France trip - Part 2

Sunday

More work on floors this morning - filling in gaps with carefully cut pieces and fitting skirting boards.  This is now just about finished.  Also painted the landing and the back bedroom walls.

Finally the rain has stopped and the sun is out - everything instantly looks better.  But the far end of the garden is just mud at the moment.

Back home, Wife is feeling lonely, but there is only a few days to go now.

Oscar's field has a stream running through it

Monday

No Steve again - I am just beginning to hit a bottleneck due to his continual absence.

A brief trip to St Jean this morning for a copy of the international edition of the Sunday Times - one of my favourite papers.  And to Leclerc for a restock of food

The new armoire that I acquired on Saturday has been moved from the van into the downstairs bedroom of Petits Chats.  E150, the most I have ever paid for one - and it needs some work doing on it.

But it does look good already

Tuesday

I have set up the main bedroom ready for my trip down with Wife in a few week's time - and to take some new photos for the various websites.  I'm pretty happy with how it has come out and it is a big improvement on the old green-and-red strippy wallpaper!

I have also decided to do more cladding in the downstairs bathroom than the original plan, so I will include the area round the toilet as well.  Some test cuts for this work, along with test cuts for the rather complex scheme necessary to put up shelves in the new cleaner's cupboard.

Watched the Great Interior Design Competition on TV, where they were doing a dockland lounge.  This gave me some more ideas for the lounge in PC.

More back bedroom issues - the planned bed is slightly too big and messes up the flow of the room (and I can't fit any other furniture in)

Wednesday

Grant and Simon are here with the intention of doing the ceiling of the kitchen.  So down in the morning and a new frame put up in the afternoon - the plasterboard will be attached next week.

Cold again today - enough to justify wearing thermal hats inside!

Moved the smaller armoire up into the back bedroom.  This had to be broken apart in order to move it and took three hours to put back together again.  But it is up and looks ok, even if I have destroyed what little structural integrity it previously had

Thursday

Bright and sunny this morning, so I walked to the bakers.  Half a dozen people said "Bonjour monsieur".  I am almost a local!

Grant and Simon have been cleaning the plaster off the fireplace to reveal the underlying stone.  The tool used is called a pig scraper, both because it was used to clean the hairs off the skin of a pig, but also because the sound it makes is like a pig squealing.

Went round to Grant and Karen's tonight for dinner.  Spent five hours there and drank too much.  A beautiful clear starry night - so much lower light pollution here and so many more stars visible than back in the UK.

Friday

Lots of small jobs this morning before an afternoon departure for Caen.  We had a run through the spec for the remaining work.  Still no Steve though, so the job is now well behind.  Hopefully he will be back before Wife and return in a couple of weeks

The chaos that remains in the garden of Petits Chats

France trip - Part 1

Monday

Thick fog all the way down to St Jean - visibility often just 100m.  But the journey time was not too affected and after a food shop at Leclerc, I was at the house by 1:30.  Not much work has been done since I was last here, rather disappointingly.  Steve the electrician has been in and done some things but he currently has a bad back and it is not clear when he will be in next.

As usual, unpacking the car creates chaos in the main lounge - so much to sort out and allocate to the correct places

This area, now largely debris, will eventually be Petits Chats terrace and outside dining area!

I cooked enough chilli for 3 nights this evening - so I'm not distracted by having to cook each night.

Tuesday

Grant and Simon were round this morning so I was able to unpack the cooker from the van and get it into the kitchen.  Instantly, the room begins to look like an actual kitchen!  While they work downstairs, I have started on the back bedroom next work - painting mainly.

Steve might be back later in the week - they are not sure exactly how he is

This afternoon I bought a dishwasher from Gitem in St Jean and we did a quick test of the sink arrangement.  At the moment, we are rather confused by this and have obviously misunderstood something in the unit assembly.  We will sleep on it and hopefully it will become clearer

Wednesday

Some post, other than junk mail, has arrived - a book on French Kitchen design sent from Amazon UK

Grant and Steve mainly do odd jobs, but we did decide today that the kitchen ceiling can't be saved and so will have to be replaced - another really messy job.

More work on the floor upstairs - lots of odd bits still need to be cut and fitted

The armoire that I started painting on the last trip has been moved upstairs and re-assembled in Petits Chats double bedroom.  Still some painting to do on this, but it does look good in its new home.

The lounge downstairs is still rather a mess though - I won't be able to work on this until late March

Visited the Depot Vente in St Jean and the local Emmaus but no nice armoires - though the depot vente did have a rather stunning cupboard but it was E480 - way too much.

Ate chilli tonight for the third day in a row - perhaps it is time for a change

Thursday

A morning out with estate agent Dave.  The first property is not featured here as it is a very possible one to buy and I don't want to risk publicising it as this stage

Property 2 has been infested with termites and all the floors have been taken out and the ground treated.

And property 3 had a good location but a huge crack down the front (caused by mis-tying the extension to the main house resulting in the extension pulling too much on the main house)

The rooms were universally awful, but there were a lot of working fireplaces

And it did have 2 acres of land with it - the best bit of it

Spent the afternoon fitting together the armoire and adjusting the doors with the help and Simon and some glued in match sticks.  That finishes Grant and Simon's current visit and they won't be back till late next week

It was warm enough to sit outside and have lunch today - low 20s

Friday

Spent the morning tiling the downstairs bathroom in Petits chats.  No Steve again

I have decided that I don't like the cladding's current colour and will be re-doing it in a darker red - perhaps "red earth" by Farrow and Ball.

The cat is back - Wife will be pleased he is ok

Cooked 3 portions of spaghetti bolognese this evening

Saturday

Visited St Jean market this morning for delicious duck moose and booked the Annexe restaurant for Valentine's day when I am here with Wife.

Lots of wood work on floors and skirting boards today.  The top floor is progressing well - just a shame I can't do anything in the kitchen

I did repair the bed in the double bedroom so there is no longer the tendency to roll slightly towards the centre

The armoire looks lovely now the doors fit and the painting is nearly done.

I have put a couple of pictures up which look very nice.  The one in the double bedroom was bought for £15 at an antique fair.  The one in the landing is an original oil painting that cost E20 from a brocante

The tiling is just about finished in the downstairs bathroom and painting of the upper level has started - the same colour as we painting the main lounge as we have loads left.

As usual, the downstairs bedroom is a store room and workroom

Re-cap at end of 2013 - Part 3 - France-related stuff

Recap at end of 2013 - Part 2 - Business ventures

Latest painted-furniture project & comparisons with professionals

Today, a well-known, discounted-luxury-good website has a firm selling French furniture.  This is interesting for a number of reasons, not least because many of the items for sale are ones that we are familiar with from France and which we have, ourselves, used in our decorating.

First up, a Vetrine.  This has been painted in something like a Farrow and Ball mid-tone grey (maybe Annie Sloan's Paris Grey) and has had some rather-nice lettering put on the glass.  It has also been mildly distressed into a shabby chic style.  It currently costs £1,399, down from its pre-sale price of £2,250.

Below is a Vetrine which we bought in France this summer and which we are re-painting at the moment.  It has broadly the same structure as the one above with the same glass fronts, the curved paneling at the bottom, three hinges on each door, the same paneling on the sides and pretty much the same feet.  Our one has four shelves - which were being painted when this picture was taken.  We have painted ours in Farrow and Ball's Blackened, a slightly grey white.

Our base unit cost E80 and was bought from a brocante on the way to Oleron from our house.  It has taken about 10 hours of work so far, so imputing a cost of £50 per hour for my labour, I would probably be happy to sell it for around £500.

The current work scene in the garage - the shelves of the Vetrine are leaning on the freezer along with some sealed and primed cladding for the downstairs bathroom in France

Also on the website is a second Vetrine, this one priced at £1,649, down from £2,900 pre-sale.  It is painted in something very close to the colour we've used above.  It has two basic shelves and a mid-shelf that contains one or possibly two drawers.  And it has the drawer near the base.

We have one of these more or less identical in France which is mid-paint.  It has been put back together in the double bedroom in Petits Chats and just needs its final top coat and the doors re-fitting.  Ours cost E130 from the local branch of Emmaus and has perhaps taken 15 hours of work.  So we would values ours at, say, £750.

Next time we go, I shall get a picture of ours for comparison.

But this does just show how cheap it can be to do these yourself

Reading about art for the first time in ages

There was a small selection of art-related books on offer at Waterstones a few weekends and I acquired two, which I have read over the last week or so.  This is the first reading about art I have done for ages.

First up, Sarah Thornton's book about the contemporary art scene.  I'm sure I read something like this a few years ago, but nonetheless, this is a really excellent book.  The art market is absurd!

Also raising similar issues, but in a different way, is a book about an art forger.  This highlights the issue of the way art is valued - the picture doesn't change but its value depends on attribution and can change dramatically on re-attribution.  Which doesn't make a lot of sense when you think about it  

There are one or two other books about forgers or art thieves that I might try and have a look at soon.  And perhaps it is time to watch The Girl with the Pearl Earring again

De-cluttering - Cds and books

We have begun to face some of the enormous issues that might arise should one of our possible plans for 2014 come to fruition.  This implies that we would be well-advised to thin down our possessions considerably.  Initially this could cover books, cds and DVDs.

So I have made a start and have separated out twenty bags of books to go to charity shops, a dozen boxes of books to store at mum's and a few boxes of books to keep with me.  But this has only covered about the first tenth of our stuff (if that).

De-cluttering is an odd concept it seems to me.  We used to watch a series called The Life Laundry in which serial hoarders had their lives sorted out via a de-clutter.  Most of the people featured on that clearly had serious issues to deal with!  I am also pretty sure that I once came across an organisation for professional de-clutterers - can I really be right about that?

But I haven't yet noticed any panges of regret about the books that have gone to Oxfam.

Next up - list a few hundred CDs on Amazon and see if I can sell them for £1,000

The latest trip to France - Part 3

Tuesday

Today was mainly spent working on the floors and skirting boards in Petits Chats - filling in various gaps and awkward shapes.  The expansion gap for the wood floor is wider than the skirting board, so some filler will have to be used.  Not perfect but the first bits seem ok

There has been some van progress - and it might actually be done very soon, maybe by tomorrow

More work on the PC kitchen  - more painting of chairs and first coats of primer onto the kitchen units

Wednesday

Finishing touches to the main bedroom first thing

Steve has managed to get lights working throughout Petits Chats now, so every room can be more easily worked in.  He has also fitted the finished lights in two of the upstairs bedrooms and they look very good.

The van is repaired - as we suspected, the problem was the altinater not charging the battery properly.  And it seems to work really well now.

An evening out with Grant and Karen.  A rather delicious meal and a very pleasant evening chatting.

Thursday

Bit of a hangover this morning!

And it is -4 degrees first thing

In the kitchen, the dimensions of everything have been worked out and I am now planning to buy a cooker from the UK and bring it out with me in January.  Steve assures me that he will have no problem fitting this for French gas cylinders provided I buy the correct LPG conversion kit.

In one hour this morning, the tree at the far end of the garden lost all its leaves.  The grass is now a foot deep in leave and Grant's trench has filled up

My last meal of this trip - chicken and peppers, potatoes, etc.  Wife and I have this meal a lot in France for some reason.  And I am up to episode 6 of The Bridge.

Friday

Last day as I am going home one week earlier than originally planned.  Spent the morning doing a detailed re-cap of everything - overall, progress has been ok given that time has been restricted

No sure if it will be X'mas or January when we are next down - I suspect the latter?

An uneventful trip back to Caen, but some bad news tonight in respect of Wife's brother, whose latest test results show a marked deterioration over the last few months.

The latest trip to France - Part 2

Friday

I have settled into a standard routine.  First thing, from about 6:00am onwards, I am doing painting.  This morning it is the white Armoire that is going to go into the double bedroom upstairs in Petits Chats.  This is currently in pieces on the lounge floor.  Another recurrent job has been the corridor by the back bedroom and that was finally completed this morning.

Once it is light, other jobs come into play.  For instance, today dump mountain was finally cleared.

Progress continues on the upstairs bathroom which now has its bits and pieces plumped in and is not far off being ready to tile.

I have also started some kitchen planning - mainly clearing out bits and pieces and moving other bits of furniture into possible locations.  Tomorrow I am going to remove the tiles from where the new sink will be and from under the fireplace.

Saturday

Off to St Jean market first thing, where I buy a large block of delicious duck-mousse pate and some sort of kidney-based stew mix.

Then to GITEM where I have discovered that range cookers are far more expensive than I had thought in France and that most dishwashers are the same size.  I nearly bought one that was on offer but am not quite far enough along with my planning.

Today was mainly spent on painting the walls and ceiling of the double bedroom in Petits Chats.  This was surprisingly hard work and I am also running low of the James White paint that we were planning to use for all of the upstairs rooms in PC.

A bit of an evening off tonight and I watched Anchorman in preparation for the release of the second movie very soon

Sunday

Lots of tile removal in the PC kitchen this morning - more mess and some repairs needed before it can be tiled again.

Then lots of cleaning up required

And more arranging furniture in the rough plan of the kitchen layout.  It does sort of look like a kitchen now.

But I have also decided that the cooker has to move from my planned location under the fireplace - it is just not high enough to make work possible

During the afternoon I watched the Ireland vs All Blacks rugby match while continuing the chair production line - now up to six chairs (three, slightly-different pairs) all painted in the same Annie Sloan Grey

Also watched The Bridge tonight - first 2 episodes of the Danish-Swedish version

Monday

Into St Jean for a paper and some shopping, then car trouble as the van won't restart.  Looks like a battery problem to me, but not sure why it did start first time this morning.

I have to arrange a taxi back home, and then have Grant and Karen arrange to help, and to arrange a drop at a garage - but will it be ready by Friday?

Bathroom upstairs progress - ready for more painting.

But two good things in the evening.  The Land rover, which is in a garage in the UK, is ok and doesn't need much work doing.

And someone wants to book two weeks in the entire house for 18 people - a good amount of money for this but therefore everything must be ready - no excuses now.