As our first year of
being owner builders progresses, each month seems to become more of a blur, but
this month the building really seemed to start feeling like a home. The decking
has been framed, all the wiring and plumbing is in the ceilings and walls, the
internal brick walls are constructed, the windows have been ordered, all the
ceilings are insulated, and edge insulation has been installed around the perimeter
of the building.
Installing a few of
the artistic features has made it interesting and fun. The first is a feature
that was inspired by our trip to Jordan last year, a large sand bottle in the
wall so you can see the sand from both rooms on either side of it. It took several
weeks to dry the sand out properly, many trials of mixing tempera powder paints
with sand to develop colours that we both liked, loads of test runs to perfect
the technique, and about 8 hours of complete focus without blinking to do the
real thing.
It has been installed
now, and once the surrounding brick wall is rendered we think it will look really
nice. It was difficult to remove the reflections on the glass for the photo, but you get the idea.
The second feature is
a mosaic that we bought in Jordan on that same holiday. We decided it would be
beautiful to construct a curved ramp from the kitchen down into the lounge,
spiralling into the mosaic, with it positioned so that the centre was in the
exact centre point of the Golden Spiral clerestory above. Our concreter,
Robbie, is no longer surprised by our left of centre requests, and has not only
become an expert at forming curved concrete, but loves every minute of it.
Robbie also formed a
curved slab that we will tile, flowing from the front door into the kitchen,
and curved steps from the dining room down to the lounge with huge rocks either
side of them.
The third major
feature that was finished this month is the double faced stone wall, visible
from the lounge and master bedroom. After each section of stone wall was laid,
Tim, Bree & I used wire brushes to clean the stones and etched the mortar
to create deep shadow lines.
The kitchen, dining
& sunken lounge are really taking shape now, and the space is evolving to
become far more beautiful than we ever could have hoped.
On closer inspection
of the stone wall, you find spectacular fossils such as this scallop.
We’re really happy
with the colour palette that we’re following too, each element is tying in
nicely, like the stone wall, mosaic and trial board of what the surrounding earthen
floor will be similar to.
We’ll sign off with
some images of the outside, which is also looking fantastic now that the fascia,
barge and cap have been installed on the roof. We are so thrilled with their work;
they really have gone above and beyond the call of duty to create the most
perfect curves. You may notice that they have even moulded the gutter back into
the fascia on the clerestory, something that we neither asked for nor expected…
awesome.
