Happy sixth birthday, Georgia!
blowing out her six candles
It has been nearly two years since we moved all our crap over here in a shipping container, storing it for what seems like an eternity and making-do in a tiny shack whilst we build the home about which we’ve been dreaming for the past ten years.
And it goes on still, but not without its dramas. Just recently, our wood stove, which we have grown to depend upon and even love, blew up during the cooking of a roast dinner two weeks ago! Thankfully, we have a spare oven in the caravan. Fortunately, we can actually still cook in the wood oven; it gets that hot that it works even with the oven door practically absent!
Things are quite exciting. Monte and I have been driving around a lot over the past month, making decisions on bathrooms, kitchens, flooring, doors, architraves etc. We’ve actually been enjoying looking at appliances as well; doing deals with salesmen and comparing energy ratings. We are only choosing 5-star appliances, which makes ouroptions narrower, and therefore easier! We are still determined to have an energy efficient house, even with mains electricity (and how exciting is that!?). In fact, we *have* to make some decisions very quickly because we need to start bringing in appliances and fittings so they can be installed! Eg we had to decide on a fridge, so we could get Derek to build a “house” for it. We’ve even put the plates down for powerpoints and light switches. We’re close to choosing a bath and our taps were chosen ages ago! YAY!
We are rendering the house, inside and out. About four coats will be required, which means we are less than halfway through! The windows should be arriving next week, and our favourite builder, Derek, is onsite, building walls and setting in the cavity doors. When the windows are in, we can do the pastering and flooring, and *then* it will feel like a house! We will be finishing it off room-by-room, with the hope that we can have half the house livable in the summer.
Rendering
north side of house
Looking stylish
Beautiful thick posts
south side of house
strawbale wall: cobb, dried render, straw and wet render. Like a marble cake.
every six-year-old girl deserves a marble birthday cake!
view from main bathroom window
strawbale pillars: frame, stuffed with straw. clever.
shovelling leftover render to use on the top of the walls. what fun!
To end with, Monte has just informed me that he has sprayed nine tonnes of render so far.
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