Woodworking week

We've both set to on wooden projects this week.

I've been stripping, sanding and re-finishing the staircase in La P'tite Maison, which was built and fitted by a local artisan well before our era, some twenty five years ago, but thanks to The Passing Of Time (not to mention builders' boots) was looking more than a little worse for wear. It's beautiful wood: I'm not quite sure what it is, though our neighbours seem to remember that it came from Morocco. And it's been one of those remarkably fast and very satisfying jobs, with (almost) Instant Gratification. What two days ago was scratched and sad and ugly now looks like this ...

while now its me who, after several full-on hours on the end of a sander, looks scratched and sad and ugly ...

Meanwhile, out in the barn, John's been cutting and planing chestnut planks ready to make a balustrade for the mezzanine floor in La P'tite Maison's bedroom. I've spent more than a year on this particular quest (yes, I am persistent, yes I am hard to please, and yes I am a Libran). I've looked at kits - boring. I've thought about wrought iron. Too heavy. I've had quotes for this and that. Two thousand euros? For four metres? Er - maybe not. But as ever the answer was not quite blowing in the wind, but staring us in the face in the barn in the shape of the remainder of our chestnut planks. I had one of those aha! moments, and then we went from idea to design to measurement to action in an hour and a half. 

This is the chestnut in its raw state - not especially promising, maybe?

Here it is after cutting, planing and the first two passes with the sander (yes, that was me again. Sigh):

But the real magic is still to come. Watch this space ...

Oh, and as if all this weren't enough, next week we'll be taking advantage of my part-week off 'work' (!) by sanding, staining, painting and vitrifying over 65 square metres of floor in L'Atelier d'Artiste ... but hey, the temperature's only forecast to be 32 degrees ...

Couple of hours off on Monday though to watch the Tour de France, which is passing just at the end of our road. Yippee - more Skoda hats!