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Our Grand Design in Montemboeuf, Charente, France


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Tile be there – Carreau être là

Choosing new floor tiles

Choosing new floor tiles

Two weeks ago, Tom, Molly and I took a very quick trip to Montemboeuf to see how things were going with the build. Having not seen the house since Easter, I was expecting quite a few changes, and there certainly were.  The biggest change is of course our wall.  It completely changes the look of the house and it was so good to see Stuart’s handy work in the flesh.  I could see why he was so proud of it.  He is clearly a very talented mason.

Unfortunately, while we were there we discovered that after all the time and effort we took choosing tiles, we found out that our floor tiles were no longer being made and so we had to chose from a new set.  We narrowed it down to two, and Molly and Stuart had the deciding votes because Tom and I preferred different ones.

Stuart didn’t waste anytime in starting the work on the screed and the tiling.  Partly because, we couldn’t do anything else in the house before this was done!  The downstairs tiling in practically finished already, which means Bernard and Thromas (our electricians and plumbers) can start with the second fix!  With any luck, the tiling will be finished by the end of next week.  If all goes to plan, Tom may actually have a working kitchen and bathroom when he goes back in July.

Stuart also started work on the terrace.  it is apparently in the mid 30 degrees at the moment, very hot weather to be working outdoors. Still better that than on the roof!

On a slightly more annoying note, our doors are still not fixed. Doors and big windows always seem to be a moment of high tension in Grand Designs, and it is with us.  They went in easily enough, but now they don’t really work.  The manufacturers have been out a couple of times to try to fix the problem, but haven’t resolved it yet.  I just hope when they do come again, they fix them and don’t damage the tiling.

Oh yes Les Quatre Hautes


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Somebody paints the wall – Quelqu’un peind le mur

Sanding man

Sanding man

As the wall was going up on the outside, on the inside work started on the painting the walls on the inside.  First things first, the whole are had to be sanded to make the surface ready to paint.  The poor chap above was given this task and it looks like he did it on a very warm day. Luckily he still seemed to have a smile on his face!

I will not post lots of photos of paint drying, but it is an important step in the build process, so in needed blogging about!  We still haven’t quite decided on all the colours, but we are getting there. We even roped in our neighbours and lodger to help us choose our colours, but we only got as far as the grey and orange!  We do not have that long to decide because our decorator needs to order the paint from the UK. Paint colours are quite important for the feel and look of the house, so although we don’t have long, ew can’t rush these things either….

The thing about finding songs to match the title of the blog post, or vise versa is that you come across some crackers (and some not so much).  I will leave you to decide which this is.

Take it away Tracy


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Hello walls – Salut les murs

The wall is complete!

The wall is complete!

The wall is complete, and doesn’t it look great!  We are so pleased with how it looks, and I think our mason, Stuart is rather proud of himself as well.  All it needs now is a bit of lavender, landscaping and lighting and it will be perfect.  When the sun is shining on it, that creamy stone is going to look fantastic.  It really has been a labour of love for Stuart and you can see that in the details around the doors and windows.

I think that the stone wall really adds something to Tom’s design and while I think that if we had clad the whole building in timber it would have also looked great, this wall adds a whole new dimension.

The wall and timber cladding

The wall and timber cladding

The wall also extends to the pergola, which will make the area in to a really lovely, warm and sunny spot.  I can’t wait to get over there an see it.  I am also not sure we’ll be able to resist sitting on the pergola with something cold and delicious – even if we are surrounded by building equipment.

Hello Faron Young!  (I tried very hard to find something other than Pink Floyd, and I manged, just)