Mark finished the creation and installation of an additional set of handrails for our primary 1700s staircase this week. He created upright posts to secure the handrails since the ancient stone wall (make sure you look at the inserted photos!) wouldn’t hold any sort of fastener. This episode takes you through the process and right up to the happy conclusion. Enjoy!
TIMELINE
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:11 Mark explains what he plans to do with the installation of a new set of handrails
00:02:37 Explaining the nature of the 1700s stone wall
00:03:06 Picture of what lies beneath the paint and plaster — the raw stone wall from the 1700s
00:03:35 Picture of stone wall repaired with lime plaster
00:06:19 Stack of materials in the studioworkshop — ready to use
00:07:07 Planing and sanding (sped up!) the emerging timber handrail
00:07:30 Mark shares that the handrail is too short and he’ll need to create another handrail
00:09:22 View of the finished handrails
00:10:19 Deborah asks Mark about the completed project & he adds some funny remarks
00:11:42 Ideas about reusing vintage materials
00:12:04 Ending the wrap-up and teasing Mark about thinking up NEW projects
00:12:47 OUTRO
00:13:13 End
Would you enjoy a village life in France? Mainly for over-50s & over-60s, our lifestyle channel includes normal daily events, cycling and bikepacking with Mark, painting and artistic endeavours with both Deborah and Mark, visits to historic French villages-towns-landmarks, and our own adventures in finding and renovating an old house. An increasingly important focus is on living a frugal and sustainable lifestyle in retirement that still allows for fun and enjoyable activities. We’ll share our version of retirement and how we achieve a balanced lifestyle.
After moving permanently to France from Australia in 2016, American-born Deborah and British-born Mark now enjoy a low-stress and happy life in beautiful northern France.
We’re young-at-heart artists and artisans, designers, photographers. Deborah has a background in writing, editing, journalism, and psychology. Mark spent decades in the building trades, so we’re serial renovators of run-down houses in the USA, Australia, and now France.
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4 Comments
A sneak peek at the completed handrails on our 1700s staircase in France. "Aging in an aging house" is how Mark worded it. Time to think up some NEW projects — right? (grin!)
Hi, great to watching you both, there is always so much work in these old French houses. The biggest shock is when you see an unrenovated house that people have been living in for years, it's a reminder how poor people were in rural France. I think I figured out which village you are based in. We are just across from you going down the D66 to Le Cambout then the D778 to a little hamlet called "La Ville Jegu" We will be back in France from early June for 3 months to enjoy the French Summer. It would be nice if we could call in and say hello or perhaps you could call in at our place. If you do come to "La Ville Jegu" we could introduce you to some of the "Village People." We always have a great time in France, I will be bringing my father who is 97 and he can not wait, he so enjoys his time there.
Kind Regards Wayne
The French sure don't like hand rails on stairs. I always use a handrail when traversing stairs with my unsteady balance. I have a funny story about such a stair case. I was visiting a house to look at some furniture that was for sale by owner and I had to get up some external granite stairs that were uneven and no rail. Luke scampered up the stairs and was in the house as I started up, but a dog in the front yard on a long lead came to greet/intimidate me, just doing what a dog should do. He managed to wrap his attached lead around my legs as though I was a chicken trussed for the oven. I of course fell down on the stairs, scraped both hands and my knees. When Luke came to see what was taking me so long I was sprawled over the stairs, bleeding from several points and the dog looking so proud at what he managed to accomplish. I am now super careful about stairs with no hand rails. I like what Mark did with your stairs. Looks lovely and functional!
Looks great!