Getting really excited now by the whole project - feels like we are 'in sight' of achieving what we planned for Phase 1. The next few days will see the laying of the wooden flooring and the design of the fireplace.
Two days into Stage 4 we have made really good progress - the final paneling work has been done, with the reverse side of the long wall adjoining what will be the Phase 2 space has been insulated and paneled; and David has done a great job cutting out very eccentric shapes to create the cupboard space under the stairs that go to the top floor of the barn: And in the hall/lobby area, all the beam painting has been completed - this required four coats of 'mono couche' (single coat!) paint .... this has been necessary to cover the strength of colour coming through from the old beams: But this area is now almost complete, just awaiting the hand-made doors, the skirting and floor tiles. Yesterday evening the floor tiler artisan we were recommended visited - to look at the work and agree a price. He was a nice guy, and after thorough discussion with him we are are confident of his professionalism - helped by a ten year guarantee on the work. So, we have agreed the date for the work - the third week of November - and the price for the job ... a bit more than we had planned, but this has been balanced by a good price on the tiles and fixing materials ... and the assurance of the 10 year cover.
Getting really excited now by the whole project - feels like we are 'in sight' of achieving what we planned for Phase 1. The next few days will see the laying of the wooden flooring and the design of the fireplace.
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Tomorrow we start Stage 4 of the barn development. Since the last Post we have not been idle: all the beams have now been scraped and wire-brushed; and we have done most of the first-coat painting on those beams that we're having white. Further filling and finishing work has been done on the wall boarding ... (we seem to keep on saying this - but it is a very long job): Over the past week we have been trying to finally sort out the wood for the skirting, door liners and architraves; we have also been looking at wood for making the 4 interior doors that have to be hand-made to fit the variable width/height doorways that have been created. We were looking for fully-planed wood - but not only is this expensive, but it also looks and feels rather 'flimsy' somehow. We decided to go for something more substantial, with more of a 'barn-feel and look' - and when looking for our fireplace beam, we visited a very large wood processing enterprise, only 15 kilometres away. The wood they process is all oak and chestnut. We found an excellent weathered chestnut beam and also found half-planed chestnut planking and have now decided to use this for all the skirting and door wood-work, developing the 'barn-feel' and bringing together the weight and colour of the wood we are adding to the existing beams. Tomorrow we will measure up all the wood required and go to place the order. The immediate work in Stage 4 will be completing the remaining wall and door boarding; fitting the large interior french door that enables full wheelchair access; and carrying on with the filling and sanding and undercoat painting. But the priority is the flooring, laying and leveling this: - ready to take the tiling that will run throughout the whole area (around 80 square metres). We have found the tiles we want, a light creamy-grey colour to lighten the rooms, and they are anti-slip to assist wheelchair use. The tiles are due to be laid the third week of November. So, with the overall space beginning to look like the accommodation we envisaged Stage 4 will be crucial in taking this from the 'renovation/construction' process to the interior design phase: Meanwhile, outside, the weather has been beautiful, with bright, warm Autumn days:
As we've said, the development work is organised in a number of Stages - the next Stage (4) starting up at the end of October. But in-between Stages there has increasingly been a lot of work - not just the ordering of materials for the next Stage, but also ensuring that all the work from the previous Stage is fully completed and things are ready for the next one. As we have described, Stage 3 involved a lot of plaster-boarding, all of which had to be joined and cut up to fit against irregular-shaped beams. Also, as we are painting a number of the beams, these have had to have a sealing undercoat, together with the undercoat applied to the plaster-board. This has proved to be far more work than we anticipated - not only because the plaster-board gaps have been particularly difficult, but all the beams needed wire-brushing and treating prior to their undercoats. So, lots of filling work, shaping and sanding ... and a great deal of muck and dust to be removed and cleaned up: We are placing a large order for all the remaining wood work - so, skirting boards, boarding for making 5 interior doors, and shelving ... so, tomorrow we are visiting our nearest materials supplier to negotiate this. We are also sourcing our flooring tiles - 72 square metres of them, which need to blend in with our colour schemes and be suitable for taking heavy wheel-chairs and to be as non-slip as possible. Also, we are looking for an oak or chesnut beam for the top of the inglenook fireplace - this needs to be about 2 metres long and to match with the other beams we have exposed. We think we have found the woodstove we want - it needed to be around 10-12 kilowatt output and we want it as eco-efficient as possible .... the one we've found is a beautiful grey-enameled Invicta Modena stove that we think will be just the job - excellent! Now we need to find a fitter who can work with our fireplace design, and we think our good neighbours, Marie-Claud and Jean-Pierre know of someone ... so, we'll follow this up. So, in a way, there are no separate Stages - it is a continuum of work, moving from preparation phases into implementation and so on. We are learning a lot! Yesterday, our other immediate neighbour, Madame Cucq (she is the widow of the longest-serving mayor in France, and is a sharp, bright lady in her early 90's), paid us a visit to look at what we were doing - it was a great boost when she was hugely approving ... it meant a lot and we were very happy!
Well, Autumn is definitely here - the weather has been quite warm, with little rain ... a few sharp thunderstorms, with some spectacular sheet lightning circulating the Aubrac hills. The evenings are 'drawing in', but the light is beautiful: And the fungii keep on coming - can't resist posting more photographs ... they are so sculptural, one moment looking like they are made of stone and with 24 hours collapsing in on themselves: .... and Oska is just surveying the wildflowers to see if they'll last another week or two - as we have visitors and we'd like them to see the planting ...
Last Autumn, our first one here, we spotted a lot of different fungi in the garden ... but were too busy to pay much attention. This year we seem to be having another bumper crop, appearing earlier than last year .... perhaps because we have had a wetter summer, but it has also been very warm, so we reckon that the humidity levels must be higher than usual. Here's a quick sample of what has appeared in the last couple of weeks: We are woefully ignorant about fungi, what is edible and which is poisonous - so, we are taking no risks, there are enough dire warnings in the pharmacies' windows to make us realise it is a serious issue.
Any wise words on the ones pictured above ... very welcome! Almost since we moved here we have heard a noise very much like a shop or car burglar alarm ... not that loud, but quite close and very persistent. We have been puzzled, as the house has no alarms like that - so we have been thinking our neighbours may have some alarms on the cattle or equipment sheds .... although the times when we hear it doesn't quite square up to when they might be setting alarms. Then one morning (rather than evening, which is when we usually hear the noise) Nollie heard the noise, but from the radio - it was 'Tweet of the day' on Radio 4 and the call of the Scops Owl ... and the sound was identical to what we have been hearing and, from the details of its likely locations and habits it seems we have our very own Scops Owl somewhere on the premises ..... so, we're keeping a very sharp eye out for: If we do see it, you'll be the first to know!
We have a lot of wildlife in the garden, but it has been quite difficult to record it ... because we never seem to quite have a camera immediately to hand. So, what have we got here? The most obvious thing is perhaps the frogs: These inhabit the lake; and in the mating season (which seems to be April - June) their noise is just incredible - some visitors here have refused to believe it is coming from real frogs and have said we were playing recordings over sound systems in the garden! Over the rest of the Spring, Summer and Autumn frogs of various sizes - from tiny little two centimeters and upwards - are found all over the garden and if any noise or vibration approaches then they hop like mad in the direction of the lake. And walking around the lake in the early summer one just sees lots of frogs making leaps into the water and then basking there, with rather self-satisfied expressions. So far we haven't seen any predators at work particularly - no herons come to the lake at the moment, although we have seen plenty in the vicinity ... so far, so good if you're a frog at Le Bruel ...... This part of the Blog is occasional posts on what is happening with the garden at 'Nichoir', including the wildlife we see here. The garden is around 4 acres (1.5 hectares), a mixture of lawn, pasture land, and vegetable garden; and there are some areas of more formal flower garden; and the whole area is surrounded by thick hedgerows and trees. We also have a small lake (or a large pond, depending on who we're talking to ...). You can see some photos in the Exploring Nichoir menu. We're just approaching our second Autumn here - and our main work in the garden over the year has been planting trees and shrubs to try to give the central areas of the garden some 'lift and height'. As we have had quite a lot of rain over this summer, with regular storms, it has helped the newly planted stock .... and we're beginning to see some real growth and shape: We have also been getting the vegetable growing going - with some raised beds for herbs and salad crops and a large area down the far end of the garden for a range of crops: This has been quite successful on a small scale and we have had good crops of fennel, chard, onions, various bean varieties, courgettes, cabbages, broccoli, leeks and some really excellent tomatoes. We have also been experimenting with planting wildflowers, as we're thinking about planting a wildflower meadow of about half an acre - and we just wanted to see 'what came up' when we did some sowing around the swimming pool ... and the results have been very promising: So, we reckon we will go ahead with the wildflower area and over the next week or two we'll gather some of the seeds from the wildflower planting we have done and use those for the sowing next year ... to add to the seeds we'll buy from a specialist supplier next Spring.
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AuthorSimon lives at Nichoir, Le Bruel, with his wife Noella. They moved here in May 2013, with their Newfoundland dog, Oska, and their cat, Snufkin. Together they have set out on an adventure to create what they hope will be home from home for family and a rather special Chambres D'Hotes for guests. Categories
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