1st July, 2018

BACK     SOOOOOOOOOON.  😀 Weather is so nice I gotta be out there!  We make a point to stop work around 5pm or 6pm and head to the beach with our red picnic bag, filled with goodies for our evening meal. We settle ourselves into comfortable home made hollows in the sand dune and enjoy every evening. We moved into 23 Rue de Kerivet this day last year.

Temp bedroom in what is now the storeroom and will be the media room

That was then – but here we are now – down the beach – 4 minutes drive and hardly anyone else there but ourselves…………………..

The sunsets are amazing – and it doesn’t go dark as soon as the sun goes down, as it does in Florida. We have at least thirty minutes following the sunset with the most glorious colours in the sky, changing from minute to minute.

Amazing as it may sound, this couple come and visit with us every evening. They wait for a few crusts of bread and are never disappointed. The walk bout and actually chat with each other. They never fight over the food, as most gulls do, but take it in turns to retrieve. If other gulls attempt to land in their ‘space’ they take-off and fly beneath the would be ‘invader’ until they give up. We watch them swooping and diving and they have never failed to entertain us

Sometimes there are a few fishermen.

The ‘Painted Pony’ rider.

Beach ‘Stone Art’

Robert relaxing – taken from under the ‘stone art’

June 30th, 2018

This time last year we had only just bought this old building and now look at it! What a huge amount of work has gone into it and it is nearly finished, although there is still a huge amount to do. Over the past few weeks, we have not been galloping but gently trotting through the daily chore of this renovation. The 70s brings its toll of making one mindful that it is slightly different to the 30s, 40s or 50s even though the brain begs to differ.  We have finished off the furnishing of the sitting/living/kitchen area and tidied up outside before Robert commenced putting up batons on the west wall in preparation for cladding. Cladding the front of the building introduced a problem in that the product we chose is not as reliable as we thought. Having mithered over the various choices on offer for months and carried out due diligence, the product we chose is very nice, excellent quality of wood and paint, but unfortunately in every pack of five, there can be one or two pieces that are unsuitable for outdoor use. We quickly discovered some are cracked or have several ‘knot’ holes on edges. Thankfully, LeRoy Merlin has been more than understanding, we furnished them with numerous photos and a Rep from the product company travelled over to us to see how unacceptable the wood is, and agreed to replace all rejected pieces. On the surface, this is all fine and dandy, but it has resulted in Robert having to clad this side of the house himself. It has made the job very stressful. As I mentioned before, there is no room for error. If a damaged piece is fitted, or a mismeasured piece was to be discovered ‘later’ there is no way to correct the error, other than to pull off all of the well nailed on pieces back to the ‘error’. The seams must match all the way up the wall – every piece must be attached and secured. 

Robert found some nice oak and made inside window sills.

We have vertical corner pieces to go on the edges – a job for a rainy day.

Bar stools arrived and the deer found a quiet place to rest.

The tiles and the paint for the kitchen have arrived and that will be another job for a rainy day.

There was not a lot of choice on contoured seating but this one seemed to fit the bill.

Very comfortable and easily seats six – second head-rest not fitted yet.

Summer arrived and work on the east side commenced

Garden is coming on…… I think I see a rose arbor halfway down on the left?

Gravel everywhere can be boring, I am now breaking it up with little points of interest.

The vines Robert brought from Aquitaine are doing very well.

I re-potted two Jasmine and they are so happy they are flowering profusely and filling the air with their beautiful scent.

The hammock has been perked up, ready for the afternoon siesta.

I put some ground cover on the back of the fencing, now it is nice and snug with no wind on the other side.

Robert nearly finished putting up the batons

Forty-five batons and hundreds of screws to be drilled in.

This electric concrete drill weighs about six kilos, I don’t know how Robert hold it up with one hand to drill. 

He’s up that ladder with all his tools, two drills and nails, fixed onto his belt. Only six more batons to go!

Saturday 10th June ……

Livingroom/dining floor and walls completed – all we need now is some furniture and pictures on the walls. The TV is terrific –  like being at the movies!

We loved this floor when we saw it – reminds us of when we were in Tucson – 

Takes nearly as long to complete all these fiddly bits, edges and corners as it did to do the complete floor

I would never have the patience to finish off as Robert does – he is so particular that the job is done ‘right’!      RIGHT?

Lucky Robert is as agile and flexible as he is…… 

‘The Video’ – inside and out…….

Monday 5th June

Robert is on a roll! Got the walls of the living room papered. This is a very nice textured white paper put on the plasterboard. The seams of the plasterboard have been filled and sanded and then the paper is applied to the walls.  When dry, the paper can be painted or papered over. We have chosen ‘Barley White’ as the colour – mainly because we happened to have two large tins already, but it looks perfect. We may at some time in the near future, put the patterned paper on one wall or perhaps on the window walls, or paint some section a contrasting colour. For the present time, at least it is no longer ‘raw’.

Nearly finished the papering the walls.

Those seams disappear when painted

Wall has to be sealed first. Then the paper glue is applied, and then the paper.

Just another couple of strips. 

After the walls are painted, see the 20 boxes of floor wood to go down – to be completed before the end of the week.

THEN, we can assemble the TV!!!

31st May 2018 – Interior.

Robert has been working SO hard – I really don’t know how he does it. Yes, we do take breaks but in between, he is amazing how he just keeps slogging away.  Breaks are necessary apart from the obvious reason it is also important that the repetitive strain that affects Robert’s hands from continual squeezing on the nailgun, drill, hammer, saw or whatever tool he is using for the present job. Up and down the steps, knees when working on the floor etc.  I continually suggest excuses to tempt him away from work, on a regular basis….. usually there is something to be collected from LeRoy Merlin and I wouldn’t want to be going over there on my own now…….. would I?! 

Remember? Back in April, the flat packs came for the kitchen?

Such a pile of boxes, panels, doors, cupboards, the sink…….

Tops, sides, bottoms, inserts, shelves, pull outs, twirly majigs and ones that went in and around the corners!

The sink had to be put together, plumbed in and ‘cut’ into the countertop

 All of that was sorted out – in ONE week – This is what Robert presents as the new kitchen……

 ***** It is absolutely FABULOUS!!!!! *****

In the open cupboards on the right, we will have the Microwave and the Oven

The last cupboard on the right has a large circular double shelf whirly majig.

The second last cupboard on the right has a double shelf pull out organiser.

We love the large drawers – so much easier than cupboards.  First door on the left is the Dishwasher

For my contribution, other than to keep the wheels turning in the background, I have thoroughly enjoyed emptying over 20 container boxes from our storage room, filling out and organising the contents of the kitchen. It is lovely to have a full complement of cutlery and dishes after 17 months of ‘making do’. 

In the corner cupboard (under kettle) is a two-level shelf system that pulls out and pushes into the wall corner to the right.

There will be under cupboard lighting added, tiles under the cupboards and wallpaper painted from the bottom of the cupboards to the ceiling.

Two handy little cupboards at each end of the bar. Stools on their way (14th June)

DIDN’T   HE   DO  GOOD?!!

Now we are operating in a proper kitchen and the ‘Laundry’ is actually a ‘Laundry’ and not a ‘bit of a kitchen’!

31st May 2018 – Exterior

After the cladding was completed, the weather turned cool and cloudy again. Not for long though, just enough time for us to catch up inside the house.  But first of all, Robert climbed the ladder outside and painted the inside of the round window a nice shade of ‘blue’.  The round window does look a little small up there, but had it been any larger it would have been too heavy to have installed without some mechanical assistance, instead, we are looking for a nice decoration to add to the front of the house in the space between the top window and those below. Has anyone got any good ideas?

As you can see, we ordered four ton of gravel which was delivered a few weeks ago.  Our very good and generous pal Brian came and helped me to spread it around the front. What a relief it was for me, when he offered to come over. I wasn’t feeling too chipper at the time and I was not looking forward to the exertion of raking all that gravel. As it was, Brian arrived shortly after 9 am and ‘we’ (90% Brian) had it all smoothed out by 10:30!! THANK YOU Brian!  The next few days were spent sorting out the plant pots. We also decided to move our entrance point from the ‘front’ (on the right) door to the other side – the Laundry Door. This will be our normal route once we have the car-port in place. So, as Robert was fitting the kitchen I thought we may as well avoid as much traffic through there as possible.  I wheelbarrowed gravel, spread it over some ground membrane and made a pathway around where the car parks. This will ensure a dry area for us to get in and out of the car until such time as we are ready to lay the slab for the car-port. It will also be convenient to remove the gravel on the membrane to be used elsewhere.

Two new additions to the garden – Japanese ‘Hakuro-Nishiki’ Dappled Willows, also known as the ‘Flamingo Tree’  Very pretty with dappled pink blossom.

Aiming to put another couple of panels and a door back there to the left. This will act as a shelter from the breeze.

The Olive trees are doing very well and I think they look splendid with their necklace of Begonias – eventually, when the digger is back to lay the water pipes, we will have the trees planted in the ground. When the plot is sold the water supply will have to be passed onto the buyers as it is not permissible to have our water passing through their land. We will, therefore, have a new supply routed from the road to our house via the driveway.

Next job coming up when the weather is better, is to clad this wall – we are all set to go………..

When the plot is sold, this is approximately how much front garden we will have plus the driveway.

The plot will start just at the far side of the tree leaving a very manageable front garden.

3rd & 4th May (Thursday & Friday) 

The weather changed after the heatwave that we had whilst doing the cladding. This was a good opportunity to get on with some more indoor work – the kitchen took more shape and there are always lots of small unseen ‘finishing’ jobs that need to be done, not to mention, more trips to LeRoy Merlin, last time was to talk to the manager about the rough quality of the cladding material. So many boards were unusable, unfinished, notches, grooves and splits. Thankfully, there was no argument and we received four new packs – gratis. As it turned out, by the time we finished the job, many more boards were discarded than in the four packs that we received.

Robert fixing the sink into the worktop.

Required a contortionist….

Thank goodness for the old pillows – to save the back and the knees.

Well, the kitchen is coming on well and we have another bit of good weather, so, it is back to cladding.

3rd & 4th  May – Thursday & Friday

Great news –  Saul advised that he could return earlier than expected to finish off the cladding on the front of the house.

Good weather forecast for the coming week – a bit cooler which is better for us too.

Saul and Robert make a great team. Saul, up the ladder measuring, 

and measuring again….

Treble check……

Write down the calculation…..

Robert finds a good board…

Double checks for flaws….

Measures…..

Marks the angle

..

Cuts it out…..

Back up to Saul who nails it on….

Now comes the time to put in the round window…

In it goes…..

Not as easy as it looks. Standing on ladders for hours on end is very hard on the feet and legs, never mind trying to haul this window up as well.  

Robert and Saul took a few minutes to securely attach the window but now it is a part of the building. Robert is going to paint the inside ‘blue’

and to finish off with a plastic frame and some sealer – don’t want any bugs getting trapped inside. 

See the video “Fixing the Round Window onto the ‘Hangar’

WE DID IT!!!!!!!

Robert deserved a day off after that!

This was a huge job – not at all straightforward.  Think we will paint the other end of the building instead of cladding it…… 

Coming up………..  Kitchen finished and some landscaping around the front of the house (I can’t bear seeing that blue pipe), FOUR ton of gravel coming on the 14th May. I wonder who is going to spread that?!!!!!  Decking will be put on top, not too wide, just enough for a couple of chairs and some nice pot plants.  

Tuesday 24th April

A little bit more to go – completion in two weeks time.

A big improvement! 

Friday 27th April 

After the cladding, we had a couple of easier days and of course, the weather changed.

Much cooler days were good for a few visits to LeRoy Merlin and to start the kitchen.

Cupboards are in place – have to make sure everything is level and fitting perfectly 

You wouldn’t know that I had been outside in the sun at all!

Concentration!!!!

A perfect cut

and in goes the sink

Week of 19th April 2018

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The beach known as Grèves d’en Bas Beach is four minutes drive from our house. We can hardly believe that we have come to live where we are so close to such lovely beaches and this one, in particular, that is the closest.  We are entertained most evenings by a crowd of surfers who arrive at around 6 pm, just as the waves are starting to swell – many are very talented, some are learning and quite a few are there for the fun of riding their body boards.  Today we became very aware of the number and spread of rocks throughout the area where much of the surfing is done. It looks very dangerous because, even at high tide, if a surfer is thrown off a wave, he/she could be killed if dashed against these rocks. When the weather is fine, we head over to the beach, bring a picnic, sit for a while, have a walk, it is totally energising and invigorating.

The surfers’ playground!

Beaches are rarely crowded.

I took both of these photos of the sun on the sea – through the lens of my sunglasses.

Our sand dune backdrop and nothing but blue sky.

Videos

Grèves d’en Bas – Surfers 

Grèves d’en Bas – Evening of 19th April

And of course, if you would like to see more videos there are more on YouTube on my channel ‘Cheekiweeki’ 

Wednesday and Thursday 18th & 19th April 2018

Now we see some exterior changes taking place – batons being fixed to the front and tomorrow (20th) the cladding will commence. This has been a tough 2 days

Robert and Saul discussing today’s plan of work

Perfect weather for the job – sunny, warm and flawless blue sky

Saul, at the top of the ladder, drilling the hole to fix the baton. Looks easy peasy, but that drill weighs about 10 kilos

Robert attaching a plug to the compressor and not realising that he is getting sunburnt up top!

Work finished for the day, all ready to be clad tomorrow.