We caught up with Carmen, whose love of Chalk Paint™ is helping her breathe new life into a 500-year-old French château 

If you’ve ever dreamed of swapping your daily routine for life in a centuries-old French château, Château DIY is the TV show that makes that fantasy feel within reach. The hit series follows brave renovators as they take on the challenge of restoring historic and often crumbling châteaux into stunning homes and businesses.

We caught up with one of the show’s stars Carmen who, armed with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and a fearless sense of creativity, is transforming a 500-year-old château along with her partner Jon, into their dream home and holiday rental.

Here, she shares the highs, lows and unexpected joys of their journey which you can watch on Series 4 and 5 of the show on Channel 4.

Carmen and Jon are renovating a 500-year-old château into their new home and holiday rentals

It sounds like the stuff of dreams, living in a real-life château, but how did you and Jon find this unusual property? 

We met through our love of cycling and one day Jon suggested a trip to a region in France he’d been visiting for over 20 years and hoped to retire in. He lined up some properties for us to see, mainly farmhouses with gîtes to rent out.

Then we came across this place. The price had just been reduced but we had no idea it was a château until we arrived. The listing only showed a third of the property, including the gates and a fountain but the rest had been damaged in a fire. It was a complete mess, but we saw the potential. We made an offer the next day and it was accepted. They said it would take three months to go through, but it ended up taking three years to get the keys due to all the paperwork.

Carmen’s bathroom transformation using Chalk Paint is shown in episode one of Series 5 of Château DIY

What’s a typical day like renovating a château?

The birds wake me at 6am with the most incredible dawn chorus and that’s when I start planning the day. I pause for meals but don’t take lunch breaks as there’s too much to do. We usually have four or five projects on the go. I work straight through until 8pm.

The fire affected the whole property, so every single room needs gutting and starting again. We’re doing most of the work ourselves to keep costs down. Jon works full time. He spends a week in the UK then a week in France every other week so when he’s not here I get stuck in on my own. When he is here, after dinner, we’re so exhausted we often fall asleep. One night we even nodded off watching ourselves on Château DIY!

We’ve noticed that you’re a fan of upcycling, what are some of the pieces you’ve transformed for the château?

Upcycling is where it all began. I lived just outside Banbury in Oxfordshire, so I was familiar with Annie Sloan as it’s a local brand. I first discovered Chalk Paint in a garden centre, picked up a few of Annie’s books and that’s how I got into recycling furniture.

On the show, you might’ve seen me transform a gin cupboard and turn a coal bucket into a champagne bucket using Annie Sloan paints. But we’ve taken on bigger projects too like transforming old arched doors. Jon took them from one end of the  château and placed them in another, after they’d been transformed with Chalk Paint of course! 

What made you turn to Annie’s paint as part of your château renovations?

Carmen has painted the three bedrooms in The Pirates Wing using Annie’s paints

I Annie Sloan everything! It’s such a great way to transform an old brown piece of furniture into something really chic. It’s the chalky finish that appeals to me as it’s sort of rustic. The best thing about it is you can paint it on anything. You don’t have all that business of putting on primer and undercoat. I’m quite an impatient person so I just like to get on with the job.

But we don’t just use Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, we’ve used Annie Sloan Satin Paint in Knightsbridge Green on the kitchen cupboards and I’ve Annie Sloaned three bedrooms using Chalk Paint on the furniture, and Wall Paint on the walls.

It sounds like an Annie Sloan château!

The château has been painted in three types of Annie Sloan paint – Chalk, Satin and Wall

It is! The Master Boudoir, which is our bedroom has a rococo style bed, bedside tables, large armoire and dressing table all hand-painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in tones of greys and whites. For the Dresser I used two coats of Versailles followed Chateau Grey, then rubbed back, waxed with light then dark wax and highlighted with pure clear wax to protect it. One of the bedrooms is grey I followed the suggestions in one of Annie’s books, using two coats of French Linen, made a wash with 160g Paris Grey, 160g Old White and 100g water. I applied clear wax in sections, painted on wash, then wiped it off with a clean cloth. Our guest bedroom has a repurposed Georgian bed where I used Chalk Paint to create a patina that reveals the woodwork detailing. The mirror and curtain poles have been painted to match.

In the dining room I’ve painted an old French buffet in Capability Green Chalk Paint and in the first episode of series 5 you’ll see our bathtub which I painted in Graphite. It looks fantastic though on TV it looked green due to the way they pull back the colours.

What are the next milestones for the château?

We’re getting married here in July, which adds a bit of pressure to get everything ready. It’ll be a small wedding, just 20 close friends and family but we’ve built a pagoda and laid a path for the ceremony. We’re also restoring a vintage French car, working on the vegetable garden and tackling the kitchen, which is taking longer than expected since we have to lift and relay all the original floor tiles.

By the end of the year, we hope to rent out The Chapel, where we’re currently staying and move into The Pirates’ Wing. People have already been reaching out after seeing the show, asking if they can book a stay but we’re not quite there yet. Once we are, we’d love to invite Annie over to host one of her painting retreats!

Find out more about Chateau de Cezerac

Watch Château DIY on Channel 4 in the UK and look out for Chalk Paint featuring in their Christmas special coming up later in the year. Channel 4 – also known as All 4 or 4oD – continues to be one of the UK’s most popular streaming platforms, offering a wide range of shows, documentaries, and original content. However, due to licensing restrictions, it remains inaccessible outside the UK.

Interview: Momtaz Begum-Hossain