Progress!!! Pictures included, and some updates on Mas de Toulair!!

Nothing Happens Fast in France

This email is a bit later than usual, as we have been Very busy working on Toulair. I am also going to dial back the frequency to once a month going forward, at least for the time being.

As I mentioned I would do, in my last missive, I am going to show you some pictures of some of the progress on the Air B&B we are here to work on/with. And no, Nothing happens Fast in France, but it Is moving. Things are finally at a stage where we can help get the place ready to rent, hopefully by July. 
There are enough rooms ready, or nearly ready, to start the deep cleaning processes, and assembling some of the furniture, and do some Very tedious painting. Recently we were also able to start cleaning our house to get it ready for us to move in as well. We had hoped to be in there by now, but things have changed and changed again, but we are rolling with the changes.

Below are some pics of the furniture we have assembled, some of which came with Less than perfect “instructions”, like the ones that had a ton of parts which were Not numbered. That caused some assembly, disassembly and reassembly of course. 

This is just some of the smaller stuff, bedside tables and dressers. The Big furniture will have to wait until the scaffolding is removed from the stairwell, so we can carry the stuff up to the 2nd & 3rd floors to assemble. 

Then there is the tedious painting I mentioned. The railings on the decks, overlooking the pool, and up the stairways all need to be painted by hand, with some pretty tiny brushes. Fun stuff 🙂

Now, I will show you some pictures of the other progress, but please keep in mind, this is Still being worked on by up to 6-8 guys 5 days a week, and a couple of us 6-7 days a week. So there is still stuff lying around on the ground, and inside. I will wait to show you pics of the inside until after the tools, scaffolding, ladders and general construction mess are removed, and we get the initial cleaning done.
Also please understand that these pictures of Toulair were taken by me, Not Sharon, so I know they won’t be as good. But, I wanted to at least give you some idea of what it is shaping up to look like.

This is a shot from the courtyard, between the main house, and the office and Pool Room. Still being worked on, and landscaping will start being worked on in the next week, but I Love this view!

This is the inside of the Pool Room, which looks out over a deck, that will be covered with  1M x 1M tiles. You are looking south over the valley, and at the railing, that we will be painting (with tiny little brushes), as soon as we have a few days without rain in the forecast. The pool is just in front of and below the deck. I will send pictures of that in a forthcoming newsletter.

Now this will be one of my Favorite places to be (well, other than the Pool, of course). This is the Wine Tasting Cave, which is mostly from the original building, built in the 1200s or so. Next to it, on the left is the entrance to the Workout Room, and next to that, to the left, out of view, will be the Sauna & Jacuzzi room. These 2. may not be open the 1st year, but down the road a year. 
The Cave will be available for tasting events, with a Large table, which will seat 10-12 people.

This is another view of the building, all 3 floors with the tasting cave on the bottom, and the railing (which we painted by hand, with Tiny Little Brushes:-) on the top.

This last picture is of our little house, on the west end of the Big House. It is just under 1,000 Sq Ft, or about 93 Sq Meters. Not big but it has everything we need for comfort, Living Room, Kitchen with Gas stove and plenty of storage, a 1/2 bath down stairs, and upstairs, there is a bedroom, office and a bathroom, divided into 2 rooms, one with sinks & shower, and the other with toilet & sink, which is how it is normally done here.
We have started the cleaning here, and we are moving furniture in, to assemble and start setting the place up this next week. As I said, we hope to be moved in by the end of the month, if everything goes well. 

Please feel free to send us an email, or a comment or question, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Please click on this link, in order to see more of Sharon’s pics, as well as anything I may have missed here: 

Until next time……

Ray & Sharon