Hi Joanne, and I think French minimalism is to be found everywhere, and is recognised in a total indifference to making the house more beautiful than the neighbours. But you’ll soon learn to lose your Ozzy obsessions and live like the French, in elegant simplicity 
Oh Peter, I’m not sure I’ll ever lose the urge to paint, paint, paint! It’s more about me than the neighbours though. 
I can’t wait to get my hands on some lovely old furniture. . . I’ve been an avid upcycler for quite some years now. … just love making old things look good again.
In fact, we’re heading out in the morning to pick up some free pavers from Gumtree. . . waste not want not!
Hi Jodge, I misjudged you, sorry for that. Conservation and recycling are the way to go, and thoughtful repainting is transformative fun. I like working with old timber and find crummy old pallets hugely useful and dead cheap, if not free.
I only wish I had a firmer grip, that my joints were less stiff, and that I had a better head for heights 
, but I still give it a try 
…
May your your life in France overflow with creative opportunities! 
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Peter, no offence taken at all! Although I must admit I did steal the gate 
I like how you said ‘thoughtful repainting’. I have seen so many wonderful pieces destroyed on pinterest by overzealous ‘up’cyclers, I die a little each time.
My favourite pieces of furniture at home are in original condition, I should start a new thread and post pics.
Mainly I trawl the local streets on a Sunday afternoon in the ‘ute’, picking up tragic pieces of 1980’s pine furniture, that would otherwise be crushed in Council cleanup, it’s amazing what a lick of paint can do!
Oooh pallets! We’re putting in a sunken fire pit at the moment, might just use pallets for the seating!
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Bonjour mes amis!!!
Well, we are still here in sunny Carmaux - well, it is sunny today but has been pee-ing down for the past two. Two days to go until ‘signing the acte’ day; the deed itself being followed by a meal at a local resto and then a champagne apero back at the house.
We have had a ‘bit of fun’ since we arrived last week in that, as soon as I walked into the house, I was overcome with the smell of diesel. It transpired that the 46 year old central heating oil tank had corroded and leaked nigh on 750 litres of diesel into the ground. Of course, this tank was built-in whilst the house was being constructed and, to remove it, we are having to demolish a section of walling under the outside terrace. In the meantime, we have installed two 1000 litre temporary tanks in the basement garage and had these connected to the heating system following transfer of the remaining diesel from the old tank.
As I type, our friendly builder - Patrick - is currently using a pneumatic road drill to break through the old foundations to make an opening large enough to drag the old tank out and replace it with a new. The noise and vibrations are something else…but needs must!!!
The two temporary tanks at the far end of the garage:
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Bienvenue à Carmaux ! We’ve had to wait over three months for that rain, Carl, and even I was pleased when it finally got here. That said, it’s drying up nicely now so perhaps i’ll be ablle to get out on the bike for a short blast 
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Horrible that it has happened but thank goodness it wasn’t during Winter when you would have needed the heating!
Good also that you have found someone who has reacted so quickly and can get the work done. A big ouch for the finances though Carl, maybe you will have to have a cider celebration instead 
Seriously every good luck to you with your project, every day is a step nearer to your dream 
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Merci Andrew!! I did pop in to the tabac the other day but you were ‘out and about’. I need to drop by again a bit later today to top up supplies!!! Should be a good day for a run on the bike - a bit blowy, but absolutely A1 otherwise. Yes, the garden definitely needed the rain and the grass has started to recover already.
Looking forward to the walk down in to town this afternoon…
C
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As you say Ann, better that it happened now than later in the seasons. As to the cost, my In-Laws are covering this in full as they reason that, if they were selling to strangers, it would have needed to be done anyway. I offered to pay at least half, but they will not hear of it.
The chap who is doing the work, a registered builder, is the son of a childhood friend of mother-in-law. It is good to have connections!!!
C
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I am so relieved to read this reply… your In-Laws are behaving quite correctly… phew 
and, they possibly have insurance cover that can lighten some of the impact on their wallet… (mmm… have they thought of this ? you can suggest it as a possibility, if not)…
I’m often “out and about”! I open and am there all morning, my mrs turns up after dropping the kids at school and I take a back seat in “the office”. Our employee (cousin) does the afernoons and I’m behand scenes or get out on the bike/work on the house etc until she leaves and I take over until I close and tot-up. And change of plan this afternoon, DIY at home and orders to do, then back in later. Out on the bike with St Juéry tomorrow (my son rides with them) then with Blaye Thursday so can’t grumble… well I can… 5.15am delivery friday followed by the market all morning and I’ll be ready for a sieste early afternoon! à tout !
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you’ve no time to be bored… that’s a real plus…
boredom, forgotton what that is - what with the tabac open 6.5 days a week, 2 very active kids and a house that I’m slowly, very slowly renovating, I get out on the bike from time to time too - 6900 km so far this year so I should better the 8000km I did last year!
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I am amazed at how many folk who come to France seem to want to … just…float …from one meal to the next… that sort of thing… with lots of sunbathing and entertaining in between…
I like a good reason to get up in the morning… plus a challenge of almost any sort… (and plenty of time for great food and wine of course)
It sounds to me, that you have got your Life worked out perfectly…
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Thanks Stella but it’s a long way off perfect for the moment! It was a better balance in our previous jobs (Mme teaching and me teaching and translating) We’ve just finished our 6th year working 7 days a week and although we manage to do other things now (the first 3 years were 80 hour weeks!) thanks to a third person/employee in the shop, we really do miss having weekends to relax and do do things/travel etc. and at times the lives of others seem very tempting but we’re not retirement age yet and our kids are only 11 and 9 so I’ll have to keep going well into my 60s before I can slow down a bit!
I was “chasing my tail” for many years… just to stand still… or so it seemed. Trying to juggle everything and keep the family and the clients happy… phew… looking back, I sometimes wonder how I ever managed to stay sane… 
Things do work out in the end… but, it can be hellish in the meantime…
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“chasing my tail”, I like that, it describes the situation very well!
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The monster is out of the cage!!!
It put up a mighty fight but it was never going to win.
Hopefully will be collected tomorrow. Patrick now has to install a concrete base to allow the new tank to stand secure and then re-build the wall leaving an opening into which a pair of doors will be fitted for access. This lot will not be finished before we leave on Saturday but we know it will all be done by the time we get back in January.
The neighbours must be loving us!!!
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OK!!! Today was the day we finally signed the contract on our new house in the south of France. It has been a tiring couple of weeks sorting many things out but finally Flo and I have our dream home. We have many ideas to improve the house and gardens, but these can be realised over the following few years before we move full-time to live here. The Notaire in Monesties was most friendly, spoke very good English to ensure that I fully understood the French legalities of the situation and was all completed within an hour.
The champagne flowed very nicely when we got back to the house - and even Patrick the builder joined us following his full day working on the works to install the new central heating tank!
Salut!!! 
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Congratulations. I hope you have many happy years in your dream house
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