We started looking at kitchen suppliers. We had priced up several different places but eventually decided on our usual provider – IKEA. Ed has fitted so many kitchens in his life (for friends, parents, and many for us) that he can do the job almost blindfolded. IKEA kitchens are practical and (for Ed), easy to put together. There is always a great choice, and the store was only an hour away in Toulouse.

We took our trusty Volvo and three pages of measurements with us (Ed’s an engineer and he measures twenty times and cuts once!) and off we went. We collected up all the necessary pieces from various areas in IKEA –  fittings, shelves, pullouts, hooks, baskets and worktops and loaded the volvo. We would source the sink and taps from the DIY near Aigue Vives – a small village ten minutes away from Chalabre.

The car was so heavily laden, it looked like a speedboat coursing through the waves, front up and back down.  Volvos – we love ‘em, the work horse of the middle class haha.

We unloaded the boxes the next day and put them in the kitchen. Christian still had some work to do but the space was so big, we could leave them against one wall and still have room to seat ten people on a table in the middle.

During this period we went back to the UK, to see our friends and family. It seemed a little surreal as we drove from Stansted to our friends’ house.  The roads were incredibly busy compared to France and all the cars seemed very new and in good order.   Most of the cars in the South West of France are fairly old and the children at Abi’s school called me Madame Wood with the limousine. (a six year old volvo!). It was always refreshing to see how differently these children lived. No designer clothes at school here,  nor iphones or ipads until they were older.

Ed decided to take down the big stone cupboard in the kitchen before we started fixing the units. I decided to go out. Between him and Ian (the carpenter) they knocked it down in a day and carted the stones up to the local déchetterie (waste centre). The next job took slightly longer as they wanted to cut a large square in the wall to connect the dining area. The walls are more than 18 inches thick in our house and it took a while.  Eventually after a couple of days hard work, the hole was there and we could see the dining area.

When we had some French friends over for dinner, they asked us why had we cut a hole in the wall.   Ed replied that now everyone can see us when we are preparing meals and we can see them. Why? They asked, the kitchen is for cooking!  We laughed at this. It was yet another aspect of French culture that made our new life so interesting.

One morning whilst I was working, the doorbell rang and standing on the doorstep,  was a small dapper man with hair greased back like Elvis, wearing  blue overalls.

“Bonjour madame, je suis le Ramoneur”

“Pardon” I said?

“I am zee chimney sweep”. He explained in pigeon English.

“But we don’t need them swept” I replied.

“Yes madame, it is the lew”. He said,  sounding like Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther.

I told him to come back another day.  I checked with the guys who were working on the top floor, painting, and they said yes, you need to have a certificate for your insurance. The chimney sweep came back again after a couple of days and I left him to clean the two chimneys.  Only months later, did we find out that Christian our plumber was qualified to do the work and would have made a much better job of it.  The sweep broke some tiles on the roof and didn’t tell us. He stole some of the fire grates and for the pleasure of that, he  charged us  double the normal price!  So some things weren’t so sunny in France.

The kitchen was looking good and gradually taking shape.  We added a run of cupboards along the back wall which gave us great storage.  Ian and Ed fitted the worktops and we were almost done – in the kitchen anyway.

The space had gone from this ↓

To this↓

and from this↓

To this↓

Next job – the bathrooms!