Yes, the week we were hoping to be in & established for Christmas. T’was not to be.
However on Thursday afternoon 21/12 we “accepted” the house & signed for it (with a number of exceptions which the contractors have to resolve within 15 working days). More of that later.
All the locks were changed & we have all the keys & the remotes for the garage door.
We have not accepted the exterior works, which will all be finished by the end of January.
Then on Friday to celebrate Louise’s 75th birthday we headed off to Belcastel for the night, to our favourite restaurant (with rooms) within a relatively easy drive. It was as wonderful as ever!
Some photos of what we accepted, starting with the garage door. The garage is still a bit of a workshop for the external works, but not for long.
The guest area, playroom/bar etc.
The kitchen complete with Lou’s special cupboard/sliding shelf!
Our bedroom, dressing & shower room etc.
The lounge & dining room.
The utility room.
The shutters are exterior & all controlled by remote controls. This will be fun until we work it all out!
There are some minor issues of course, but also we have some concerns.
Firstly the water pressure isn’t what it needs to be & it fluctuates. We’ve done lots of tests between our plumbers & Jeff, who’s in charge of the water for Vaour. Interrupted by Christmas but it needs resolving.
The floors are magnificent in most of the house & just what we hoped for. However, there are issues in some rooms & a solution isn’t apparent. We await the proposal from the company who installed them.
We’ve still no extractor fan in the kitchen but dates organised for January for the fitter to come & hopefully install it. I won’t believe it until I see it!!
When the guys were putting in the internal blind for the kitchen window above the sink, one of them slipped and broke the kitchen tap. Unfortunately this is a tap which gives normal hot & cold water, plus sparkling water. They’re searching for a replacement asap! You’ll notice it now in the kitchen photos!
N. B. for those Brits amongst you QUOOKER taps are not allowed in France as it is illegal to dispense boiling water in a kitchen!! There are some things that I will never understand.
The outside still looks a bit like a WWI site, with mud everywhere & the only good dry days are either weekends, Christmas Day as I write this, & of course the days when they just don’t turn up.
We’re moving in mid January & we MUST have a solid, dry & clean entrance. The pressure is on but their track record isn’t great.
In the meantime we can now start to get our shelving up in the utility & garage & start moving smaller stuff in. All the wardrobes are ready & we can move clothes & things now.
The study needs to be shelved with IKEA stuff. Oh joy oh bliss, another trip to Toulouse.
Orange are coming to connect up all our comms early Jan & then hopefully we can get the wifi, music, TV etc all installed & up & running. Again, after much battling with ORANGE I will believe it when I see it.
We are now busier than ever but we are taking Xmas day off! (Other than to write this)
Here’s to 2024. May it just be wonderful.