Downstairs Double Bedroom

When the barn was originally converted, there were just two bedrooms, both downstairs - upstairs rooms came later.  When we bought the house, these two bedrooms were in a poor state.  I'll write something about the bunk room later, but this article is on the room which we now have as the double.

Although the ceiling isn't really low, it was clad in tongue and groove timber, which was quite dark and therefore gave a bit of an oppressive feel.  There was a very old carpet on the floor, which was very dirty, and the wallpaper was peeling off in a number of places.  They were kind enough to leave the wardrobe, which, although not to our taste has saved us having to buy one for the room.

Once the wallpaper was stripped, I set to laying the flooring for both the downstairs bedrooms.  That first week, I had a heck of a lot of work to do - building beds, wardrobes and other furniture, as well as laying the flooring.  Sadly, I do not have a "before" photo, but I do have one during the work.  It was quite tricky having to move the wardrobe around the room as the flooring went down.

 After that, the next time we were down - May half term, I think - we put up lining paper for painting.  Finding decorating equipment matching what we were used to in England was not easy, not helped with my basic but improving French.  We ended up buying very expensive fibre-glass paper, which came in wide rolls, but was a dream to put up - it simply would not rip!  This was excellent for covering small cracks and imperfections.

Emulsion paint in France is very different from in the UK - it goes on very thin and translucent, but then dries back to the colour.  It also takes more coats to cover than we are used to, which adds to time.....

Anyway, here is the room once finished: