Kitchen and dining room windows

These are the kitchens patio doors and windows.

The patio door for the 3rd bedroom

WE HAVE WINDOWS AND DOORS!!!!! at last.

I met with our new gardener when we were down over easter and have found out we have a lot of things that we didn't know we had. We have now identified the following edible things in our garden (if I remember correctly).
15 Walnut trees
2 sweet chestnut trees
1 lime tree
2 fig trees
1 peach tree
15 grape vines
1 cherry tree
2 plum trees
1 hazelnut tree
lots of mint and rosemary

We have to cut down 6 trees as they have had a good life and it is time for them to go...

The windows REALLY exist! I just hope they come back and fit them some time soon. Didier wants to paint them as it is traditional. Staining or varnishing is definitely the way to go so I suppose we will cross that bridge soon enough.

Just two hours before we are due to leave after going down to visit at easter, the window man turns up in a van, two of them actually. They take one of our windows out of the van, dissapear into the barn for a minute, reappear with the window, get back into the van and drive off. They didn't come back beforewe had to leave, but I snuck a look into the van to see what the windows looked like....

A sunset over the field.

Mum and dad in front of the fire in the farm house.

The kitchen side of the interior wall. The corridor to the bedrooms will start at the far end of the doorway in the wall

This is the interior wall of the salon and dining room. It is pretty much finished apart from sockets and switches. The floor will be a further 14 cm higher after the layer of screed that goes over the pipes, the underfloor heating pipes, the layer of liquid concrete that is going over the pipes and then the final layer of tiles.

This is in the pig sheds where the heat exchanger and geothermal heating pump will be located. The pipes go to the rest of the house.

The water distribution pipes have gone down (the blue and grey pipes going through the doorway) The lead to the pig sheds where the geothermal pump and heat exchanger will be.

The builders have re-done the wall between the second bedroom and te ensuite bathrooms as the door was in the wrong place. All of the bricoux and wood is new.

The columbage is now renovated completely, including wiring where needed. This will be the final look, but they will put a sealant on to stop any of the sand plaster mix coming off when touched.

The 300 litre rainwater tank has been put in and connected to the guttering. We have decided (under strict guidance) to have a traditional pump rather than an electric one. I wholeheartedly agree...

The true state of the new wiring. We have assurances that it meets all of the relevant safety regulations and that EDF will be inspecting it.

some idea of the size of the main room of the barn..

mum and I outside the kitchen patio doors. We will be putting a wall up between the patio and the road eventually.

putting the barn into context - mum standing outside the master bedroom window

My parents have come to see the place for the first time. They had found it very difficult to imagine the place as I only ever take photos of the minutae. Here are some pictures to put the project into context...

no more piles of rubble outside

more tidying up around

more tidying up outside

The builders have been tidying up outside....

another photo of the wiring in the bathrooms

Just spoken to Didier.

Electricity is done for this phase.

The doors and windows will be fitted next week. I've told him that the tiles will turn up from Morocco at the end of the week and he says don't worry, they will have at least one room secured with a locking door by that time (but should have the whole lot finished). He will talk to Mr Roumagere and Mr Vende to see if they can lend us a couple of workmen to help unload the tiles when they arrive, I need to send him the exact day so he can arrange.

He has not had time to do anything more on the little house roof. He will "keep it in his mind"….

He has spoken to Mr Magnieu (window man), who is getting him the model of the external doors today, so we can choose the correct internal doors. They are between €400 and €500 each door - so what we were expecting.

The master bathroom pipes have been moved already prior to the electrics going in - good.

He has only had one pool quote back so far out of the three that he requested. It is for €35k, we'll wait and see what the others come in at. He is mailing me this later today with the door model.

Didier is taking his gardener to Bellevue on Friday this week to get a quote for the pine tree and the bamboo. He wants to get a separate quote to do the rest of the land properly.

The new pig shed floors - the pool equipment and the heating pump will be in here.

The foundations of the pig sheds have finally been put in.

Another view of the new patio

The garage (which may be turned into a mezzanine appt later) has been concreted. We have put a main waste pipe in as I think I'll need a bathroom in here eventually.

The patio outside the 3rd bedroom is now down - still wet.

more wires..

All of the electrics are converging on the baunderie, where the fuse box will be. Seems to be getting quite busy in that room...

The wiring going in in the master bedroom. I need to check that they have moved the water and waste pipes....

The stone from the wall between the bathroom and the second bedroom. We are rebuilding this wall with the door moved to the left.

Wiring.... not sure where..

The electricians have started!! they are putting in the cables before putting down another layer of screed. The wall at the far end has also beed dismantled as we need to move the doorway 50cm towards the left so that the en-suite bathrooms fit. The masons have also finished the columbage as the wiring is now in.

We have ordered 10cm x 10cm tiles as well as the 5x5. This is roughly how they will look. (This is from the website of the place we bought them from).

The tiles will be shipped from Morocco along with all of the terracotta floor tiles. We've asked Didier (the architect) to make sure we have doors before they arrive at the end of the month.

These are the small tiles that we have ordered for the bathrooms. They are 5cm x 5cm and are also from Morocco. They'll go in the shower cubicles and on the sides of the bath.

John is down in France fixing the farmhouse floor after the rain got through the roof. We have the quote for replacing the roof but we will wait until the dry season until doing it. John has but down a membrane in the attic to save us from ruining the wooden floor again.

The electricians will start the first fit on Monday next week, putting down a 40mm floor on top of the electrics. After that is done and the windows are in we can start tiling and putting up the stud walls.

External doors, windows and shutters will turn up next week (we still don't know what they look like yet)

Here's my design for the fireplace.