House Work

 We're creeping along on improving the house. Some of the work that has to be done isn't really visible, not as visible as repainting the door and the shutters.

I started sanding these shutters because they were low and easy for me to reach.
Earl finished them, of course. 

I'm so glad we finally choose a color. 

Our "front" door with a yellow rosebush that will be trained to curl across the top.

Before, the doors were brown. I hated the doors and I sat and looked at them a lot in the kitchen. They were brown inside and out. 

You may be thinking, there's a lot that needs to be fixed. Yep, but we're getting there step by step. 

My husband is meticulous, of course. The doors and shutters must be taken down and sanded smooth, then painted. The doors need the window panes to be re-glazed. That all takes a long time. 

Black trim on the blue shutters. 

So we have one door and two shutters completed. 

Then, the electrician came in last week to do some of that hidden work. The office I use is between our bedroom and the terrace. It has a concrete floor and walls that we haven't touched yet. But what it didn't have was a heater. We had some colds days in the past month, so we knew a heater was necessary. 

Our heating source is the cast-iron radiators that were here in the house but were connected to an oil tank. We didn't want oil heating, so removed the giant tank. Now each radiator is filled with water and has its own heating unit, so we can turn each one on individually. 

The "office" has only one outlet and that outlet is busy with my computer and the printer and the light I use for teaching. Plus, as Jay the electrician pointed out, a heater needs a line directly to the fuse box. So he had to drill a trench to run a line to where the heater will be. 

Jay framed in the doorway, kicked up a lot of dust last week. 

Knowing that the room would be filled with dust, Earl and I cleared out nearly everything. Once the dust settled two days later and the electrical outlet was in place, we decided we might as well paint the room and lay tile on the floor. But the floor takes a distinct dip from one end to the other and there is no way we'll be able to tile it. We're debating carpet (something you don't really see in France) or maybe just a big rug. 

What color will we paint the walls? Some variation of white that we have in big tubs. One of our many good friends gave us a tub of "magnolia" paint. I think it came from some friends who are moving and clearing out their home. Magnolia sounds good for the office. It will make the walls look fresh and remove one of the many construction materials we are currently trying to store in what will one-day be the media room, but that we currently call the "cozy" room. 

It may be a long winter, but we can hope that we'll get more work done and be warm in our first full year in our new home.