Baguette time

No, not the time for long French loaves. One of the other meanings of the word in French is for what we Brits refer to as the decorative trim that goes around door and window frames where they meet the wall. When my house was built the interior doors were installed but it was left for me to finish them off with whatever form of trim that I wanted – the baguettes. It’s some time since I painted the walls – some of the joints between the wallboard sheets are already beginning to crack up a bit as a result of expansion and contraction – but up to now I’ve never got around to fitting the baguettes.

This year I want to concentrate on the house’s exterior and garden and spend the minimum of time on its interior. In fact, the only interior jobs that are outstanding are to fit the baguettes, varnish them and the interior doors and do the tiling above the worktops in the kitchen and utility room. So I’ve decided that I need to get a move on while it’s too cold to work outside (I will need to cut tiles outside because my machine has a diamond blade that is lubricated by water that sprays a bit) and get the baguette and door work done. So that’s what I’ve been doing for the last couple of days – and not before time!

Here’s a shot of what a door frame looks like without a baguette.

And here’s another, taken from the other side of the door, with a baguette fitted.

I hadn’t realised how much of a difference fitting baguettes would make and in fact I’d go so far as to say it has transformed the corridor leading to my bathroom and bedrooms. I knew that something was missing but hadn’t realised just how much character fitting the baguettes would add.

I’ve only completed half the work so far and will continue over the next few days. It’s not cheap – each 2.4 metre length of baguette profile costs 5,95€ and each door needs 5 lengths, except for the bathroom and separate toilet which were beautifully finished inside by the tiler with tiles right up to the door frames, so only needing 2 1/2 lengths each. So the 7 doors will cost nearly 180€ in total for the wood alone, excluding the varnish which itself is not cheap, but I think the final result will be well worth the cost and effort.