A month ago I said the first new gite would be finished by the end of next week.

Over two weeks ago I said the first new gite would be finished in a week or so.

Well it isn't yet! There's been a few distractions and things have taken much longer than expected. We have been busy most days but minor finishing touches keep cropping up and take ages to finish. Caroline has finished painting all the door frames and architraves, and put lassure (kind of varnish) on the oak window sills, various bits of wood trim and a window that I built. The oak window sills look really good, the lassure has brought the grain out of the wood.

I've put an unplanned door and some plasterboard under the stairs to cover the hot water cylinder. More painting and rubbing down in the downstairs bedroom, three loft hatches, some loft insulation (horrible job), cover for the fuse box, … You get the picture.

The gite will be finished by next Saturday. It has to be because we've taken a booking. Arggg. As long as I don't slash my wrist open again everything should be fine. So, photos of the completed project next week Fingers crossed.

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Along with all the minor fiddly jobs I've been doing in the gite, one of those I have put off for a long time has been making a window sill in the lounge. It's a slightly complicated shape with a large sloping return on one end. The window sill I made last week for the kitchen was a simple straight run, but was a useful test run.

Three bits of oak plank planed and thickness and then glued edge to edge larger than the finished size. I stuck a large 50kg weight ontop to prevent bowing or twisting.

Glue dried and ready to shape. At it's widest point the planks are about 54cm. I didn't have any oak that wide, hence the gluing.

On the underside of the long edge I had to rebate out a shape that matched my finger. That's because the inside edge of the window frame has mastic sealant run along the bottom edge.

Cut into shape with a circular and jigsaw. The top edge has also been rounded with the router. Just needs a jolly good sanding down.

Installed in position and ready for a tint and oil finish.

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For a bit of fun I've created a 'slideshow' using Picasa of the gite renovation in pictures. Broadband users only.

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After a small layoff I've started to get back into the renovation. Yesterday I decided to make a window sill for the kitchen out of an old piece of oak I found in my workshop. It should have been a short job, but due to the irregular shape I ended up having to use:-

• A planer/thicknesser
• Sanding machine (belt and disc)
• Router, for the curved edge and a rebate to fit the window
• A handsaw
• Bench circular saw

All that, and a couple of hours, just for a window sill.

Recess in concrete floor for shower.
Shower tray.
Tray installed plus waterproof band.

Today I decided to tackle the walk-in shower tray that's been staring at me for months. One of the gites has a downstairs bedroom and en-suite bathroom designed for handicapped access, so it needed a flat 'wet room' style shower installed. The recess in the concrete floor and the drainage was finished at the end of last year, but I've been putting off fitting the actual shower tray until today. The tray (from Wedi) is a pre-formed unit about 4cm thick with the necessary slopes and angles built in ready for tiling. The center of the tray has a push in siphon/tray that lines up with the pipework in the floor. The whole lot was then stuck down with a flexible tile adhesive and I also ran a waterproof strip around the edges of the shower to prevent water ingress between the floor and wall. Fortunately the recess and underfloor plumbing all lined up perfectly. Something I have learnt is that good preparation is worth the investment. It just needs tiling now!

Because things went smoothly I decided to tackle another job I've been putting off – architraves around the doors. Last time I did it I painted the architraves before fitting, and the finish wasn't that good. This time a friend suggested I undercoat both sides, fit the architraves and then paint the door frame and architrave at the same time. More cutting in, and potential gloss paint splodges on the walls, but I'll give it a go. Apart from getting a huge blob of 'No More Nails' glue (Ni Clou Ni Vis en Francaise) in my hair – which I didn't notice for 3 hours – that's another job ticked off.

Still got a fairly large list of finishing off jobs – but I think it's getting smaller.

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After my enforced lay-off last week it's been back to light work in the gites. After our friends left it was back inside the first gite to complete most of the little finishing off jobs. Skirting boards, architraves around the doors, plinths under the kitchen cabinets etc. It should be no suprise to me, but the final finishing off jobs take ages. Alot of fiddly little jobs that you can't get your teeth into, however it's the finish that makes all the difference. Adding skirting boards really helps to complete room.

Hopefully, fingers crossed and barring any more accidents, the first of the two gites should be finished by the end of next week.

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I've been taking a well earned rest this week, partly because of my cut wrist and also because we've had some friends from the UK stay for a week. It's been a chance to recharge the batteries a bit.

Our friends stayed in one of the new gites, which mean't last week we put on a real push to try to finish it. The gite is not quite done – missing skirting and architraves – but it was certainly habitable. We had a few local friends help with the final few days and managed to finish all the painting, kitchen finished, all the electrics and plumbing, bathrooms complete etc. A big thank you to everyone.

There is still a week or so finishing off, pictures, more furniture, little details, but one gite is almost complete. It's quite a relief to see something after months and months of hard work.

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I've just come out of the shower after finishing the taping and jointing and filling in the final bedroom. I'm glad that marathon is over. Well in one gite anyway. At this stage we've decided to concentrate on getting one gite finished then move on to the other side. Progress is good…

The kitchen is almost finished. All the floor and wall cabinets are fitted (except cupboard fronts to avoid damage). Worktops on, splashbacks tiled, walls and ceiling painted. A local company came this week to fit the propane gas supply for the cooker. The propane bottle lives outside and the supply to the cooker has all it necessay safety devices and stopcocks fitted.

The main downstairs living area is all tiled and grouted, walls taped and jointed and have received an emulsion undercoat ready for the top coats.

The two upstairs en-suite bathrooms are painted and tiled thoughout and have all the sanitaryware fitted and working. Just a few finishing touches.

The two upstairs bedrooms have been taped and jointed and are ready for painting. Most probably start that tomorrow.

There is still quite a bit to do :-

• Finish painting
• Paint internal doors
• Fit all the electric sockets, switches etc.
• Ceiling insulation
• Laminate flooring upstairs
• Skirting boards throughout
• Paint and fit architraves
• Tint and oil the staircase
• Connect up the bathroom extractor fans
• Buy and fit the cooker and dishwasher
• General cleaning
• Curtains
• Move in furniture

Doesn't look too bad if you read it quick.

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Hurrah, all the plumbing in one of the gites is finished. We now have a functioning chauffe-eau (electric hot water tank) and taps in the two bathrooms and kitchen.

The chauffe-eau is under the stairs, hence the delay, and it now looks like the control room of a submarine under there with all the various pipes and stop valves. We went a bit over the top with stop taps so we could isolate each of the three bathrooms and the kitchen in the event of a problem in the future. It did complicate things but at least everything works.

The staircase men finished the second staircase yesterday afternoon. The both look fabulous and make a real difference to the gites. No more carrying stuff up and down ladders. Hurrah

As soon as the first set of stairs were complete, Ian and I dived in to finish the walling under the stairs so we could complete the final bit of plumbing and fit the hot water heater under the staircase. We ran out of time of Friday, but hopefully early next week we should have all the plumbing finished and working.

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