Almost.....................

Okay...................so I take it back! Late last night a very dishevelled and exhausted farmer knocked at the cuisine door to apologise for the hedge and the mess his cows had made in the garden. I felt so sorry for him - standing there in the dark, bitterly cold and lashing rain! What's a hedge between friends?!!!! (a much deflated me!)
Tartelette has arrived in Paris today and we have just managed to get the attic bedroom into some kind of order for her visit. It`s been a very close shave and Mark is still painting as I type! If the three flights of winding stairs don`t kill her then the paint fumes will!!!
And to think, when we moved in, the space had not been used for over 180 years, you could see the sky through the roof tiles and the floor was a thick layer of soil resting on the ceilings below! But now - what a transformation...

And as for furnishings?  I bought this armoire (below) a million years ago for £50 ( $100) . The mirror had broken but I still had to have it, still with its original old grey paint and such divine rose garlands on the outer doors.

I had the door secured from behind and upholstered the gap with some treasured 19th century toile with cherubs................

It is a panel I have been hoarding for a long time - and I managed to use the textile for the background on my website and my Ebay auctions - so it`s pretty special to me.

We have given Tartellette a little light reading (!)...............

It has been nice to finally unpack the corbeille bed that has been stashed away since we moved here. I love those tapestry, rose-filled urns.

There is still so much more to do up there, but at least it`s comfy for Tartelettes arrival! 

 When we first started the work we realised that George the girouette (weathervane) had been secured by a large bolt that comes straight through the large beam in the ceiling of the room. When the rain was very, very heavy a few plips of water were coming in and landing on the soil floor. We asked a few roofing companies to come and fit a zinc collar around the base of the pole on the roof so that the rain would drain away but no one had a ladder long enough to get to the top of this high pointed roof!!  So, as part of the renovation, we sealed it from below. But with the terrible lashing rain we have had this week it has brought on another problem. It seems that the water has found another route and we went up there this morning to see a wet patch on the ceiling further down the wall..............
( look below the chandelier)

It`s too late to deal with it now as we leave for Chartres tomorrow to meet Tartelette. However, when we get home I am going to search until I find a roofing company that has the right equipment.

So - off tomorrow 'on the road' truffling for treasures, and I`ll take some photographs as we go!

A la prochaine mes belles..................