What it says on the tin

A number of people have asked if we still have a lot to do in the house. I think there will always be things to do but it’s a matter of priorities. We focused on getting the rooms finished for the chambre d’hôte, along with the utilities and areas that will be used by our chambre d’hôte guests.

Now, we would like to finish getting the badly weathered shutters painted, as this will help protect them in the future, and the brilliant white paint looks so fresh against the pale old stone of the house. They really do take quite a battering from the weather - mainly the sun and extreme temperatures. To buy a new set of shutters in wood, which need to be hand-made to fit the windows, is around €1,200, so saving them is time well spent.

Some of the windows do get some protection from the weather as they are behind the shutters, but not all have shutters on them, so they are very exposed, and it will be good to get them painted and protected against the elements. I’m hoping this will then last a few years, however it may take me a couple of years to do. The paint I use has a ten year life span, if you do ‘what it says on the tin’. It would be great if it is that effective.

It is quite a big job as we have 18 sets of windows, a french door, 8 low level sky lights (these only tip in slightly, so not sure how I would paint these), oh and the pool house. So it’s a job best just to start and gradually they will all get painted. For now I’m focused on the first floor, and just doing 1 or 2 at a time.

As for the rest of the job list, we have the walls in the laundry room still to finish, the cellar to rebuild, the stone steps to build, the pool area to review, the pool room to review, garden fence and gate to put up, main front gates to paint, library to build, and salon to decorate. Plus a bunch of chairs to be reupholstered and shelves to be fitted into cupboards.

But we are loving what we are doing, and steadily working through the list, so it will all get done… sometime.