The in-betweenies

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!