Another good afternoon goes by on the island unit for the kitchen and the adrenaline is really flowing again.
I must sound like a real saddo but this kind of thing does excite me.

I have to admit to spending some money on plywood though which has spoilt my intentions of trying to build of the unit with reclaimed wood or something which I already had kicking around.

It seemed sensible to invest in the plywood because it is quick and extremely easy to work with. It also means that I can retain the old wood, plus the unused floorboards for all the visible stuff.

I am looking forward to Friday when I will start on the drawers and cupboard doors.

As promised, here is a picture of the new kitchen island unit as it develops. I had a brilliant day today, in fact, I had a brilliant weekend - helped by the balmy weather. Just as a point of interest, and I will not name the company in case they take umbridge, Donna got an estimate - for the design - from a company for the same size unit and the cost? between £11-16k!!!!

We have had a fantastic week of weather here with temperatures reaching a dizzy 16 degrees. Not only that, with the birds singing and evenings drawing out till at least six thirty before the evening cloaks out the last of the light.

It has not come too soon though. We have, although nowhere near as bad as the UK, had our fair share of rain so it has certainly lifted the spirits. Mind you, to put it into perspective, it is still only January, so we could get a blast of Siberia at any time. The only consolation is we know that it is nearer now to spring.

The kitchen is 99.9% finished now (why is it, it seems just as long to finish off all of the little snags as completing a major task?).

My word I have gotten a bit lazy with the this blog for one reason or another. And it is not as though I have no progress to report.

I think it is just a case of getting a little out of touch with the key tapping on Perigord Vacance, and, as it is with any task that lags behind, once you miss a day or so, but the source of the writing, i.e., our French Life, carries on. Anyway, enough of the self pity!

We are so close to moving into the farmhouse kitchen now. Half of the floor has been waxed and polished - although it will need a second application - and Donna has started to cut in the paint around the edges.

At the end of last week I plastered the concrete returns on either side of the new doors and also plastered the old lintel above the door.

Before I could do this I had to screw some plasterboard to the front so that the plaster had a key (don't ever try to plaster directly onto wood, it will fall off in weeks because it cannot grip the surface).

I delibereately used old off cuts and was especially careful not to make it look formal. This way, it leaves a wany edge to the plater where it meets the crepie - much more romantic in these old properties.