The (temporary) guest room

You are probably saying that by their nature guests are temporary, but this is the room, not the guests. We have friends and family visiting over the next few months and no way could they stay in the room we'd allocated for them. The views are terrific, overlooking the garden from one window and the old town from the other but there the loveliness stopped. An old roof leak had been repaired but not internally, the windows were falling apart, one had been 'repaired' with sellotape and there was an old wasps nest nestled snuggly between two beams. It was not inviting.

The problem we faced was the long term usage of the room, it may still be a guest suite but the likelihood is that part of it will be a bathroom, so we did not want to spend too much time and effort on it. Or so we thought.

I stripped the wallpaper off and down came most of the plaster around one of the windows. At this point I could see daylight through the lathe and plaster so I took down all of this section of the ceiling. We insulated and put up new plasterboard. After I had stripped everything back we realised that the dormer was quite interesting internally so Andrew decided to make a feature of it and open it right up. It looks great now but took a lot of work, particularly for something meant to be a quick job. The walls were in a real state and took days of filling and sanding, they are still far from perfect. Two vertical beams were uncovered in the wall between the other bedroom and the infill is different so I assume that there was once a doorway there. The main beam had been plastered and wallpapered so I took it back to the wood and cleaned up the wasp nest. A shelving unit had been built into the chimney breast, when we pulled it out the original granite fireplace was still intact. This part of the house is the oldest and has lovely wide, uneven chestnut floor boards which took several days on my knees cleaning and waxing.

Finally I was able to decorate and furnish. I have previously posted on the furniture but I was also able to recycle the artworks. In the garage we found eight or so old gallery posters. They were a bit grubby so I cleaned them with some bread, bought some inexpensive poster frames and now they look really good, adding to the calm space. One of the armoires we inherited with the house has a lovely mirrored door so we manhandled this up the stairs and Andrew fitted some rods so coat hangers fit. I still have to sort out window treatments, which are a bit tricky and find a bedside light.

It's not perfect, the quality of preparation and painting is not up to our usual standards but it is still the best room in the house! Next I have to make one of the notaire's old offices into a guest room for our niece, I think it will be a little basic but at least she will have her own space.

Off we go again!

Vintage finds and transformations

Finally I finished decorating the guest room and could think about furniture. One of the armoires that had come with the house had a full length mirror and once Andrew made some hanging rails it was perfect. What I was missing was a bedside cabinet and a dressing table.

On the way back from Brive last week we called into a 'depot vente', nearest equivalent in the U.K would be a house clearance warehouse, to see if we could find anything suitable. We spotted a small cupboard plus a side table which I knew would work, total cost was 48 euros. The chair came from our old kitchen and the mirror I had previously liberated from my father's shed.

The bedside cabinet was solid wood, but too modern looking and had shiny chrome knobs. The table was a marriage, a pretty beech base with turned legs and a replacement pine top with an ill fitting drawer. Andrew replaced the drawer base and sorted out the runners. I plundered my box of fittings and found a suitable handle. I didn't have any for the other piece so decided to spray the knobs matt black until I find something more suitable.

On Sundays and national holidays we have to find quiet jobs as we can only use noisy equipment between 10.00 and 12.00 in the morning and so they were perfect for my restoration plans. As you can see from the photographs the pieces are different styles and wood so I needed to unite them. I didn't want to paint them all the same as it would have looked bland so I decided on a combination of cream satin paint and chalk paint in a colour called French Linen. Everything got a good wash down with diluted white vinegar, the table needed a bit more work as it had been waxed quite heavily, and then a light sanding to everything. I always use tape to mask edges to give a crisp and professional edge.

The chair and table base were painted in cream and I used a little of the cream paint on the carving at the top of the mirror. This, the table top and the bedside cabinet were then given a coat of chalk paint. Once this was dry I gently rubbed back the detailing on the mirror to show some of the cream paint to add some interest. I'm not a great shabby chic fan, it can be overdone but I did rub a few areas back. If you want to do this, just think about where wear and tear would naturally occur as it makes the piece look more authentic than random rubbing. Everything was then waxed.

My last job is to sort out window treatments and find which packing case has the bed linen in. Then I'll share photographs!

Fete de la Fraise-Beaulieu sur Dordogne

Yesterday was the annual strawberry fair in Beaulieu sur Dordogne, a beautiful town on a wide bend of the Dordogne just half an hour from us.

The whole town had been decorated with strawberry bunting and everywhere you looked there were strawberries, the scent of them as we walked down the main road was delicious.

As well as strawberry sellers there was a market showcasing regional producers and all the restaurants had taken up the strawberry theme with special menus.

There was also a very large strawberry tart under construction, to be cut and distributed later in the day. We couldn't wait that long and purchased from a bakery, it didn't last long enough to photograph!

A very large strawberry tart