I have a feeling that someday we will look back on our stay here at
La Cressonnière
and marvel. It would be hard not to. With that in mind, I'd like to
start posting on the maison itself. And where better to start? At the
front door of course ...
If I recall correctly, the door is near original to the house. It dates
to about 350 years ago! That means this door is older than the founding
of the country I was born in.
My landlord mentioned that a few of the front panels had to be replaced (note the difference in texture towards the bottom and right?), but that he was horrified at the suggestion that the whole door be replaced.
I couldn't agree more. While heavy, and a bit awkward ... and truly drafty (when winter comes, we'll cease use of it, stuffing batting in the cracks and hanging a curtain over the doorway), it brings me great delight to wrench the
porte about and traipse over its threshold.
I'm quite certain a brand new door wouldn't have the same effect ...
And while wholly unqualified, my observation, thus far, is that the famed French beauty has rightfully earned it's reputation. But the beauty exists without being pristine or sterile. Chips and stains, smudges and cracks ... it's the whole perfectly imperfect sort of thing.
I love that. Doesn't it take the pressure off? Life is too busy and full for perfection.
So while the still-lovely (and newer) main door is just a few feet to the left, the original truly seems like the entrance to the heart of this house.
A bit beat-up and knocked about, and all the more charming for it. It's nice to think about that door ushering in centuries of people with all of their own unique dreams and failures and daily agendas.
Wouldn't you agree?
A heart-warming post, Anna. And don't you love the way centuries of footsteps on those stones have marked the path of entry.
ReplyDeleteI do have to marvel, a bit, at how perfectly at home that door would be in our once-again-popular mid century modern homes. Our new ideas are seldom really new, are they?
Very good point! I hadn't thought of that!
DeletePerfectly imperfect (have you heard of the Japanese term wabi-sabi? I just learned of it within the last couple month and it rings so true with me). What a wonderful thing. I can distinctly recall thinking "that's older than the country I was born in," once, too, whilst in a lovely home during my travels in Europe, now nearly a decade past. It was a humbling thing for me to note.
ReplyDeleteYou're an excellent photographer, Anna. The color of that door is just perfect - earth tones for such an old place. The painting above the door inside the house caught my eye, too!
ReplyDeleteI think I should frame that saying: Perfectly Imperfect. So true for so many things in life!
ReplyDelete