Dimanche 27 Novembre

Ok, I guess it had to happen eventually. The cold, grey drizzle has finally hit our valley and I guess it means it's only just the start of a long cold winter. Luckily we have now moved into our cute little apartment in our attic. We have been sleeping here for about 5 days but it was only yesterday that we got the shower working along with the electricity. What luxury! This means the heating can go on and with only max of 5 or 6 degrees trust me we need it! We are having a bit of a lazy day today watching some downloaded tv on the computer and doing some cooking. We did venture out this morning to a brocante/vide grenier that was at a village about 20km away. Only came home with some cupboard handles but we had fun looking. It is nice to take a bit of a breather as it has been pretty hectic the past month or two - particularly for Paul who has been grappling, literally, with the French plumbing fittings as well as the French way of wiring. As far as the plumbing goes he tends to be too strong for his own good as often a leaky join has ended up with a broken fitting due to some over zealous tightening. Has been very frustrating though as just as it seems all the leaks have been sorted another one rears up. I wanted the toilet in place before we moved in but only after a couple of days Paul noticed there was a leak on the boards under it - after much investigating he worked out that the 'new' toilet had been patched on the underside and one of them wasn't holding. Pity we had bought it from Brive otherwise we would have taken it back but we have decided to try to fix it - will see how that plays out. In the meantime we have been tripping down the stairs back to the barn to use the loo. There may also be a small bucket involved for the night time ha.

Anyway here are some before and after shots - the afters will be added to next blog as there is still a few things to do but is a massive improvement on our camp in the barn!

Last week we had to head back to Toulouse as I had managed to pick up some wrong pieces for the kitchen cupboards in Ikea - so frustrating but it meant we could also drop our friends off to their flight to the UK so was all good. We also discovered an amazing charity shop with tonnes of secondhand stuff for really cheap prices. Two bedside tables of solid timber with matching marble tops that I am in the process of sanding and painting up came to the grand price of 10 euros. There was lots of nice furniture there but we only had the car - might have to see if the van is up to a return trip!

Note the bed that Paul has made us out of one of the oak beams that was left after the roof had been done and some of the floorboards from the attic. Recycling at its best! Other news is that I have finally been horse riding here. My friend Kathleen happened to mention that she had been getting lessons with her hubby who has managed to cut his leg with a chainsaw - ouch - anyway I said I would go with her and it was fantastic. Nice lively horses and we rode for over an hour around our lovely little valley - makes me want to get a horse here even more now much to Pauls distress! We went on one of the days that we have had most of November of - chilly start but clear sunny days - was all very nice. We have also been taking our neighbors dog for walks - well actually he tends to take himself and we just follow along hopefully behind him. I took some pics on one such walk.

Well the plan for the next week or so is keep going with finishing off up here - still have overhead cupboards to go in and the little storeroom/utility room still needs some plastering once the wash basin in the bathroom has been installed. Sanding of the stairs - plenty to do. Hopefully we may get the windows for the second floor and they will need painting before Paul installs them too. We have debated at length what to do with the windows. Initially we wanted to keep them the traditional French style similar to those that had been in there but to get them made from oak and double glazed, which is pretty much a necessity here, will cost nearly a grand a window and the ones we have seen didn't really look that great. We can get very cheap double glazed ones at the 'dodgy' brico which are single panes - benefit being once you paint them they should look reasonably good/unobtrusive and the second floor has really nice views so it will maximize those. Anyway since they are so cheap if down the track we decide we should have gone the artisan option we can always do it at that stage. In the meantime getting the rest of the building as airtight as possible is pretty crucial. It is quite strange walking through the first couple of floors that look like bomb sites to arrive here in the clean white freshness at the top of the stairs. Can't wait until it all looks this good! Oh and by the way Geoff if you are reading this the product on the floor is something by 3v3 called Huile Blanc - yep white oil! We didn't really follow instructions as it wasn't as white as we wanted so didn't remove the excess off with a clothe after painting on. This meant it did take longer to dry but seems to be holding up ok. Last pic is of some 'mushroom/fungi' growing on some of the trees around here. Apparently it is 'cepes' or wild mushroom season but we wouldn't know what was edible or not so just choose not to go there. This lot certainly doesn't look edible but who knows??

Mardi - le seizième de Novembre

Ok - well instead of sitting around watching paint dry - literally - I thought I would come in and do my blog now.  I think it has been about 10 days since the last one.  We are so close to getting the attic finished but still so far!  I am in the middle of finishing off the oiling of the floorboards.  Here is a photo taken about an hour ago - the coat I did last night is still a bit sticky but I think another hour or two and I should be good to go. You can see where the second coat from one end has already been done a while back.  Yes I am doing it white.  I am not sure if this will haunt me later but I figure this space will end up really only as guest overflow so shouldn't be used that much.  Since it is oiled too it doesn't take much to give it a quick sand and re coat if it starts looking too grotty.  Paul was dead against it until the drama with the floor shrinking then he said I could do what I liked with it - I think he may be regretting it now but too late ha.. I think it looks great - so much nicer then the yellow piney color and I didn't want to stain it dark as there are only very small windows up there.

Work in the attic has been slowed down due to Paul having to shift to getting the bottom floor ready for the concrete crew to lay the concrete.  I have kept going though - and have pretty much now got it all airtight as I have now mudded up to the plasterboard and also the floorboards - very messy job but does finish it all off nicely. 
Here are some pics of Paul getting the bottom floor ready.  He has worked his butt off this week - most nights he was still in there shovelling and digging in the numerous conduits and wires etc until really late. 

But it has been worth it as yesterday Arthur the concreter came with a couple of workers and they have left us with this!

Front door

It's going to be so good to not have muddy, dirty floors to constantly track upstairs!  Unfortunately Paul is now spending the afternoon chipping away some of the concrete at the front door as is too high to fit in the underhoor heating system plus tiles etc.  He was concerned when it didn't look like the levels were being checked when the floor was going in and rightly so.  It is not too much of a drama as we can always reduce the amount of insulation we put in but still not fun to have to redo something.

Looking from the little snug/tv room through to the living room

On Saturday we went back to see the couple we bought the beams off who are renovating a cottage about an hour or so away.  The weather has been really nice - surprisingly since November is traditionally very gray and miserable or so we are getting told.  So going on jaunts in the van is a treat with the sun shining and everything so green again since we have had some rain.  We went back to buy their fireplace from them after letting them try to get more money for it.  As we don't need the stone to use in the fireplace,  I just want to use it in my island bench in the kitchen, we didn't want to pay too much for it.  But they didn't get any takers so we got it for a bit of a bargain.  Here are the stones - as you can imagine Paul had some fun removing them and loading them into the van and out again.

Stones for kitchen bench..

I also went to the local Brocante (junk shop) and bought an old singer machine to use as the base for my washstand in the attic bathroom.  Paul found me a plank of oak (or walnut we're not sure..) to use which I am half way through sanding up to use in it also.  I saw an old chair in the brocante that I really want now but will have to take Paul back with the van to get it.  It is an enormous old carved armchair that needs a lot of work but is awesome.  Might have to see if I can get the price down first though!

Sanding the plank for my wash stand

40 Euros from the Brocant - lucky only want to keep the base as the machine is not too flash!

Well I think I should go and do my second coat of floor oil.  With any luck by Friday morning it will be dry enough for us to start transferring the kitchen from the barn to the attic.  Going to be a big job - it's amazing how much stuff we have managed to accumulate in such a short amount of time.  I can't wait to have a proper kitchen and bathroom though.  Hopefully I will have some real before and after shots for you next time!!

One of our barrels cut in half to make a pot for my bulbs!

We took this shot during the week from our house - if you look closely you can see a balloonist in the sky - you can see them all the time much further to the North West of us but this one must have got off track as was much closer and more to the South.

Le 6e Novembre 2011

I know - I'm late - I keep getting hassled by everyone but I have been waiting for more exciting news.  But I finally have some.  We have moved out of the caravan - woo hoo - I could not stand one more night in the extremely dodgy bed made out of the van 'lounge' cushions - it was crampy for me and I am only 5 foot nothing - not sure how Paul has coped for the past 5 months or so! But wait - don't get too excited for us as we have only moved a few feet or so - out the door.  We have bought a mattress and have put it on the floor of the barn for the past two nights.  Luckily it is not too chilly here at the moment so it has been fine.  I had been hoping that I could report that we had moved into our lovely attic in the house but that is still another couple of weeks away I would think.  The past two weeks haved seemed a bit like groundhog days but we are getting there slowly.  The plasterer left after the ten days he had alloted to the job but unfortunately him and Paul had not been able to have the couple of walls up and installed by then, which meant Paul has taken on the job of plasterer since then.  A solid week or two of rainy days has meant plaster that just refuses to dry out and so it is taking much longer to get it done.  But hopefully today was the last day of actual plastering and now we can finalise the painting etc.  We have done a lot - sanding - painting - wiring etc.  Here is some shots of the attic - probably not much different to last week!

Yes - I do work sometimes - I just usually have to take the pictures - here I am sanding the beams..

We have done some other stuff other then being stuck in the attic.  I have experienced one of the local delicacies that I was determined not too!  We had dinner a couple of weeks ago at our new friends Yves and Kathleens house and her little pre dinner snacks looked like yummy little pastries - as I am naturally a bit of a pig I dived in as they looked like spinach and cheese.  After a couple I started to wonder about the meaty chunk at the bottom of the pastry so stopped eating them.  Yes - they were escargot!!  They were definately edible but I wouldn't rush back for more..  We had a great night though - good food and great company - they are Belgian and bought their house from the same people who sold us our house.  Theirs is a different kettle of fish though as it is HUGE and for the most part renovated.  It also has a couple of 'gites' or self contained accomodation - they now have also bought a run down house right next door to theirs and are going to renovate it for a bed and breakfast. 
We also have been doing some long runs in our old van.  In the past two weeks we have driven it to Brive, Cahors and yesterday drove to Figeac.  It hasn't missed a beat but it has a problem with the alternator so the couple of times we ended up driving in the dark Paul was concerned we could end up cooking the battery and have no lights etc.  But we made it.  We went to Brive to get the bathroom bits and pieces - Cahors on Friday to buy a mattress and yesterday to Figeac to buy a lovely table that I had found on Leboncoin - a French website I am mildly addicted to - the table was only 70 euro (included 4 chairs) so was worth the hour and a half drive!  Good for me to practise my French too as it is very easy to get away with only speaking it rarely - and then only the basics for buying the shopping etc.  I actually wonder if I am getting worse as I have not been learning or practising at all lately.  I am meant to be getting some lessons from a local soon so hopefully that will eventuate.

 This week we hope to finish most of the painting, plasterering and sanding in the attic - although Paul has to down tools a bit as we have had someone come and give us a 'devis' to do the concreting on the bottom floor and he thinks he can do it next Monday - this means Paul needs to finish off his plumbing in the kitchen and also dig out the cellar to the same level as the living room. The cellar still has the old wine barrels etc in it at this stage.  Talk about a sucker for punishment!!  It will be great to have no more dirt floors though and we don't want to wait until it gets really cold as this can mean bad things for the concrete apparently.

The most amazing colour of autumn ivy - Catus - on route to Cahors

Cemetry at Catus - decorated with Crysanthemums for All Saints day



Lovely little walled garden in the middle of Cahors



Ok well I am off to go trawl on Leboncoin - currently emailing someone with a nice 1920's bedroom suite consisting of double bed - armoire (wardrobe) and bedside table for the grand sum of 150 euros!!