Results tagged “strawbale house” from Sinead Jenkins Photoblog
The guest room. Plasterer comes in tomorrow to do the first coat on the straw bales. There are THREE coats of plaster. Which doesn't surprise me because most things in this house take the long, complicated route :)
Detail of the netting used to create the curve next to a door opening:
Downstairs:
As with any build, we've had unforseen delays. For example this weekend the tiler who was coming to tile the bathroom before the plumber fits it out next week, didn't turn up. I was mildly unhappy about that. We'll have someone in this week though, who should finish on Saturday in time for the plumber. I will ring the toilet man today and shmooze him (I'd quite like a toilet). The digger is still sat on the property, broken. Otherwise things are ploughing ahead!
The gib board is all done, ready for the gib stoppers tomorrow who will make it look all neat and tidy. The floor is finished (apart from the inside of cupboards). My walk in wardrobe space is ready (crucial), and other behind the scenes things like switch board wiring has been done.
The digger came to dig a trench for the main electricity cable yesterday, but it broke on arrival so is waiting to be fixed.
This week should also see the tiling in the bathroom done, ready for installation of bathroom goods. The toilet system man showed up. I asked him how long until he could instal the toilet and he said "oooh, a couple of weeks?" I gave him a stern look and explained the gravity of the situation (I'm enormous so he didn't need any extra visual clues), and it turns out he can come next week.
The living area (above) floor finished.... and the kitchen below:
(that's Greg the builder's head poking up above the stairs there!)
Guest bedroom bales starting to go in:
Bales in Elmer's room:
Elmer with his earphones after a cake-break:
Our bedroom upstairs (less bales needed up here so it looks a bit more compete. The floor will be carpeted at some point in the future:
(his Dad is an electrician so we can trust the wires :)
My wardrobe:
I do normally wash his face...
So, we are still waiting on.... the kitchen, the bathroom, the interior straw bale walls, the plastering, the painting, the floor sanding, the floor tinting etc., the window sills, water, electricity, a few bits and pieces outside, and probably about 50 things that aren't essential at the moment but still need doing. 2 weeks to go.
But you have a WARDROBE!!! Woo hoo xxx
Sinead - this is sooooooo amazing! I am coming to Dunedin in Feb - if I have time I would love to stop in and say hi! What a super gorgeous adventure you are having building this amazing house!
(10.01.12 @ 07:47 AM)Elmer seems comfortable on the straw bales. Dad and I are quite prepared to sleep on them....quite romantic?? I'm speaking on his behalf by the way! M x
(10.01.12 @ 09:48 AM)Haha, yes the wardrobe looks quite liveable doesn't it? Getting the important bits done. Rachael, would be lovely to see you! Definitely. And Mum, glad to hear the comment about how happy you are on straw... :)
(10.01.12 @ 10:13 AM)Amazing Sinead What a house!! There's lots going on for your wee family, exciting times! X
(10.01.12 @ 11:32 AM)I feel like I'm watching one of those reality house build shows where it's all down to the wire!!! What a rush! Amazing what a wee deadline can do to get things moving huh?! Love it. Looking amazing!
(10.01.12 @ 10:18 PM)
Oh and we have STAIRS! Although no banisters yet... the stairs will be carpeted at some point.
The ceiling in the bedroom is a different shade to the rest of the house. The wood needs to be oiled, and when Steven applied it to start with in the bedroom, I didn't want the whole ceiling to be that warm shade of orange. So after some trial and error, the rest of the ceiling is painted with wood oil and white tint mixed in, to retain the shade of the original blonde wood. You can see the difference in the image below:
......
Ignore Kevin - we know you can do this!!
Looking great...almost there...as are we!! xx
The ceiling - a labour of love:
The fire, almost finished:
Walls, fittings, ceiling, fireplace!!!!! It's all looking very possible. Fingers (and legs ;) ) crossed till October.
xxx
:) Yes, looking much more possible now! x
(08.23.12 @ 10:41 AM)Sinead, that looks AMAZING!!!! You're nearly there :-)
Mxx
Yippeee!!!! How excited Sinead! It looks amazing X
(08.23.12 @ 10:32 PM)Yipppeeee!!! How exciting Sinead! It looks amazing X
(08.23.12 @ 10:33 PM)Steven, that ceiling looks wonderful. I'm looking forward to lying on the couch, admiring it!
Don't you dare go up that ladder Sinead...M x
Absoliutely wonderful.Congrats to both. Where do you get the time to do everything Sinead, like sanding, making lamp shades etc!
(08.25.12 @ 12:48 AM)Absolutely wonderful.
(08.25.12 @ 12:52 AM)Wowee! Exciting! Love the old cabinet/sink idea. Can't wait to see the kitchen. X
Wowee! Exciting! Love the old cabinet/sink idea. Can't wait to see the kitchen. X
The ceiling looks great Steven. I'm looking forward to lying on the couch admiring it! Don't you dare go up that ladder Sinead...M x
(08.26.12 @ 11:43 AM)Steven has cleaned out the inside, and almost finished half of the ceiling. Next step is either the strawbale walls or the floorboards, I forget which. Also the gib board for the interior walls. We have a builder coming next week to do the bathroom! I have yet to choose a bath... or a sink... or any tiles. I think after 4 years of house research, actually having a deadline for something comes as a bit of a shock!
See those posts on the verandah? That's where my hammock will be strung. Even though I'll have two children and a full time job when the house is finished, I still fantasise that long periods of my day will be spent hammock-bound.
I will take some interior shots soon and blog those too.
AMAZING!!!!!! I love it! Exciting! Can't wait to see the inside... I loved those patterned (Moroccan?) tiles that you Pinned? x
(07.14.12 @ 10:30 PM)Hey, it's looking great! Sitting in Cardiff, listening to the traffic, I'm imagining the view from "our" sunny room.
M x
Anyway, the glass arrived yesterday for the windows in the house. That means that the flooring, the windows, the walls and the ceiling are all sat here waiting to go in. If we had another 50 Stevens around I'd say the house would be finished next week.
He obtained the head bruise whilst shopping for my Christmas present.
Ooh, it's just like on Grand Designs, init? X
Yeah, except it only takes an hour on Grand Designs. Less if you take out the ad breaks.
(12.22.11 @ 09:25 PM)Poor Elmer...what on earth has he got you for Christmas to sustain a bruise like that?? The windows look good! M x
(12.24.11 @ 12:14 PM)Lots of other unseen things are happening at the moment too, like measuring and ordering and more measuring. Checking the plans, phoning the designer, ordering flashings (bits that fit around the windows and doors), deciding on which wood to have on the ceiling. That type of thing. I'm looking forward to the BIG stuff now. Plastering! Floors going in! Windows and doors!
We have all the strawbales in our barn. We have the doors and windows ready to fit. We have the wire mesh that wraps around the building that the plasterer will plaster on (he is arriving start of December). Floor man is arriving..... at some point, I don't know when. It seems we are so close to all this stuff... and yet, possibly quite far. Hmm. Do I sound vague?
For a project that was initially going to take 6 months, we have now passed the two year mark. Sometimes when people ask me "how is the house coming along?" I have to stop myself asking "The house? Is someone building a house?" The build has become one of those mammoth entities that just plods along in the background, such a huge part of our lives that it is hard to imagine a life without it... or a life with it - with the house I mean. Imagine living in a house with more than one room, a kitchen with lots of cupboards, a bedroom for Elmer, a wardrobe in each room, an indoor toilet..... a BATH!!!!!!!!!
We bought some tree saplings this week to plant as a shelter belt behind the house and barn...
Cool ey? That last shot shows Elmer's bedroom on the far left, and the guest bedroom far right. Our bedroom is upstairs. The stairway is inbetween those big posts on the left. The second to last shot shows the before and after effects of sanding. Can't believe how grey and ugly the before is! That bit will be behind a wall when finished. Oh and any skewing of perspective is my wide angle lens and not the build. Steven adheres to The Law of Straightness at all times.
Well done Steven! It looks fabulous, especially the sanded wood. Can't wait to get into that guest bedroom! Lovely photos Sinead. I envy your going into Spring, all that bloosom and those blue skies.
(10.14.11 @ 02:10 AM)Wow! I want to visit now I've seen the guest bedroom :) Looking good and Elmer looks so grown up now he's 2! x
(10.14.11 @ 08:26 AM)
And where I'll live soon....
We're almost ready for the roofers. A council inspector visits on Thursday, Steven just has to box out the skylights, and then the roofers can start.... if it is dry.
It looks really big from inside. I can't believe we'll have all that space after two years of barn living!
Wow, it's coming along nicely with such a great view!
(06.01.11 @ 05:27 PM)Well done! Looks like a proper house. So much to look forward to.
(06.02.11 @ 03:55 AM)I love it!!!! And just think of that indoor loo.... ;-)
(06.03.11 @ 09:23 AM)Thanks guys. The council inspector stayed for ages - he was so impressed with Steven's work and he wants to build his own strawbale house! So funny. Very pleased to see all this progress.
(06.07.11 @ 12:07 AM)
(all those huge beams were hoisted up by hand!)
We were originally going to have a skylight above where our bed will be upstairs, so that we could lie in bed and look up at the stars. Sounds very romantic! But actually, when we did a test (by lying on some plywood on the upstairs rafters), it will be a bit too bright and overwhelming in the daylight. And we can see the stars out of the other windows anyway. So that's one less window to bother with. Hopefully that will speed things up!!
Elmer and I are home sick, we both have colds. We've read his favourite tractor book about three million times, and here he is now at my desk to let me know it's time to go again. Yey!
ooh not long and the roof will be on and we can all drink beer! hey loving the colour of the sky! actually took some shots like this the other day. It was moody but with a bit of red and some light peeking through..good wee lesson for me..are you proud!!
House and sky look fabulous. Well done! But poor Elmer......tell him there's another flap-book on its way to help him (and you!) feel better. M x
(04.29.11 @ 11:20 AM)a) It was sunny and dry
b) It was not blowing a gale
c) Steven wasn't called away to do electrical work
d) I was at home to look after Elmer
e) Reece from next door was available to help lift beams
A day to rejoice! Some of the roof beams could be lifted up into position! Nobody would get blown off the roof in strong winds!
The house probably looks a little different to the last time I blogged. The roof is slowly being built, and once all the framing is done we will get roofers to come in and do the steel work. Otherwise everything you see has been crafted by Steven. On his own! I wonder when the roof will be finished? Soon I hope. But then today was meant to be a building day and of course the weather is disgusting. Nice to see blue skies now and again.
I tell you what, those beams are HEAVY. There's also a lot of detail work involved in building a post and beam house. Whole days can be spent chiselling out bits of wood that will dovetail together with precision.
When we watch Grand Designs and see someone whinging that the contractor they hired to build their 'self-build house' in it's entirety has taken 3 weeks longer than suggested, I want to travel over to the stylish cottage they are renting, with one of these large beams, and knock some sense into them. This is one of the most stressful and frustrating things we have ever undertaken, given the circumstances. I am so proud of Steven though, and aware that we are lucky to be here in New Zealand, able to enjoy such an incredible project.
Woot woot! That's so great to see!!! What a shame you didn't set up your tripod though so we could see you dancing underneath the glory hehehe
(03.13.11 @ 06:38 PM)I'll save my glory-dancing for a bit later on I think :)
(03.13.11 @ 10:52 PM)Well done Steven! Mike can't wait to lift some of those heavy beams. He's been bumming around Asia feeling useless. Six more days....M x
(03.15.11 @ 01:34 AM)Tell Mike they are all in. Me, Lawrence and Reece lifted them all in last Sunday. We all lost parts of our fingers doing it too. Just little parts that will grow back. Tell him not too worry he didn't miss anything.
(03.15.11 @ 08:46 PM)
Steven's brother Grant watching Elmer for us... although he looks more like a bouncer than a babysitter here....
The great thing about this stage is that we can see where all the doors and windows fit. Elmer is sitting infront of a big picture window below.. there will be a nice wide window seat underneath for lying on and reading books:
The dogs are thinking "That's it, you just stand around looking innocent cows.... but one slip-up and we're on to you.."
super Elmer!!!! cutieeeee. Great to see your progress. and as for Grant, you said watch Elmer so that is exactly what he is doing lol maybe just say play with him hee hee funny Grant
(07.11.10 @ 01:59 AM)Even as I type this, there are about 6 other bits of wood joining these two, but I'm only just getting around to blogging. They are very tall, and make me think how big the house will seem compared to our little barn conversion.
The last few days I've been dreaming about the finished product. In particular:
- I want a wind-break slatted fence to go around the edge of the garden area to make the house all cosy and enclosed. I wonder if we'll be able to afford this when the house is finished?
- What type of bath will we have?
- I would like Elmer to have a really magical, colourful bedroom. I wonder what I'll do with his room...
Here's the boy himself examining his Dad's handywork...
I'll blog as much of the build as I can over these next few weeks. If it doesn't rain constantly that is..........
WOW looking good - free standing baths are always the best - and nice and deep..... a word to the wise, make sure you have a shelf or something made beside it thou to put you bottle of wine on when you are soaking in the bath and looking out at that AMAZING view!
(06.23.10 @ 10:03 AM)I dream of the day we have a flat big enough to have a bath! Aidan and I will definitely be visiting when you have bath installed! But for now we can't wait for you to come here and we can meet our cute nephew x
(06.23.10 @ 12:09 PM)Yes a free standing bath indeed. I'm thinking a more modern free-stander rather than one with claws though.. and the shelf idea - fabulous! Katie - only 4 weeks to go! x
(06.29.10 @ 12:29 AM)I presumed everything kicked off that early because it took all day to pour the concrete and finish everything. Not at all! By 8.30am Steven came in to tell me they were almost finished the pouring stage, so I had to race out with my camera to record events. I'm very impressed. Of course I've witnessed concrete pouring before on Grand Designs so I know how these things work, but great to see the pad being finished so quickly.
Its been a long time coming, but since we are paying for the house as we go along there's no point rushing!
He's not having a tea break - the coffee cup is for pouring extra water out. Quite a posh cup for concrete work I thought.
Steven's handiwork:
This is Ross smoothing out the surface:
You just want to squidge your hands in there don't you?
Exciting times! Those bits of wood on the edge are to level the pad up to exactness - it was 5mm out on one corner. Ross was very impressed, he said professional builders are routinely 40mm out. That's my perfectionist husband! I can't wait for the rest of the house to go up. I might record all these little perfect bits on our journey to housedom, take them to the bank and say "SEE?! You wouldn't give us a mortgage but we did it anyway. NAAH!"
Yay! How exciting!! xx
(04.29.10 @ 01:23 PM)Well done Steven!
Perfect baby and now.....perfect house! Goes without saying about the wife of course..
Thank you mum :)
(05.01.10 @ 12:02 AM)Two men in our life - and now a concrete foundation! Love the pics of Elmer. It must be exciting to see those foundations down - real progress? It's a year since we saw you (ANZAC day 2009) but we remember the Jervis Bay days with big smiles. Love to you all. Mike
(05.05.10 @ 03:24 AM)Aw thanks Mike! How lovely of you to comment. Yes, two wonderful men, and when I have my walk in wardrobe life will be complete! haha. I'm home in the summer so hopefully see you then x
(05.05.10 @ 09:09 PM)It's so strange to be building a house (especially for someone who comes from a country where this is not common), and the only thing that makes it real at the moment is walking over to stand on the foundations. I wonder if it will match the image I have in my head when it's finished....or how long it will take to feel like home..
This wood will make up the frame for the stairs and the bridge-walkway above the living area. It is huge (see baby wellies for proportion) and it smells GREAT.
Oh my God Sinead your blog is just wonderful. I am a terrible aunt here in Dublin Ireland and hardly ever contact you. But Monica keeps me in touch all the time . Have just looked at the latest batch of photos of Elmer, he is a real little character now. your house is going to be wonderful with all your lovely ideas.
(05.01.10 @ 08:32 AM)Aw, thanks Betty! You're not a terrible aunt, you're a great one. xx
(05.04.10 @ 02:10 PM)
I like the way you're calling Steven 'the digger' now....!
(10.08.12 @ 10:49 PM)Haha! Good one!! Actually there is a man out there now fixing the digger in the dark and the pouring rain at 10pm. I like this man..
(10.08.12 @ 11:01 PM)If I was a 3 year old boy I would be quite gutted when I realised the hay bales weren't staying! especially when they are no longer available to drive cars into! Remember weeks not years! you are nearly there whoo hoo!..toilet yer I'd be happy with a toilet above anything else!
(10.08.12 @ 11:18 PM)what on earth is poor elmar going to do when the house is finished! oh well he will have to find another job then! (sigh)
(10.09.12 @ 12:03 PM)Excited doesn't cover it....could you ask Steven to remove his boots from "our" bedroom please? I hate an untidy room...
(10.09.12 @ 12:18 PM)M x