DREAM PROJECT: Who wants in?

I live in a very quiet, safe neighborhood only a few minutes away from everything I could ever want or need in Angers. The city itself is very friendly and beautiful with plenty of history and nooks yet to be explored. The tram system is almost done, which will make transportation all the easier, and the train station is a 20 minute walk from my front door, hence access to the rest of Europe. I can't witness to it, but I have heard that in the spring, there are nothing but flowers everywhere. This region is known for its beauty and kindness.

Can you tell I'm selling it up?

Here's why:

A few blocks from my host family's house, on a narrow street named Rue Blaise Pascal, are two beautiful homes. Both of them qualify as mansions by French standards, and are absolutely magnificent. The one is unfortunately inhabited, but it looks like a Disney palace. It was definitely influenced by the Renaissance architectural style of the châteaux in the surrounding Loire valley:

Isn't it just spectacular?!

It's neighbor has just as much garden space and has more floor space and is located on the corner of the street. The style of this mansion evokes the 19th century Haussmann movement (equivalent to England's Victorian Era). With 4 stories and a few balconies, this little castle of a house has so much potential:

Unfortunately, it has been severely neglected. This house has been on the market for about a decade now. Its windows are all shuttered up, its gate is rusting, the grand garden is overgrown with weeds, many panes of glass are shattered, and I'm sure the inside of the house needs just as much-- if not more-- work. Every time I pass this magnificent shadow (and it's on the way home from the grocery store and bakery, so I pass it about twice a week) all I see is potential. I'm filled with the urge to make the property beautiful again and breathe life into its derilict form.

So, who wants to join me in my noble pursuit? There's room enough to house at least 7 people without doubling up on rooms, and it's in a lovely neighborhood in western France. Enough said.

I know I should spend less time thinking about what color curtains would go in each room and whether or not it has hardwood floors and more time focusing on my studies, but what can I say? I'm a dreamer, and I just found my dream project.

Tune in tomorrow for another post. Not sure what it will be, but I'll try to make it amusing.