First Door IN

As I mentioned in my Monday post, I painted the frame of the backdoor whilst waiting for the delivery truck!

So 

on Tuesday afternoon (20/12) we actually fitted the door!

Do not know if any of you remembered the BIG HOLE after we took out the midget size backdoor.

 In the meantime Olivier built up the sides again and on Sunday went with a friend to put the stone lintel on top! 

not quite Kimberley but...

Sides built up by my favourite mason

(Every now and then I refuse with the big big stuff pretending to be a fragile woman!)

Well, tonight the door is in (not totally sealed yet) but there!! And I am so proud of my husband and all he can do! To think when we met he was a graphic designer behind his computers 16 hours a day! And now a builder of fame!!

And I'll be back in 2012 to show the pics of the incredible adventure of the beams - Olivier and 2 friends has been working on it this week and as I have to do the B&B, could not do a real photo reportage, but have something to show you soon!

With Ugly Betty we thank you for being such wonderful supporting friends in this new brave venture.

Here's to a hell of a lot of sharing in 2012!

Over and out for 2011

Hugs from us and wishing you great goings in 2012

Another Monday

Well, this Monday started out in anticipation !

We thought the delivery of the beams and tiles for the roof will arrive this morning.

Whilst waiting we ajusted things for the future back door and I painted the doorframe before the final installation. As no one showed up by 11H30 we came back home to finalise the 'declaration des travaux' papers (in France they LOVE paperwork in 3 - 4 - 5 fold!!)

Back again at 13h30 and by 14h30 the truck arrived.

Now as this is in a tiny hamlet, with small streets, the only way the driver thought he could maneuver was to put the nose of the truck in the field opposite the house.
 

The said field is slowly but surely showing signs of delicious green growth.

The wall after the departure of the truck!

Needless to say, the truck with a couple of tons on its back could not reverse out of the field - a neighbour came along with his tiny tractor - the truck did not move - only leaned on another neighbours' wall . 

3 hours later, he did download the tiles and beams and had to drive through the field to get out and this time the tiny little tractor had to do the last bit of pulling.

So now we have so many excuses to do to new neighbours not yet formally met and repairs - tomorrow we're going over with Bubbly, Red Wine and many a humble bow!

O happy with everything IN the courtyard !

This is what life's about - you plan one thing, another happens!

But hey, it's all about sharing and hopefully this sharing process will bring us closer to our new neighbours!

Monday Monday

This is just a quicky!

Arriving 'Chez' Ugly Betty this morning, O started wistling the old tune of 'Monday Monday'!
It certainly gave us some courage to attack the finishing of the floor and carting off the rubble to the 'dechetterie' - 

we did 4 trailers today - a total weight of around 4 tons !!!

But you can see the look this morning!!

 

And what the room looked like when we left this afternoon!

Only thing I can say is that we are dog tired tonight !

See u later for more Ugly Betty adventures

One Month

So, the first month has gone by

And boy oh boy

The kind of the 'mass'

So many emotions, fatigue, joy, highs, lows

And of course tons of chipped off cement and other 'debris' carted off to the dechetterie.

And the most incredible of all is the encouragement we get from you - our friends, family (even the neighbour's son popped in to see what we were up too and told us we're very courageous!)

Our latest task, since Wednesday has been to break up the tiled floor and we discovered old stone pavement underneath. Unfortunately we cannot use it in the house, but it will make a lovely terrace in front of Ugly Betty

No need going to gym!

This breaking up consists of O bashing the floor base with his favorite 'mass' and then I drag the pieces away and of course cart it out to the trailer waiting for another trip to the waste disposal place where the guys are getting to know us quite well.

A daunting task which we thought would last quite a couple of days, but by Monday this will be done!

Old stone under the cement

About 10 cm of cement

Little by little, chisel by chisel, we're liberating Ugly Betty of her cement prison!

Chic Betty - TNX Babe!

Truck filled to the brim

Last night driving back from the other side of Dijon (more than 3 hours away) in the pouring rain, barely seeing the glittering black road that snaked ahead, with a truck stuffed full of furniture, I once again realized how incredible this life is. 

If one is prepared to open yourself up to others, to help, to share. 

We went to help a dear friend clean out a home of a friend that passed away and Ugly Betty gained beautiful furniture for her lounge and dining room! (Not to mention enough toilet paper for a lifetime!)

Elegant table waiting patiently for its place

Lovely chairs to be restored

This morning we unpacked the truck and Ugly Betty, with holes in her walls, a leaking roof and so much still to be done, welcomed elegant chairs and tables for her interior! All wrapped up in the barn, waiting to get a bit 'sproused' up. And she'll become Chic Betty!

I do think that sometimes we do things the wrong way around but hey, this is inspiring to us as well! Projecting into the future - visualising the final product.

Thank you Babe for this.

Life is about sharing and if there's one person that does more than her fare share for others, it is my dear friend 'Babe'! I am very lucky to have her as my friend. Luv Ya Babe! 

We might have to re-baptise Ugly Betty and call her Chic Babe?

Openings and ........

Oh Dear Oh Dear

The last couple of days we have not been very 'tranquil'!

O still smiling!

What started off as an ordinary door opening, covered in cement, is now the opening to a cave it seems.

The region where Ugly Betty is, used to be a prehistoric lake and a lot of the houses has been built with wonderful fossil stones called 'Stromatolites'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stromatolite

4 Stromatolites filling the wheelbarrow!

(In Gannat a mere 10 km's away, there's a very interesting museum explaining the region and the beasts that used to live here many many moons ago - http://www.rhinopolis.org/pages/site%20de%20Gannat.htm )

The stones outside looks like landart

But getting back to our darling and the fact that we have to change all the doors and windows, this seems to be a rather daunting task as things can move and change in an eye-wink. As illustrated herewith!

The morning

Late Afternoon !

In the meantime we found old bricks and O chiseled away on a lintel for the doorpost! And the new doors and windows are arriving on Friday!

Poor Dusty did not think we'll use him as a packhorse!

The stone lintel ready to be raised to 2.20 meters

So now for the suite........ 

Fêlé

Concise Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary © 2009 Oxford University Press:

 

fêlé (familier), ~e /fɛle/

1. adjective (fou) cracked (familier) (jamais épith).

2. noun, masculine, feminine loony (familier);
    

 

 

 

So here you go - I found the word that you can apply to us - in French - Fêlé ! English translation - cracked - loony! (en vir my Afrikaanse vrinne - sommer mal man - in die bol gepik)

 

This must be it as nobody in their right mind will be chipping cement off walls 6 hours per day !  

 

Wednesday was exactly 2 weeks that we've started on Ugly Betty's renovation.

It actually feels like 2 years!

Every morning we start with one hour of carting all the rubble we've chipped off the day before to the trailar - this allready is quite an excercise!

And then we just move in and chip chip chip, or as O has been doing the last few days, taking a couple of century's old wall down stone by stone. (I then of course cart all the lime sement and stones out into the garden)

But the new open plan lounge, dining room kitchen is slowly but surely taking form - kind of a new space being born out of 3 poky rooms. 

And this adventure will continue......

Hammers and Odors

Favourite tools!

Now I am a girl that can handle a hammer - that is why we never fight on site!!

The hand that got hit!

And when I do miss the target, oh boy, it certainly hurts like hell - I found out again this week!

With all the bashing we're doing, I tend to hit the same spot, but with a bit of tlc and Arnica Montana http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnica_montana

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnica_des_montagnes, you can almost not see the blue anymore ! In France we call Arnica Montana the plant for beaten women! It does work miracles!

It is incredible what a little opening up of an old stuffy house can do!

Brick wall down - now to take out all the rubble!

Taking down the old bathroom wall

          

Ugly Betty is actually smelling like a young girl again.

With thick layers of cement on her beautiful stone walls, dampness were trapped everywhere! The chipping off, although taking lots of time, is changing her odor daily

O chipping up the tiled floor

When O started chipping up the cement floor, we actually found old clay tiles underneath.

Unfortunately we are not able to recover them as they have become brittle with all the damp! In just 2 days Olivier did such a great job - almost 20 m² of thick cement bit by bit with a hammer, chisel and crowbar!

Now I know why we are a tiny bit tired at night!

One week

Bathroom before

Today a week ago we did the final signing and 'Ugly Betty' became ours!

Well, tonight it feels like we've had her for years!

My handwork almost done

In one week we've almost done all the 'gutting' and that is maybe why there's not a bone in my body that's not aching tonight.

During the hours of carting bags of rubble, ripping up floorboards etc I was thinking that we certainly are not 'all there' as we say in South Africa.

Bathroom After!

After our big project here Aux Jardins des Thevenets, we should've know what is in store for us, but no, here we go again!

And the schedule is tight - the roofers want to do the new roof in just over 10 days time

In that time we must finish all the demolishing inside (2 walls must come out) put up the scaffolding and take off the old tiles.

The one thing that has been with us so far is the weather. Almost spring weather in autumn! We've had the most beautiful days so far and we lunch outside in the sun every day.
Making all our aches and pains worthwhile.

And our little hameau (hamlet) is really pretty. Only 6 neighbours and plowed fields around, it nestles between 2 small rivers, the Andelot and the Ancoutay.
We even have a distant view of the Puy du Dôme - our local volcanic mountaintop that is a landmark to many.

Ugly Betty on the right

Soon Ugly Betty is going to be 'La Belle des Sardons' !
Watch this space!

Déchetterie and wires!

O loading rotten floorboards - first trip of many to come

For my English friend, dechetterie is the waste disposal site where one takes all rubble.

When we first started work here Aux Jardins des Thevenets 9 and a bit years ago, we very quickly found the local déchetterie.

Now, with the gutting of Ugly Betty, we are using the same one, many trips per day there and back.

Wires everywhere

It is incredible the stuff that comes out of such a tiny little house

It really makes one wonder about people and the way they hoard (and then I think of this house and if I have to pack and clean one day - OH MY WORD!!!)

One of the things we discovered about the past owner of Ugly Betty (may he RIP) is that he must have had a fetish for wires. 

Telephone wires, electrical cables, anything wiry, you name it, it was hanging somewhere around the rooms!

You are being watched!

I am just amazed that he did not actually electrocuted himself along the line!

He even had a very basic surveying system at his front porch.

After the first day this has all been ripped out, but the incredible electrical system is just too much and we are waiting for the local electricity company to come and install a new board. Will be much safer for the future!

All in a days work getting Ugly Betty transformed!

Starting block

I know I know have kept many wondering with 'Ugly Betty'!

 

Well, Ugly Betty is the tiny little house we bought this summer and on Tuesday afternoon we did the final signing and she became ours.

First thing Wednesday morning, we headed over to our new little house to be converted into a gîte - self-catering cottage. I baptised her Ugly Betty as she's really ugly - only for now as she'll be turning into a beauty over the next few months. She has potential!

The decor to be changed

She certainly is a much smaller chunk than what we bit off almost 10 years ago when we arrived Aux Jardins des Thevenets!

So with this blog we'll keep you updated of Betty's journey and transformation from 'Ugly Betty' into a 'beauté'!

O demolishing the very horrible little entrance porch

Under the cement, beautiful old stonewalls

Gutting Betty

Before a run to the dump

The A team

Janine and Marcel, my 'French Parents' our first visitors

At the end of the first day..........