Friday

Work most of the day and then in the afternoon I set about sanding in Room 1. Dusty job! Matt says that I’m definitely going to need a shower this evening. I’m not sure what point he’s trying to make but I conceded once I sat down and a plume of dust erupted around me. Thank heavens we have leather sofas.

[3 March 2023]

Saturday

As it’s been a busy week it seems only reasonable that it will also be a busy weekend. The first thing is a trip down to Bricomarché, before lunchtime! Thankfully it meant we could have a nice lunch together outside in the sunshine 🙂

I’ve spotted a random budleia growing out of the driveway. Definitely not where it should be but, considering it’s other name ‘butterfly bush’, I’m pretty sure that there’s somewhere better for it in our garden. It wasn’t as easy to get up as I might have hoped but it’s up and I have plans for it. Between the hazel and the arch will be perfect.

Time for Matt to start putting the glass back into the window frames while I spend my time potting up some plants. All is good in the world.

Annoyingly Tonia isn’t here so I’m going to have to make a start on the huge pile of branches that need to be chipped and mulched.

The next job is the new ‘privacy screen’. Currently there is a big area of the pool and surrounding terrace that can be seen directly from the road. A big part of this morning’s brico trip was to resolve that problem by creating an extended screen which blocks most of the view and ensures that we can relax, swim and tan without being watched from the road.

There is still a good gap so that it’s easy to move through the space, and if necessary drive things through it, but only leaves the bottom left corner (as per this last pic) visible from the road. I think it’s been a success. The next job, which will take years, will be to grow things climbers and over it so it blends into the background, for now it’s rugby posts!

Sundown and it’s time to go inside, it’s also high time to clean up the windowsills / mantle pieces.

All good, time for dinner and bed.

[4 March 2023]

Sunday

After his breakfast Matt suggested I might like to get up, at 10:30am on a Sunday, um.. not so much, I have a couple of episodes of Doctors to watch before I get up. He however is off to finish getting the second window pane in so that we can finally get the house water tight again and trying to do something with the other shutters.

11:30 and I’m up ready to help. Job 1 was to clear up the kitchen, as with everyone it’s a never ending saga, plus we need to document the wines we’ve been testing in advance of the wedding. The other problem is that the kitchen is covered in dust every 2 minutes no matter what, so a quick clean of the downstairs bathroom and stairs, again.

Matt is up doing a lot of final finishing and working on the last detailing in Room 2 as well as finishing off the final surrounds/reveals on the windows.

We’ve had a quick look round and while I thought that the sanding around the windows in the Pink SdB was the last job, while tidying the kitchen I found the new coving for the pink SdB. I think it should be painted before it goes up to make it easier. Well I was right. Turns out that since we went for detailed coving we need some of my specialist painting brushes, not just your regular whack it on job. It was very therapeutic but so much slower, and I had to wait for layers to set.

Matt is still busy and there’s a lot to do so best to leave him to it. He has however got a break between these jobs though so we’re finally going to do the ‘one year on’ video, or as it turns out the just over 2 years on video. I hate doing videos! We need to do it now though before we start really cracking on with the decor, but it does show that this is a working house, covered in dust and dirt and toilets in hallways. It has been this way for as long as I can remember and as much as you imagine doing one room at a time that is not possible when you’re also rewiring and replumbing; for example the plumbing from Room 1 ensuite needs to go through the roof of the ground floor bathroom so we can’t do them separately.

[I’ll upload the video separately once Matt has edited and sent me the link.]

It seems that the coving still isn’t dry so I’m off to take the recycling and bins away. Back at the house and it’s dry so time to get another coat on. I have no idea how this is going to got on but the first stage is complete and again needs to dry.

After helping Matt channel the walls in the Room 1 ensuite I need to go and start dinner. Ahh.. well maybe I’ll just nip out to the potting shed. I finally found my fine marker so I’ve planted a few more delphinium; they are hopefully going to be the big show flowers for the wedding so need to reseed every few weeks to get them timed right for cut flowers.

OK, time to start the Sunday roast, it’s almost 6pm so Matt is going to have to wait for his dinner but I’ve promised so again I will deliver. And finally I did, at almost 9pm.

Our cat is hilariously mental. Boy does she love the most warm stinky work boot. It has us falling about with laughter every time though.

[5 March 2023]

Monday

Off up to the Marie today for another chat with André. He’d asked us to set up the meeting and then proceeded to ask us why we were there. Thankfully we’d come prepared for just such an occasion with a list of questions about what documents we needed to provide regarding the re-rendering of the house and repainting of external doors and window frames. It seems that a simple Declaration de Travaux should do the job, drop it back once completed and he’ll sign it off. That’s something at least and should be pretty straightforward.

Hmm, a bit of a problem today as I can’t seem to log into my work email due to the two factor authentication wanting to send me a text or call me, however I’m not going to have my new phone until next week.

Since I can’t work the only option is to spend my time trying to source all the remaining items for the blue ensuite and look at yet more wallpapers for Room 1. I’ve sourced the shower from Spain, as it was cheaper than France, selected a sink and vanity which I’ve double checked and should fit in the space exactly, I’ve shared a shortlist of possible taps with Matt and selected the preferred option. There’s now just the floor tiles to agree on and the finish of the shower, mural or tiles and what design? Hard to choose until we know what the wallpaper is going to be in Room 1, which I’m still struggling with. I have found a few UK sites that can do custom printing but it’s not cheap so have to keep thinking.

Team Steve has been doing more work on the taping, joining and plastering and on the Room 1 ensuite. The doorway has now been blocked up to the hallway, it feels very strange and different and we’re going to have to work out what to put in the new space that has been created. There’s also been some of the water pipes run but still plenty more to do. We’ve also broadly agreed the size and location of the niche for the bathroom.

Once they’d gone I was back up to the Pink SdB to check if the new coving will actually fit above the window, with a little adjustment it should just about fit, thank heavens.

I then started to try to sand the window frame to the hallway. It’s really not sanding up very well. I’ve tried to focus on the harder to reach bits and will have to take the power sander to the flatter areas in the hope that it will work. Dinner is ready though so time to give up for the day.

[6 March 2023]

Tuesday

It’s a day for a quick shopping trip – to various Bricos of course. My focus is very much on paint colours and particularly greens. Matt however is more interested in the actual plumbing. It’s good we have different interests.

When we get back in the evening I have yet another go at the Pink SdB windows, it’s a long hard job so I really hope it will be worth the effort.

[7 March 2023]

Wednesday

Team Steve is doing a great job starting to frame out the Room 1 ensuite.

It looks as though some of my nasturtiums are starting to do something which is pretty good and encouraging. Hopefully we will have some beautiful home grown flowers to adorn the wedding cheese board!

[8 March 2023]