Long time , no blog

October is an awfully long time ago but the weeks and months seem to fly by and we just haven't got around to updating our blog. The work in the attic is now finished as far as the new rooms are concerned - building work, plumbing, fitting of cupboards with beautiful oak doors, decorating and furnishing. The only bit we haven't decorated is the landing and that is because we are just about to have the staircase replaced. The current staircase is - - - interesting! We can't make it any wider and it is rather narrow (especially for those of us with a larger constitution) but we can make the treads even, flat and without potholes!! We can also make the bannister rail go right to the top instead of stopping a bit more than half way up. The aim is to make going upstairs a much safer process especially for little people. The builder will be coming to do the work in the next couple of weeks so our job tomorrow is to empty all the various bits and pieces out of the cupboard under the stairs - vacuum cleaner, brushes and feather dusters, toy box, vegetable basket, cool bag, plastic drawers full of plastic things, roadway mat (toy cars for the use of), shopping basket, folding tray table - cuddly toy, did I hear?? Come to think of it that cupboard has become rather Tardis-like! It will probably have to be destroyed and rebuilt but that's probably not a bad thing. Watch this space for "after" pictures. Here are some "before" pictures.

Looking good - nearly finished

The alterations to the attic are nearly done. All the building work is finished except for the wardrobe cupboard in the bedroom so now it's down to us to finish the job.

So sister and brother- in- law come to stay for the first time and what do we do??? Hand them paint brushes of course!

Then when the walls were painted and the woodwork varnished we got brave, hired a French van and went to our nearest IKEA in Rennes. (It's almost 2 hours away but still the cheapest way to buy a decent bed in France). It was a very successful visit despite the foggy journey and we came back with everything we wanted and, as usual in IKEA, a few bits more!

The next day was a build it fest but we ended up with a very pleasing new bedroom in cream and red and an almost complete bathroom in terms of furniture - painting is waiting for a rainy day!

Note the very elegant candles on the chest - a gift from Gwen. Well she did have to buy something on her first visit to the new John Lewis in Cardiff and we were a good and very welcome excuse!

Making the new space ours

In the new shower room we now have beautiful tiles and a very smart floor as well as our simple but very classy washbasin with its elegant tap column. We're just waiting for the electrician to come back to fit the bathroom cabinet we bought on Saturday.

The new bedroom is now full of light but nothing else! The electric heater recycled from the kitchen is now on the wall and functional.

We now have a door between the new landing and the new bedroom. The design is "chapeau de gendarme" - apt we thought!

This shower takes some believing!! Not only does it have a roof, a radio, a light and a fan but it could also have a telephone connection!!!! We decided against.

The loo smart and understated is all that can be said really but oh how good to be able to make middle of the night visits without having to negotiate the narrow stairs. The heated towel rail behind the door means the room is lovely and warm too.

It sounds ridiculous to say it but this newly created little landing is what makes all the difference to the alterations. We now have light and space to manoeuvre at the top if the stairs and the whole area has been opened up. The lovely oak door you can see is a fabulous little cupboard.

We are so excited to be back in France and to see the work that our wonderful builder has done in the attic in the flesh so to speak. We have seen the emailed photos as he has gone along but the real thing is so much better and so impressive. We have done further work since these photos were taken and, with help from my sister and brother-in-law, we have now painted the walls and ceiling in the bedroom and stained the floor and other woodwork. It is looking clean and elegant and is just waiting to be filled. This afternoon we arranged van hire and tomorrow we shall have an adventure in going to IKEA in Rennes to buy a bed and other furniture, rugs, bedspread etc. Can't wait!!! Watch this space.

Wow!! Rooms!

The top of the stairs

The landing from the bathroom

The bathroom with water pipes

The bathroom with loo bits

The bedroom looking to where the cupboard will be

The bedroom with light streaming in

Our lovely builder, Mike, has sent us more photos of the progress he is making with the conversion of the remaining part of our attic in France. We now have an embryo bedroom, bathroom and landing with walls and doorways and the whole project is starting to feel real instead of just some fanciful idea. I'm feeling a bit like I did when we had agreed the purchase of our French house - very excited but just waiting for something to go wrong - but so far so good! Mike has the doors to fit and a bit of finishing on the walls then it will be full steam ahead to tile and floor the bathroom before installing loo, washbasin and fancy shower (with roof, radio and lighting, no less!).

Let there be light!

We are very excited to have had a phone call and an email with photos about the progress our builder is making in the attic chez nous en France. The first photo we opened blew us away! A view up the stairs with a huge pool of light at the top instead of the usual black hole. The whole thing looks completely different now he has stripped out all the eccentric insulation (cardboard and old carpet!), put 4 Velux roof windows in, removed the bit of plasterboard wall and door at the top of the stairs, insulated and plaster boarded the whole area and generally made it habitable. Mike the builder is a gem and we are very grateful to friends who put us in touch with him. He's going to put the floor covering in the new bathroom and tile the walls, possibly sand the lovely wood floor on the landing and in the new bedroom and replace or repair the rickety stairs and bannisters. We are dying to go back and see it all in its new incarnation. Roll on the end of September.

Technology revisited

We may have cracked getting pictures onto our blog but there are many technological issues that remain totally beyond our ken! However,fortunately, they are not beyond our Peter who seems to have some sort of automatic access to the powers of the ether. Poor lad, he comes to have a cuppa with his ageing parents and almost every time gets asked either "Can you just show us how to-----" or, more frequently "Could you just fix-----". Bless him, he always comes up trumps. Today he and Emma popped in and connected the Wii that the children bought us as a joint 60th birthday present to the internet. So, we can now access international and national weather reports and news, download games etc through the Wii and, more amazingly play games or challenge sporting or fitness records by linking our Wii to those belonging to other folks. We've never been interested in having gaming consoles of any sort especially not those involving fighting or wierdnesses but having seen the Wii system in action elsewhere we really fancied having one and we're having such fun!! We introduced Abigail and our grandsons to the joys of Wii Fit tonight and I'm still laughing at the memory of the boys (6 and 3) doing ski jumping and hula hoop with varying success! I hope the vision of their grandmother dressed as a penguin catching fish on an unstable icefloe doesn't have a permanently damaging effect on their psyche!!

Technology!! We're getting there slowly!

Up to now you've only been able to read our blog but today we've cracked pictures!! Well one picture but it's a start. Prepare to see our adventures (?) in glorious technicolour from now on.