... this is what I feel like most days - a combination of too much hefting furniture and house fettling. I'm only 40 - bloody 'mal a la dos'. :^(
By crikey, moving into an unfurnished house in a foreign country with no electrics and in need of 'some renovation' is hard work. This is 'living the dream' - help!
So, we acquired the house about 6 weeks ago now - the electricans laid into it with gusto removing all the soggy and sagging old electrics from the 60s/50s (and probably 30s for all I know) and started to replace with new. This caused a decent amount of mess because of the need to chase wiring into walls and replastering and the natural amount of dust that's in a house of this age. The electrical install has had it's moments - the 'chef' is a German guy, very pleasant, but terribly erratic in the way that he works - for example he can turn up with 4 guys one day and then disappear for a fortnight. I'm trying to be accomodating - this is France and this is what we expected after all - and to be honest I'd rather it was like this and done properly rather than have it all done in a trice and have problems. At least this way we get to test drive it all properly. If he's not here tomorrow though ....
Decorating. We've decided to do a quick tart up to make the place a bit more cheerful and inviting for the Summer and all the visitors we have in August. To that end we've quickly painted the two bedrooms upstairs and the guest bedroom downstairs (thanks to my folks for painting and cleaning duties). Also Bob & James from Girton motorbiked over and spent a week laboriously painting the front room, hallway & dining room (a huge job, given the state of the walls and the amount of paint required). Many thanks to Bob & James for their efforts and a lot of fun during their stay - shame the weather wasn't better for you - and please come again soon.
So, that's good enough for the Summer now - the Autumn and Winter will be a slow process of tackling the house room-by-room to make it 'nice', probably kitchen first, when finances allow. I'll also be repointing the front of the house, something I'm desperate to get my teeth into, but am leaving until some of the more important work is done. There's also the small matter of a new bathroom and fitting out my office in what was the old workshop ...
More news soon ... and pics ...
By crikey, moving into an unfurnished house in a foreign country with no electrics and in need of 'some renovation' is hard work. This is 'living the dream' - help!
So, we acquired the house about 6 weeks ago now - the electricans laid into it with gusto removing all the soggy and sagging old electrics from the 60s/50s (and probably 30s for all I know) and started to replace with new. This caused a decent amount of mess because of the need to chase wiring into walls and replastering and the natural amount of dust that's in a house of this age. The electrical install has had it's moments - the 'chef' is a German guy, very pleasant, but terribly erratic in the way that he works - for example he can turn up with 4 guys one day and then disappear for a fortnight. I'm trying to be accomodating - this is France and this is what we expected after all - and to be honest I'd rather it was like this and done properly rather than have it all done in a trice and have problems. At least this way we get to test drive it all properly. If he's not here tomorrow though ....
Decorating. We've decided to do a quick tart up to make the place a bit more cheerful and inviting for the Summer and all the visitors we have in August. To that end we've quickly painted the two bedrooms upstairs and the guest bedroom downstairs (thanks to my folks for painting and cleaning duties). Also Bob & James from Girton motorbiked over and spent a week laboriously painting the front room, hallway & dining room (a huge job, given the state of the walls and the amount of paint required). Many thanks to Bob & James for their efforts and a lot of fun during their stay - shame the weather wasn't better for you - and please come again soon.
So, that's good enough for the Summer now - the Autumn and Winter will be a slow process of tackling the house room-by-room to make it 'nice', probably kitchen first, when finances allow. I'll also be repointing the front of the house, something I'm desperate to get my teeth into, but am leaving until some of the more important work is done. There's also the small matter of a new bathroom and fitting out my office in what was the old workshop ...
More news soon ... and pics ...
