The Joys of Reclamation and Renovation

The work on our house in Cognac is well under way and although it is covered in dust and pretty chaotic it's great to see some progress. The roofers finally started this week and the heating engineer has been busy running copper pipes in preparation for our new central heating system.

Unfortunately in the last few days the weather has taken a turn for the worse so I was very relieved that the open fire in our living room is finally usable (due to the old boiler being removed).

We found a gorgeous fire-back on a really useful website called Le Bon Coin. I use it frequently to source things for the house and have been known to sell a thing or two on it as well - including our old house!

I just love the two griffins which according to legend guard treasure and 

priceless possessions so what could be more appropriate for the heart of the home?

I am so thrilled to finally see a real fire glowing and kicking out heat
in our living room

Another major change that has taken place in our house is in my office where Spike has kindly knocked down a totally unnecessary wall that for some unknown reason led to a corridor that in turn led to nowhere.  The difference is amazing and once the heating engineer has finished his work in there I am looking forward to getting my paws on it and turning it into a room of my own.

The strange wall that seemed to serve no purpose

A bit messy but well worth it

And the final result... a large bright room with two windows instead of one

The next milestone was when the roofers fitted our new skylight.  One little glitch was that the roofer that gave us the measurements must have had an off day because it was far too large for the hole. On the bright side though with a bit of extra work they have made the opening bigger to make it fit and given us more light (on the not so bright side the light-well had to be knocked out otherwise the window couldn't open so that will have to be rebuilt).

The old skylight was metal framed and very rusty and leaky so the previous owner put some fibre glass and perspex at the base of the light-well to protect the house. Unfortunately it has turned a rusty orange colour over the years and barely let any light through.

But my intrepid husband rigged up some rudimentary scaffolding and bravely clambered on his contraption to take the perspex down.

The perspex that was catching the leaks and rust from the old skylight

The scaffolding that Spike rigged up to work from

The quite terrifying view down the stairwell

Finally getting rid of the horrible stuff...

to reveal the new skylight...

et voila - we have light!

I'd be lying if I said that I enjoy the mess and disruption of the renovation process but I do love being involved in bringing out the best in our house and making it our forever home.