Warming wool

On a rather cold Winter's day it was so lovely to see this cosily warm-looking insulation going in the walls and roof!

So it's big?

Pretty much the response of anyone on seeing photos of the South side of the house (which is also the street side) for the first time is 'it's big!', and we always protest no, no, no, it's not big, it's just long, mostly only 5 metres wide, and the screen is actually covering the back of the angled roof space so it's deceptive. Why do we protest so much? Well, part of green building is that houses aren't supposed to be too big. Small is better, less materials (embodied energy) for building and less to heat when we are living there.

Like everything we can compare up or down. It is big compared to our first 2br unit in Camberwell but then so is the land and so is our family. It's not that big when you realise the above points, and you compare it to the more modern suburban home of big upstairs, big downstairs and multiple living spaces. It is 4Br, 2 bathroom, 2 living areas, kitchen & meals plus a big carport and deck. We also have a home-based business to accommodate so have added the studio for that purpose (futher adding to the length of the house!). It is bigger than both of the homes we grew up in.

For the more technically minded, including the carport, deck and studio it is about 30sq. Excluding them it is about 24sq. So it's big?

Choices, choices

I just ordered a stack of testpots from resene paints. I am currently looking at the 'tea' spectrum (swatches below are quarter, half, tea, double) for internals as well as some colours for the kids rooms. I am letting them have input into their room colours (kind of).

I do really like Resene's colours but I love that I can order them online for home delivery! From next week, visits to the to the block should start to yield sizeable plaster offcuts so there will be a fair bit of painting then trips loaded up with painted plaster samples/carpet & tiles to try it all out in situ. All good fun!

A pretty picture

For a break from the grey, timber and frames of many of the recent posts, as well as the Wintry conditions outside, here is a reason why we are making this move:

There's a pipe over here and a cable over there

The walls are soon to be all covered up inside so the busy work of putting important bits and pieces in and through them has been in progress. There are pipes to showers, taps and toilets, a grey water pipe from the laundry outside, pipes to take the hydronic heating upstairs and even a pipe for a plumbed in fridge with water dispenser, which our fridge does not have, but hey, that's called future proofing. Then there's wires for lights, fans, powerpoints, and cabling for data and sound all over the place . It's not quite to the Grand Designs smart house level, but it should be a warm, well-watered, well-lit and musical place to live!

Sayonara scaffold

So close to being finished out front. Just a leetle more paint, a porch and a proper front door...then a fence, a garden, a driveway...

Going up and looking out

Here's a little peek upstairs. In the top photo you are standing in the master bedroom looking across the entry void/stairwell and out to the G & T deck. If you kind of squint your eyes and turn your head sideways in the bottom one, you might get a glimpse of a You Yang.

These photos are actually slightly dated. In real time both the plumber and electrician have done their rough-ins meaning the walls are an apparently impressive tangle of pipes & cables. I'm just waiting on the builder to make a visit and get some photos!