We moved to France at the end of 2005 and spent the first year here working on the Chateau in order to make it ready for our B& B business. Luckily the ground floor of the Chateau didn't require too much work, or so we thought. Upstairs was a different matter. The Chateau was built in 1839 but never finished and upstairs, at each end of the house, there were two massive rooms with no proper floor, no plasterwork no ceilings....
We've certainly found it a challenge here in France - Not just the sheer amount of work to do, but also the cultural differences make anything simple a 3 hour job - They just don't do quick here. The rooms in the house are large, every job you do requires an epic quantity of materials and takes a lot longer than you though it would. If you put something down you can spend and hour looking for it!!! Here are some before and after pictures of what we achieved in the first year.
The Rose Suite Before
The Rose Suite After!
The Acacia Suite before
The Acacia Suite after!
