We've been building up the sides of the kitchen windows with stone from our never decreasing quarry. We had to split the slabs and cut them to shape. We also used them to make the sills. We'll tile the walls below them so we'll have the contrast of rough/rustic with smooth and manufactured. We also had to fit an oak lintel above the right hand window because the original gap was a bit too high for the window size, and besides we had some nice oak beams going spare.
We've also been fitting the work units with our newly purchased oak doors. We've waited about 9 months for these to come into the shops. Mostly they sell a veneered version and we preferred the solid wood. Thanks to eagle eye Shirl the girl, for spotting them in the BricoDepot magazine.
We finally fitted the hob onto the work surface. Not an easy job in the absence of a template and an oven unit that is in no sense compatible with the hob. But it is finished and the next job is to give the work top several coats of varnish, and then carry on with the rest of the kitchen units.

We've been doing the same thing with the dining room windows as the Kitchen. We also fitted an oak lintel here, this time to the left window. The front and sides are now complete and the next job is to make the stone sills.

Christmas has come to La Jarrige. It took us about ten days to finally get round to decorating the tree. I feel it adds that Je ne sais quoi to the ambience, ne c'est pas? The wine glasses are just for show, of course.

I forgot to upload photos of the curtains. They make the living room very cosy and they're a nice plain undyed cotton colour that doesn't jar with the room.

Olive (pronounced, Oleeve)

Chris's neighbourhood fan decided to disport himself on the worktops that we'd left out in the garden while staining them. A very handsome cat and he knows it.