Projet 'rez de chaussée' - ça commence!

It has been into the 30s again today. Too hot for doing anything much outside. So we finally made a start on the rather over-whelming task of sorting out the ground floor of the house. We haven't touched it since we moved in over 2 years ago and I would very much like to have transformed it into a cosier, cleaner space before the darker months are upon us. It is where we spend the majority of our time in winter, after all! The ground floor is made up of 3 separate 'spaces' which are the kitchen area, the 'sitting' area and the 'eating area'. We are starting with the eating area which we will probably use as the sitting area in the future.

So here is the obligatory 'before' shot
Looks superficially OK, but the stained pine wall pannelling makes the already dark room even darker, the lighting needs o be re-done and some damp-proofing work also needs tackling. Plus, underneath the ceiling plasterboard and the wall pannelling we discovered a mess of dangerous wiring (earth wires hanging loose, live wires not properly attached etc) ......held up by clumps of plaster filler and chunks of plasterboard. Very much the work of somebody who clearly didn't have a clue about the electrical standards that apply in France! So today, we pulled off the pannelling and removed a chunk of plasterboard and a load of filler from the ceiling and made plans for the next step. Clearly some rewiring will need to be done before we can apply a waterproof membrane/plastic sheeting up against the current air brick wall onto which we will fix a wooden frame which will then support plasterboard. The end result will be a moisture-tight, more even surface with wiring that will conform to current standards and improved lighting that will make a dark room much lighter. Watch that space!

After those efforts this morning, we pressed on with more preserving this afternoon. The Agen prunes in Armagnac are now jarred, I have made two jars of mulled pearsand Andy made some jars of lime marmalade
I really do need a bigger cupboard now!