence.

A house “in its own juice”, as the French say. But truth be told, that juice no longer tastes as it once did.

Viewings follow one after another. On paper, the address and description enchant. But in reality, the verdict always falls, blunt and unyielding: renovations.

Renovations to plan. Renovations to imagine. Renovations to dread.

And so, little by little, the price is lowered, though our hearts ache - for we see the house differently. We see it through the tender lens of memory.

Sleeping façade, waiting for the light.

I remember it as it was the day we moved in - still half-finished, but full of promise. As it was a week before my future in-laws met my parents, when we stayed up all night making the dining room presentable. As it was on my wedding day, after a month of painting, scrubbing and arranging flowers, when the house, just for a moment, shone again.

I remember too when my parents, full of energy, would take the children for three weeks every summer. And then the years when energy waned, when Dad began to have curious decorating ideas, when Mum stopped walking. Slowly, the rooms filled with objects, as if forgetting that an essential household item exists - the bin - and that it, too, must be emptied.

Forty-eight years ago, the house echoed with laughter and conversation - with champagne flowing as freely as the memories.

And so, even after clearing, sorting, cleaning and reorganising, the years of neglect are still visible. The first word that comes to mind when stepping inside is indeed: renovations.

But me, beyond the dust, I can already see the light. I imagine the bare walls as a blank canvas, the historic volumes brought back into focus, the courtyard bathed in Provençal sunshine. And step by step - frame by frame - this place will regain its brilliance, ready to welcome a living art space where history and creation meet.

Through the iron scrollwork, a glimpse of the stories waiting to be shared.