Since arriving in our family's home in the Auvergne section of France two weeks ago, my husband and I have hardly had the time to take day trips, nor do our shopping at the markets. The truth is, we have been busy working on the house and have several projects going at once before our first guests arrive and before vacation can really start. Any trips away from the house have consisted of visits to Gedimat, Mr. Bricolage or Big Mat, the French equivalents to Home Depot and Lowe's.
Here are photos of some of the things we are doing.
Tending to the garden, weeding and pruning.
Planting flowers in all the planters
Replacing the weed barrier under the pebbles along one side of the house
Sanding the wood floor in two rooms of the house. The pine flooring had never been finished in the 50 years since it had been installed and it looked sad and scratched.
After sanding, came the finishing with an oil product that tints and hardens and allows the wood to breathe.
And voilà the result.
The result is beautiful.
Our neighbors think 'les américains sont fous,' working all the time.
But the projects above were actually just the small ones. Currently, there are seven workmen busy on two major projects on the house. One of them involves three 15 meter pieces of wood, pictured behind our house below. More on those in the next post.
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5 comments:
looks very lovely. i always feel a twinge of envy when i see your photos from auvergne... it reminds me of a time when i lived in a country, where most everyone took a summer holiday, and we used to have six weeks to enjoy that.
have a great time over there.
Chance Bliss, the French definitely are holding on to their two hours of lunch and their four to six weeks of vacation, some of which they always spend in the countryside to reconnect with nature. They are productive during the whole year, but know how to leave work behind for enough time to really relax. I admire that about them.
Yes, viva les French. They know how to live and hold on to their values. Mr. Pardon me looks like a very handy Andy! Replacing a weed barrier - seeing that makes me feel lazy. But all your results look magnifiques! And looking forward to seeing what the major work is - a cliffhanger seeing those long heavy planks of wood. Must be something structural I'm guessing...
Mr. Pardon Me is definitely handy and I would not be able to hold on to this house without him. I am so thankful to him for spending his French vacation working on this old house.
I'll have to wait just a bit longer for the pictures of the current work since it is not finished yet and I want to show the finished result.
But boy, it's major.
Greetings Katia,
The gardens and greenery look absolutely beautiful! Excellent job by you and Mr. Pardon Me! I can only imagine the hard work, but believe me, the results are Better Home and Garden magazine worthy!
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