Progress!

For those who did not see the orange shag carpets, mismatched bathroom fixtures, faded old curtains, sagging doors, cracked wall plaster, etc., the photo of our stripped and barren comble (ie. upstairs floor) may seem quite the opposite of ‘progress’.

But it is finally a step in the right direction, eagerly awaited by the two of us all these bygone months. The irony is that it took M. Capelou, our wallboard and insulation man, and his son less than a day to tear the place to shreds and cart away the debris.

Next we will install new (level!) chestnut flooring, partition walls, insulation, electrical grid, heating and plumbing apparatus – not to mention four custom made double-glazed windows to augment three new ‘Velux’ skylight windows already in place.

Other works that were commenced and fairly completed this week include our stone masons’ repairs to retaining walls, a completely new and reinforced roof over the long back porch, and handsome ironwork for the old stone well.

Before he left for Italy on Thursday, Francesco and I dug up an amazing number of flat paving stones someone pitched into our woodlands – judging by the depth they were imbedded in the earth, they were thrown there many years ago. These will soon become a nice stone floor for the little breezeway that houses our old bread oven.