Preparations Begin with the Koevoet

I've recently had meetings with both Freddie and Mr Kelly, the men who will be doing the renovations at LFH. We'll hopefully be getting under way with the big contract at the beginning of November, but in the meantime, preparations are being made and excitement mounts.

Once again Colin, the lovely mover, arrived with his van to clear out the house. He's getting to be a regular. Now the "conservatory" looks like this:

And Henny's garage looks like this:

I hasten to add that not all of that's mine, but I'm grateful to have my humble possessions out of harm's way for a few months.

LFH is being gutted from top to bottom. It is the intention to hand over an empty shell. To that end, as I write, Freddie and Ken are pulling the guts out of the tower. I couldn't resist having a little go myself, nor could Henny. For all you non-Dutch speakers, a koevoet is a crowbar (literal translation = cow's foot). Here you see one in action on the plastic panelling of the tower 1st floor.

In my various searches for French houses, I have seen gorgeous original features. Sadly none of them came with this house. Further more, I've always encountered two things: multi-patterned floral wallpaper and tongue-and-groove pine, the sauna look, used everywhere to cover up a multitude of sins, including damp and termites at my last house. It was only a matter of time before we discovered the floral wallpaper at Top-top. I love it most when its on the ceiling.