Oh Andy
Always check your IKEA bits
Here we are in France, 3 weeks of putting the (hopefully) finishing touches to the house. So much had happened since I last the house that I was very excited to see it. The week before we were there, my sister and her family stayed for a week. They had to do a bit of indoor camping because unfortunately the kitchen hadn’t been fitted in time for their arrival. I hope they still enjoyed themselves though – at least they were able to have a hot shower! Sadly for them, the kitchen started to go in just as they were about to leave and was ready to use by the time that we arrived. The kitchen may be have been delayed, but it is well worth the wait. It is much nicer than the kitchen we have at home and is great fun to use. We were lucky to find our kitchen fitter because he was able to help out with a lot of the other jobs that we needed to do. There was no way that we would have been able to work on the flooring, skirting, wall cladding and other bits and bobs if he hadn’t helped us out. We are very grateful to Matt for all his hard work.
During our first week, Tom spent a lot of time fixing lighting in the rooms. It is all well and good having a shower or going to the loo with the door open when it is just the two of you, but when there are a lot of builders around, it is a good idea to have the door shut! My DIY skills amount to painting and fixing towel rails and it was a little too early for that, so I was on Supermarket runs and Lego building with Molly. Neither of these things are particular hardships, although letting me loose in a French supermarket may not necessarily be the best idea.
I was able to help Tom with the storage for the living area. He had worked this all out very precisely on IKEAs design page which then kindly gave him a list of all the bits he needed. All of this was included on his mammoth ‘three trolley’ trip to Bordeaux IKEA, but something went wrong and a few bits were missing and a few bits were left over (a door rather than the vital screw we had forgotten to use). Off we popped to IKEA once again, but got round in record time and didn’t even stop for meatballs.
We also went to the Mairie to talk about bins and rubbish collections. I know that even though the translation of Mairie is Mayor, he isn’t the same as our Mayor in Lewisham, I still found it funny that we had to talk to him about our bins when at home residents have to ring a big call centre in a Council building somewhere. I work in the same office as the people whose role includes dealing with problems of missed collections and missing bins and I know that they like me would find it amusing. I can never imagine a situation where Tom and I would walk in to Lewisham’s Town Council Chambers to talk to the Mayor about getting a bin.
We have just started the second week and things have moved on massively. It was a flurry of excitement and activity here on Monday (yesterday). Thromas – our plumbers and electricians – came to install shower screens, heated towel rails and some of the lighting. This was the lighting that needed scaffolding to install so Tom wasn’t able to do it. It is amazing what a bit of lighting can do to a room. With these major jobs done there would be a lot less dust being created. This meant we could put furniture together and remove plastic coverings from the windows – the later of these activities certainly made the place feel a little less like a building site. Flapping plastic in never a good look. With the furniture in place we were finally one the way to having a home.
On Thursday, Fred (French Fred), the man doing our earthworks is starting. Hopefully, by the middle of next week we will have a driveway, footpath and some useable garden at the back of the house. This will make a huge difference to the look of the house. Removing plastic from the windows does help stopping the place look like a building site, but the piles of earth and stone all over the place do nothing for the look of the house.
I’m off to do some more cleaning now, we’ve got guests coming in a couple of days, so we need to get things a little more tidy – I think you put up with a lot more when you’ve been living with it for a while. I’ll report back soon on our progress…., but it really is all coming together….!
The finished facade with shutters
At the end of July, Tom, his dad and his brother drove down to Montemboeuf for a week. Luckily they were not too delayed with the ongoing problems in Calais and made it in time for a lovely meal at the Lavender House. Over the next week they had a very busy time of it including a mammoth trip to IKEA, putting together flat pack furniture and getting the house cleaned up. They were also able to get a good look at what had been happening in the house in the month since we had last visited the house. One of the most exciting developments was the installation of the bathrooms. It was so great to finally see something installed that we chose just after Christmas. I am just pleased that we still like our choices!
The other big development was the fixing of the shutters. The ‘envelope’ of the wooden cladding can really be seen now. Not only that but it made it much cooler for the builders that were working inside the house. July was a very hot month in Montemboeuf, so I think they were relieved for anything that would cool the house down.
The first job for the boy was cleaning the house as much as possible. The builder had done his best, but with all the furniture that would be arriving over the next couple of days they needed the place, not quite gleaming, but as dust free as possible. The boys had a tough time of it, but I think it was probably worth it in the end!
The next day they travelled to IKEA to do quite a large shop. Fortunately, IKEA Bordeaux do a click and collect service, so we were able to pre-order and pay for a few items. It may have just been a few, but every little helps when it comes to IKEA. Tom was very lucky that he had the help because they had 3 trolleys worth of goods. I don’t think much can be said about an IKEA shop, other than the fact it took them a long time and they deserved their pineau once they got back!
The next day more furniture was delivered including a bed and sofa. Tom assures me that this is still covered in its protective plastic covering. Nether of us are particularly keen for it to get covered in builder’s dust or paint.
In the month between Tom’s visits our kitchen also arrived, so Tom and his family made a start putting this together. There were quite a few cupboards to assemble and shelves to go in, but they managed to get all this done. All that needs to happen now is for our builder to attach all of this to the wall and install all the electrical goods. We really hope that this can be done by 11th August because this is when my sister and her family will be staying in the house!
Work on the kitchen begins
The Kyle men worked really hard over their week in France and managed to get a huge amount done. Part of me wishes I had been there to see how much progress had been made, but I think Molly and I would have been in the way. Until we get her using a screwdriver it is best that she stays having fun at home!
There’s a party going on Bobby
lespetitesgarennes 