Brocante hunting, tiny house build and an unexpected trip to Paris

So, I've been working on selecting items for the tiny house. Trying to find brocante vintage items that match well, and that fit the style that I have in mind. It's been a pretty busy two weeks, driving everywhere to get building materials, and while I was in Dijon one day, I decided to go to an Emmaüs, that's a thrift store, a charity thrift store, that I hadn't been to for a long time. It's in Norge-la-Ville, it's one of the best I know, and I decided to just film a bit so you can see what that actually looks like. There's a lot of junk, there's a lot of old stuff, and not many of it is actually the kind of stuff that you would hope to find. But this is just to give you an idea, I thought you'd like that. And also, I was looking for a verrière, or say like an old window that I can use as a separation between maybe the bathroom and the living area of the tiny house. But most of the doors or old windows and doors that you see here actually aren't old. Many of them are still in the original packaging, whatever that's called. It's brand new, people just ordered the wrong size, gave it to the charity, and they're here for you now to buy. But it's really not the kind of style that I want. This old bed is really cool, it still has the original casters, but I'm not looking for a bed. I really liked finding these chairs and this table. These are the exact same ones that we had when I was a little child. Now if I were to do another project, I would definitely buy this table. I think it is pretty modern and it could work really well with a couple of beautiful vintage decorative pieces. But I'm not looking for a table either. Back home it was time to start the next project, not my favorite, which is painting the window frames. I've made it this far. I've done three windows and I will do the door tomorrow, because I'm really tired. But I think it looks really nice. You can't really see it in the video, but we're happy. Yep, continue tomorrow. The next morning I went to work a bit in the local cafe and when I returned for lunch decided to bring the plat du jour home for Olaf and me. Even though we both work from home and spend a lot of time together on our building projects, we never feel like we're seeing each other too often or we don't have anything left to talk about over lunch or dinner. So the primer coat is done. Now we need to do the little pieces of wood, the petit bois. Put them in a primer coat and then put on the paint color, which is actually almost identical to the primer coat. So you won't see it, but it will be necessary to protect the wood. We found a really beautiful industrial-style vintage verrière in Lyon, which is about a two-hour drive, and we decided to go together. The drive to Lyon takes us through the vineyards close to our home. All the harvest is now finished and it won't be long until all of the vines will turn red and gold and yellow and brown. This part of the Bourgogne is called la Cote d'Or, which means the Gold Coast, and during this time of the year, it really does its name justice. I can't wait to show you the verrière that we picked up, but that will be for a next vlog. And I really love how the forest that we look out on changes every day almost now. So the colors of all the leaves change almost every day, and especially the light of the Sun is so beautiful this time of the year. So depending on the weather, it can have all kinds of shades, and I just can't get enough of looking at it. It's like looking at an ever-changing painting. Good morning! I am in the van again. This is the week of driving. I am on my way to Paris at the moment, and yesterday, or maybe the day before that... Let me have some coffee first, so I can think straight. I think it was a day before that. I think it was Monday. I went to Lyon with Olaf because we found a couple of verrières. I don't know what that is. That's a kind of window, like an industrial-style, factory-style window, and we found a really cool one that we want to use in the tiny house. And then I found another one that we will not be needing anytime soon. But in our hangar, I don't know if there's a word for that in English, we have this opening that we want to close in the future. I learned to gift myself the joy of driving to Paris to go pick that up. I also have a really beautiful set, antique set. A set de toilettes is what it's called. So it's a pitcher, and a soap dish, and a small bowl that someone from China bought, and I'm bringing it to one of her friends in Paris. And maybe if I feel like it, if it's not too busy, and I don't feel like it's going to be overwhelming, I might park my van somewhere, which is challenging in Paris, so I might get a little outside of Paris, and then take a look and see what Paris is like, because I haven't been there since January 2020. I used to go there quite often for work. I might go and see. Also, because H&M, Home, have opened, very recently opened their flagship store in Paris. I've been to that one in London. That was in January 2020 as well, and I was so impressed. It was so inspirational, so I might try and go check that out. If I feel like it, I can't decide. I will know in two hours when I'm in Paris. And then of course, if I do, I'll take you with me and see if I can film a little bit. I picked up the verrière and delivered the set de toilettes, and then figured I did really feel like going into the center of Paris. So I parked my van at the train station Yves, and took the train into the city center. And I got out at Invalides, and that's a train station right on the river Seine, and also right at the Pont d'Alexandre, a really beautiful bridge with lots of golden details that my mom always talks about, because she really likes it. So I took a couple of photos and videos so I could send them to her. And as you can hear, it was really windy, but I crossed the river Seine and then continued on to the Champs-Élysées, because I wanted to visit also the Zara Home Shop, which is straight on Champs-Élysées, which you probably know. I picked up this coffee grinder, and also a set of beautiful storage pots with these gorgeous wooden lids. And I also took a good look at the bathroom textile section, because we decided to install a hot tub in front of the tiny house. And we want to put beautiful robes in the tiny house for our guests. I really love this combination of marble and wood. Actually, we will have the same combination in the bathroom of our tiny house, after long debate, because marble and a tiny house, marble and a cabin... you wouldn't really think of marble as a first thing for a cabin, but I really love this style so much, and I really want to make the cabin very stylish. So it might not be what people expect, but that might actually be a good thing. I really love these neutral tones. Some might say it's boring, but I think it will work really well with the vintage pieces that we've already selected for the tiny house. And it really suits this rustic decor style that I would expect, honestly, in a cabin. Now, like you, I can't wait to see this all come together, but we'll all have to be patient, because the tiny house is still a work in progress. Continuing on through the Jardin de l'Elysée, on my way to Boulevard Capucine, where the H&M Home Shop is. It feels so good to be back in Paris, and looking at all these beautiful buildings and hotels and restaurants makes me feel out of place, because I'm wearing my country girl outfit. And I just remember coming to Paris so often for my work before, and always dressed like a real madame, so to speak. So it's really good, and it brings back really nice memories of friends that I've met here, and things that I've done here. But it's just, you know, the beauty of the buildings. This obviously is one of the better places of Paris, and I'm going to walk through the part of Paris where all of the big designer shops, etc. are, just to show you how beautiful that is. I don't love or like designer clothes at all. I'm not a person to prioritize brands over quality, or just buying what I like. But it's such a beautiful Place Vendôme, I'll show you. So this is Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, and if you follow this to Place Vendôme, you'll find every big brand that you could possibly be looking for. But first, we're passing the Palais de l'Elysée, where Macron, the President of la République Française, lives. What I really love about these H&M home stores, you don't find many of them, not even in France, not in Europe. There are really just a few, but what I really like is that they have this huge fresh flower section. Honestly, most of these are in my garden now, so I can just pick these from my garden. But it's very nice to see what kind of flowers they choose, and it just gives me so many ideas about how to decorate. So I guess this is how unique these stores get. We see many similar items that we just saw at Zara Home, but like I said, I just like buying things not for the brand, or not because they're on trend, but because I love them. And I really love these linen robes that they have here. But honestly, the noise of the city and all the people are kind of making me feel like it's time to go home. So like I promised, we're going to cross the Place Vendôme before I return back to my van. Now taking this street back to the River Seine, on this beautiful sidewalk, crossing the famous Rue de Rivoli, to enter the Jardin des Tuileries, which is the garden that is part of the Louvre Museum. Here, all the way in the back, you see the Louvre Museum. And when you look to the right, there's another last view of the Champs-Élysées, with the Obelisk just in front of us, and the Arc de Triomphe all the way at the end. Now we're crossing the pedestrian bridge over the Seine. And actually, this bridge is the new lovers lock bridge, so to speak. I don't know if you know about this, but there's the other bridge, the one that you're looking onto, where lovers would buy a lock and then write their names on the lock, and lock it to the bridge. But actually, because of the weight, that bridge is starting to collapse, so we are no longer allowed to do this. And now we're just doing it on this bridge, apparently. Waving the Louvre goodbye and going down into the train station to find my van and return home to my family. Gosh, I really don't miss being in a traffic jam. And honestly, I guess the best part about going to the city now is driving back to the peacefulness and the stillness of the countryside, which I now call home. Thanks again for watching today, and hope to see you next time.