The room you first step in to and in  many ways its the hub of the house. I think its fair to say that the French don't 'do' lounges particularly well. I suppose its natural given that they spend so much leisure time around the table! French suites and soft furnishings do tend to be stuck in the 80's...blousy leather suites and velour abound. And the prevalence of these styles, often in loud fabrics, seems oddly at variance with the proportion of cottage and character properties. On our first visit we bought an inflatable sofa and chair as a stop-gap, but it was clearly a priority to sort out some decent seating for when the winter arrived and we wanted to enjoy our open fire. It seemed easier to source this in England  rather than  hunting out anything suitable over in France, should such a thing exist!

We wanted seating for four, yet not bulky because the room isn't large and has  three doors leading from it.  Also, the house was liable to be left unoccupied for several weeks at a time, and we accepted that mice and insects could be visitors. It was sensible not to have lots of soft furnishings that absorbed damp from floor level. So we settled on a cottage-style suite which would be comfortable but in character and allow the air to circulate . And of course it could be swept under without any trouble. New wooden framed suites were  expensive, and besides much of the fun and satisfaction lies in getting something original to the house and a bargain to boot. A trip to a second hand furniture warehouse found us a suite for £100. It didn't look much....the wood had at some time been painted in a hideous chocolate brown presumably to hide the scratches the original polish had accumulated. And it had been recovered, very badly, in a particularly dreadful crimplene fabric..

The backs of the chairs and sofa were upholstered, while the seat bottoms had springs across the frame with a cushion pad placed on top. We removed the top layer of fabric from the backs and saved it as a template. Then we rubbed down the woodwork thoroughly and applied a coat of pale Primrose satinwood. Our  new fabric was actually sold as Door Curtains by Past Times and had been reduced drastically in a sale. The material was robust tapestry weave and had all the elements that summed up Old Normandy...quaint buildings, heraldic symbols, rivers and boats on them. The colours echoed the tones in the brick fireplace beautifully. With a bit of patience and common sense the backs were upholstered and the seat cushions were re-covered. Careful planning at the cutting-out stage meant it was easy to save the header-taped top of each curtain and re-hem them as a pelmet for the fireplace , replacing the orange frights that hung there previously. Its important when using expensive fabrics to save every scrap and not throw any away. Not only is it useful for patching repairs but also for adding a few trimmings to  help tie everything together. A few scatter cushions and the tie-backs for some plain taupe curtains in this case. 

....... Antique ones were far too expensive for an occasional table, and cheaper ones were not the right style. So we decided to produce our own. The table was found in a local brocante and it was plain  rather drab pine. but rubust and well balanced. It cost £15. It was given a good rub down and several coats of satin emulsion in off-white, with a rub down between each coat with fine wire wool. The  board was measured out using a ruler andsome masking tape.  We bought a quantity of match-pots and samples from heritage collection paint ranges to add painted details to our furniture and we selected two colours for the checkered square. The inspiration for the design was from the lovely mellow slip-ware tiles that we saw in local manoirs and churches. So, in keeping with that theme we decide that the floor should look as much like individual tiles as possible.

 A darker shade of the background colour was mixed and applied to each 'tile', carefully leaving areas of the lighter background shade visible to pick out the design. Finally, the top was rubbed down with a light emery block to knock it back a bit and then a soft buffing wax was applied to give it a protective sheen.