Dordogne Retreat - a farmhouse tale

The kitchen will be totally revamped in a year or two so I was very reluctant to spend much time or money updating it this year. However the powers that be decided a dishwasher was needed so Alan and I spent 4 days installing a new piece of leveled floor, re sizing existing cabinets, installing a new sink, taps and worktops etc just so a dishwasher could be installed.

Before:

Units stripped out:

New corner unit and reworked exisiting units installed:

Worktop and sink installed:

And in use....

Despite 'wasting 4 days of our time I do have to say it has transformed the kitchen and I no longer have to do the washing up!

With five weeks being spent in the house during July and August we were able to complete a couple of projects and start others! We started painting the main bedroom (that will be the TV/Guest room eventually) at Easter and during this trip finished it off.

It was not just case of slapping on some paint as the dado rail had to be removed (which had been plastered up to, so the wall had to be filled) and filling the gaps at the wall/floorboard join and replacing the skirting board. So finishing off this corner of the room took 3 days! 

We are pleased with the results and moving the furniture around has made the room feel a lot bigger.

Caught these two 'at it' in the garden........

Snakes in Dordogne - 28 June 2010 from Mark Johnson on Vimeo.

The snakes have been confirmed as being Western Whip snakes. Found a very useful website here.

With high temperatures and the help of the pool heater the pool went from 16 to 26 degrees in 2 days. The water was clear and the pool was very inviting. I did manage to swim three times and lie on the lilo for 30 minutes or so each time. It was wonderful!

Five of the last 6 days have been spent in the guest bathroom. This bathroom has been a challenge from the start, with the main problem being overcoming the plumbing challenge of getting water and waste connected. The toilet waste conection was the last great challenge and on this trip half of it was completed in that the run from the toilets (there will be another in the en suite just the other side of the right hand wall in the photo below) to the downstairs bathroom was made.

With the required drop of 2cm per metre there was just enough rise to make it over the total 5 metre run.

The waste appears in the ceiling of the downstairs bathroom and awaits connecting to current stack and Fosse Septique. This however requires taking out the bath so next trip!

Once the pipe was run it needed to be enclosed:

The velux window was then framed. The wall pointing department will work their magic on the wall over the summer.

The tiling on two walls finished:

And after grouting - voila! The grouting is not great, it was so hot (nearly 40 degrees) that the grout was drying before it could be smoothed, remedial work will be required when it is cooler.

The sink was connected up, well nearly. The waste was run but I could not connect the tap as I needed a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter which I couldn't find in my plumbing kit. But it looks good at least.

The last wall had been covered with pasterboard and was then filled, rubbed down and painted, with a heated towel radiator then fitted.

Still left to do: painting the ceiling, treating the wood, laying the PVC floor, connecting the taps, connecting the waste in the downstairs bathroom, connecting water to the toilet and pointing the wall. Just a couple of hours then...........

The downstairs bedroom did not have a mosquito blind fitted to the window (unlike the other bedrooms) so last year we purchased one, and like several projects it sat there waiting to be fitted. Well in the last week with the temperature soaring into the 30's and muggy nights I decided the time had come. It of course ended up being a slightly bigger job as I decided that it would be easier to paint the window before fitting it!

So the window frame is now green (which I like!) rather than off pink. The blind is very effective and I bought another for the kitchen, this is of course sitting there unfitted awaiting a suitable work slot!