Err… things are slightly frustrating. The house is *so* close to being finished, yet so far from it too. It’s the little finishing touches that are taking time. Lots of people ask us when we’ll move in. Each person gets a different response, albeit with the same minor roll of the eyes and sharp blink. “Less than a month;” “A few weeks;” “Who knows;” or my favourite response – all the above.

Architraves are adding a more decorative appearance to the doors. Some doors are even in now; they are very glossy and I love them. No door handles. In fact, once the children looked themselves in the ensuite. There was no doorknob and they pulled the door too far and it got stuck! Thanks to my brute strength (perhaps only available when my creations are in danger) they were freed.

The bath is being installed, with a frame having been made for it, and the wiring and plumbing for the spa part being pretty much complete. I cannot wait to soak in the spa. We do have a bath here, but it’s not as big and it doesn’t have jets all over it. Plus, we are using gas hot water at present, and in the house it will be solar hot water, boosted by the wood stove. Practically free hot water. Especially if we can catch and store enough water for our needs, which should be the case, although we will be getting another tank so we can also water the garden.

Monte and I have been limewashing a lot lately. Limewash is a watery mixture of water and lime. It’s quite sploshy. It washes of windows and floors easily. The limewash brushes are large and heavy. It is easy to paint the limewash on. It goes on quite transparent, and dries into a very white chalky colour quite quickly. It also looks quite thick, despite seemingly going onto the wall quite thinly. We have to spray the walls with water first, so the walls don’t suck all the water out of the limewash. Georgia is the chief pumper and sprayer. Monte and I paint the walls and we can get a lot done in a day. Already the west end of the house is limewashed. The living room/kitchen and bathroom need one more coat, and the three bedrooms at the other end need two more coats. It should take a couple of days to finish limewashing.

The indoor rendering is complete! Celebrations!