still putting up ceilings

This week I was finishing off the main downstairs room, and working with a friend putting up the ceilings in the two bathrooms and the workroom. This is a substantial improvement as I didn't clean any of the beams in all the rooms, because I knew they would eventually be covered up. They were very dirty - a mixture of the original limewash, dozens of coats of it, and spiders, straw, old nails, general muck. In fact, like this (readers of a nervous disposition should look away now):



That's the one remaining room that's not yet done, the boiler room. So it's a good thing that the rest of them are now covered up. This is one of the bathrooms, take careful note of the elegant light fitting (work still in progress....)



We were lucky in finding that it was possible to run the plasterboard right into the window alcove. The top of the alcove, two or three heavy oak planks, was another insect habitat of considerable age and extent. Of course, the gaps in the board need to be filler-ed and smoothed, and the board painted, but this is the worst part of the job.

As I shall shortly be telling the mairie that the work is "finished" - and I think it must be as we are now living there - I took some exterior shots all round yesterday while the sun was shining to show what the present state of the building is. The guardrail on the balcony is still awaited.

North:




West:

This view is always a little odd as it is quite steeply uphill, and just a bit closer than I'd like. But if I take a step back for a better view I'd fall off the plinth that I've built at the end of the garden to take the solar panels (one day).


South:

The spoil heap shows a bit more than I'd like, but the ground there will (one day) be built out a bit further and grassed over to produce a more or less level terrace.



And the front door:



It's curious looking at the pictures just one day later - it feels as if it has been grey and raining for weeks, but it clearly wasn't yesterday morning. Those colours haven't been adjusted either - or not adjusted by me, at least: I have no idea what the camera and the computer does without me knowing.