Some content was translated automatically. Show original
🇫🇷 Love DIY, creativity, and bringing old spaces back to life?
Join me in the heart of beautiful Bordeaux and help restore a traditional French échoppe house! 🏡
I'm looking for a practical, motivated, and hands-on volunteer to help with furniture, small repairs, DIY projects, and finishing touches to make this charming home shine again. 🛠️🎨
If you enjoy working with your hands, learning new skills, and seeing the results of your efforts.
20 hours of help per week
Painting & Decorating: Help with painting or decorating the property facilities.
Building & Repairing: Help with a wide range of repairs or building.
3 days off per week
Private Room: You will have a bed in a private room. In other words, a room just for you.
Breakfast: You are entitled to a free breakfast, every day of your stay.
Lunch: You are entitled to a free lunch, every day of your stay.
Dinner: You are entitled to a free dinner, every day of your stay.
Free Laundry: You can use our laundry room freely.
Use our equipped kitchen: Feel free to use our kitchen and make your own delicious food.
Fast Internet Access: High-speed internet for you to work remotely
Intermediate English or Intermediate French
Only hosts solo volunteers (doesn’t accept couples or partners)
Flights, Travel Insurance, Internal Transportation and Visa
This is my 7th renovation project, but I’ll admit that this one has got a little out of hand! The major restoration work is now complete — insulation, heating, electrical, plumbing, flooring, interior plastering and painting — but there are still lots of finishing details to tackle.
I’m looking for someone who enjoys creating, fixing, restoring and organizing things and who would like to experience life in Bordeaux while helping me bring this project over the finish line.
🔨 Help needed
Ideally, you’ll have experience with some of the following:
* Sawing, sanding, filling/spackling and painting
* Restoring vintage furniture and wooden objects
* Basic woodworking
* Building shelves and storage units
* General DIY and finishing work
* Installing light fixtures
* Furniture repair and refinishing
* Organizing and sorting
Bonus skills: plumbing, microcement application and electrical work.
If you have your own sander, even better! I provide all the other tools.
Some jobs are small and straightforward; others are more time-consuming and require patience.
You absolutely don’t need to be an expert. I’d love to have someone experienced because I can learn from you too, but if you’re less experienced, confident and willing to learn, I’m happy to teach you and work things out together.
🛁 What still needs doing
The bathroom needs finishing:
* Install the vintage Art Deco bidet
* Install the sink
* Apply microcement to the tub surround
The rest is mainly finishing work:
* Complete some baseboards
* Varnish a countertop
* Varnish the loft floor
* Install light fixtures
* Paint the kitchen cabinets
* Touch up paint
* Finish various small restoration jobs
There is also a big unpacking and organizing project.
I recently emptied my storage unit and its contents are currently spread throughout the living room, loft and basement. I’ve started repairing and refinishing furniture, putting things back into it and sorting through the boxes.
I need help continuing this process — deciding what stays and what goes, organizing what I keep, and potentially building shelves or storage solutions.
Maybe we’ll start with this first.
⸻
🏡 Accommodation
You’ll have:
* Your own private bedroom
* Access to the shared kitchen
* Shared WC and bathroom
* A clean and comfortable home
* A small backyard
* Free parking if you have a car
The bathroom is functional even though the renovation isn’t completely finished.
⸻
🍲 Food
Food is provided.
When I cook, you’re very welcome to share meals with me. I like real food, as organic as possible. Not processed, low-fat, fake or transformed. I do have my moments where I deviate and eat junk food though. I’m an omnivore but regularly cook vegetarian meals as well.
If you prefer to cook for yourself, that’s absolutely fine too — I can provide the ingredients.
⸻
👩 About me
I’m a designer and translator, a Greek American from New York, and I’ve lived in France for the past 36 years.
I speak three languages fluently as well as “Español falso” and enjoy cooking, cultural exchange, eating, live music, camping and having people around. I’m very happy to sit down over a meal and shoot the breeze.
I used to climb and dance salsa, but a recent accident involving both feet has temporarily put those activities out of reach.
I’m generally pretty organized, but I’m slow as molasses, meticulous and prone to overthinking things. My design ideas also occasionally get out of hand!
After working on this house mostly by myself these past few months, I’m looking for someone who can give me a bit of a kick in the butt and help me get it finished so I can get back to traveling.
I’ve discovered over and over again that two heads are better than one when it comes to finding solutions, and working as a duo tends to get things done much more efficiently.
⸻
🐈 Who you’ll be staying with
I live in the house with my daughter and our cat.
At home we mostly speak English — until the French, Americans, English, Colombians, Brazilians, Spaniards and Greeks start dropping by.
Then we switch languages.
More or less effectively.
**activities:**
For me, this is as much about cultural exchange and sharing everyday life as it is about getting things done.
I enjoy meeting people from different backgrounds, cooking together, sharing meals, discovering new perspectives and introducing people to Bordeaux and French life.
In return, you’ll have the chance to practice languages, experience life in a real Bordeaux neighborhood and, hopefully, leave having learned a few new DIY and restoration tricks along the way.
⸻
❤️ Who I’m looking for
The ideal person is:
* Hands-on and practical
* Comfortable using basic tools
* Patient and detail-oriented
* Independent but happy to work as part of a team
* Curious and willing to learn
* Comfortable living in someone’s home
* Someone who enjoys both getting things done and having a chat over dinner
Experience with woodworking, furniture restoration, painting, plumbing, microcement or electrical work is a plus — but enthusiasm and confidence matter more than having a long list of qualifications.
If you enjoy transforming old things, solving practical problems and seeing a project gradually come together, you might be exactly the person I’m looking for.
Hope you can join us!
⸻
📍 The location
The house is in central Bordeaux, so you’ll be staying in the city rather than in a rural or isolated setting. There is plenty to explore, eat, see and do when you’re not working on the house.
Bordeaux is also a great base for discovering southwestern France, the Atlantic coast, vineyards and nearby towns.
**rules:**
I pretty much said everything (I think). Let me know if I didn’t!
For me, this is as much about cultural exchange and sharing everyday life as it is about getting things done.
I enjoy meeting people from different backgrounds, cooking together, sharing meals, discovering new perspectives and introducing people to Bordeaux and French life.
In return, you’ll have the chance to practice languages, experience life in a real Bordeaux neighborhood and, hopefully, leave having learned a few new DIY and restoration tricks along the way.
⸻
I pretty much said everything (I think). Let me know if I didn’t!
