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.