Here’s another mini-tour of La Cressonnière. Today, I’d like to show you the old stone floors and a the view down the pretty upstairs hallway.
La Cressonnière dates to the 17th century. And it was added to in the 18th century. From what we understand, the stone floor in the kitchen and living room are original to the 17th century building. Apparently, in the summers, these floors and the thick stone walls keep the house very cool. (In the winter, that means slippers make a lot of sense, so that little toes stay toasty.)
The photo above is actually of the floor in the hallway upstairs. But you can find photos of the living room and kitchen floors below.
But before we get back to floors, let’s talk about this hallway. When you walk up the stairs, this is your view at the entrance to the 2nd floor. And it’s probably my favorite view in the house. The light from the windows is wonderful.
See the pretty door? It’s hand-painted, of course. And there are 2 others just like it that you can’t see in the picture. One leads to Maude’s bedroom, one leads to Oscar & Betty’s bedroom, and one leads to a little tiny hallway with a bathroom and an entrance to Olive’s bedroom. Here’s a closer shot of a door:
The curtains in this hallway are stunning. There a two big windows and very high ceilings, which means long, long curtains. There’s something about the long length that makes them feel so luxurious.
They start high…
…keep going…
Then puddle at the bottom. It took me 3 shots to capture their entire length. : ) Here’s a close up of the lacework — makes me want to touch it:
Now back to floors. Below is a picture of the living room floor. It has large stone pieces around the outsides and hexagon shaped tiles in the middle. The room should feel cold, but there is an enormous area rug and working fireplace that cozy it right up.
This is our first time living in a house with stone floors, and I didn’t know what to expect. But so far, so good. Upkeep of the floors seems to be pretty simple and I like the feeling that they’ve already survived for centuries and my kids can’t hurt them.
For Baby June, who is 9 months old but not the least bit interested in crawling, we have a little sheepskin rug that we move from room to room so she has a soft place to roll around.
These shots show the floor in the kitchen. No rug here, so this room is the coldest in the house. But because it’s a busy room — lots of cooking, cleaning and people moving around, it never feels too cold to me.
Have you ever lived in a house with old stone floors? What was your experience like?