Peter and Natasha

1. Thanks!
(Comments)

...l your good ideas in the future - [url=http://oh-my-la.blogspot.com/2010/09/sustainable-house-day-part-2-peter.html]http://oh-my-la.blogspot.com/2010/09/sustainable-house-day-part-2-peter.html[/url] ...

2. Absolutely incredible
(Comments)

So close! It remains completely unbelievable to me that you and Peter have pulled off this incredible task with absolutely no experience whatsoever at building.You are both an inspiration to me. As fo

3. The 'will he build again' question
(Comments)

...d that you've built ONE house, much less contemplating another! I'm in total awe of what you've achieved Peter and can't wait to come over and see it for myself, especially having been there at ground...

4. Go Peter
(Comments)

Peter - you are doing such a great job....you are just at the pointy end of things...be kind to yourself...and also I hope you get some good sleep in the next few days.....I hope this will allow you s

5. Thar She Blows.
(Comments)

...go Next door - it's such a curse. The straw bales tumble to the floor The ladder can't be used And Peter grumbles more and more It's not what he'd have choosed. But he's not one to be outdon...

6. rafters and beams
(Comments)

...ing but that's just the past talking. It seems quite superhuman to be managing those rafters on your own Peter, measuring, drilling and attaching them. Amazing. Look forward to seeing it again in real...

7. Tradie's
(Comments)

Hi peter and Natasha all there is. When you lose don't lose the lesson, you have got the lesson Peter maybe yor have to ask tradie to go around the holes or he may end up in it.Re Horsham and flo

8. Success
(Comments)

... don't be surprised to dicover that luck favors those who are prepared Hi the builder and ta well done peter following your gut re post sizes I hope these new measurements do not impack the timber i...

9. Love Arthur and Martha
(Comments)

... and she is coming today and staying tonight as well.... and she has done all this before on her house - Peter won't know what's hit him!...

10. Friendly spider
(Comments)

Maybe the spider was trying to thank you Peter, for providing shade via your mode of building, ie stumps and not slab. Perhaps it is just taking refuge in the portaloo until the house floor goes on fo

11. Cool Straw Bale houses
(Comments)

We got an email from friends (Peter and Rosie Margrie) in Woodend yesterday, and their Straw Bale house is a cool 22 degrees inside - in this heat. I keep telling myself that this is the LAST hot summ

12. who is treebeard?
(Comments)

...s always greener i suppose...however 3 consecutive days of 43 degrees is beyond the pale. Just think Peter and Tarsh, next summer (or maybe the one after?) you'll be oblivious to this sort of heat...

13. wild and windy
(Comments)

Good on you Peter for persevering in those conditions, you're both unstoppable. Might need to work in the early morning/evening this week though, the forecast is for 4 days over 35 degrees. Still, we'

14. Hot water at last
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...most guarantee it will be fixed now". His confidence was very understated, but it was all I needed. Peter went off to work and I tried the taps. Brilliant, absolutely brialliant! In other n...

15. When you're hot, you're HOT!
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... In other news we have made some progress on the bathroom front, and it feels like we are progressing. Peter has installed the rest of the wet area board where the shower, bath and basin will go, an...

16. New Life
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...weeks, and would do anything to get horizontal, so my priorities have been else where! At the same time, Peter's work has really ramped up and his 'part time' job is often 6 days a week. Secondl...

17. The longest time
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...money, now we have money and less time! Ha, I know which one I would rather. As I sit here writing this, Peter and Dylan are outside in the beautiful sunshine digging holes to plant more fruit trees. ...

18. Sunshine on my shoulders
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... sheep and cow manure. So it will be rocking!  We've also bought a second hand shed off ebay. Peter went to great lengths to dismantle it, and it is in a pile awaiting Peter's trusty hands....

19. Moving along
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...Issy in a sling on her back) was in fine form.  Saturday came and went, and Sunday saw just Peter and I with Ari and Dean, rendering away to our hearts' content. By the end of the weekend...

20. It's all relative
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...rom Melbourne) that they are owner building.  Back in May 2008, we contacted Ari to see if Peter could give her a hand building her house to get some serious hands on experience which h...

21. Our Fabulous Composting Toilets
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

...ority, Western Water, would not approve it. Hmmmm, not much of an explanation.  Not easily detered, Peter called Western Water. The bloke he spoke to said that is was a great idea, but there is n...

22. No Experience Necessary
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

...plex house (in terms of the shape) without too many disasters, so it can definitely be done!  Peter had barely picked up a hammer in his life (except to hang a picture or two) and Natasha h...

23. New Loo
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... to come down to the other end of the house in the middle of the night to our ensuite to use the toilet. Peter is getting very good at maintaining our composting loos, and we do love them. Th...

24. Brewing
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...ortantly, to save them heartache. I have had numerous people tell me that they love the fact that Peter had virtually no building or handy-man experience (in fact he had barely picked up a hamm...

25. First Steps
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

Well things are moving! Dylan has begun to make some little steps, and Peter has finished making his first set of steps, wooohooo! The north (back) steps we had built by a local tradesperson way back

26. Performance
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...t the temperature inside the house and out. Today we reached a high of 37.3 (in the shade) and amazingly Peter has been working on our deck since early this morning (quite happily!). Yesterday was qui...

27. Ticking things off
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...uch, which makes the house quite stuffy and hot. But those days are now a distant memory.  Peter has been working really hard, sometimes in quite warm conditions and Dylan and I have bee...

28. Environmental motor racing?
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...e corporate seat or abuse regarding this plea then drop a comment on the blog straight away or email me (peterandnatasha@gmail.com).  My gratefulness will depend on the nature of your comment but...

29. Off the wagon
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...late. No blogs and no new photos, but thankfully there has been some action on the building front, phew! Peter has been getting our recycled decking timber ready and stained, as we are keen to get the...

30. Past the two-year mark
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...shing touches on the house, nervously awaiting our inspection. Those were the days! A few days ago Peter did a plan of the things we have left to do and we are feeling good about our steady pace...

31. Opening our doors
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...was brilliant to have Aygun, Matt and Ivan to very capably take people on tours of the house (as well as Peter and myself of course) simply because they had so much knowledge from helping us build. I ...

32. Heaters and Cupboards
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...ood heater which we had installed today. Oh my goodness, it's an absolute revelation..... and all due to Peter's very generous parents Sue and Ian who bought it for us. It's safe to say that most of t...

33. New opportunities
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...t the end of the day. Then today we had another visit from our fabulous friend Logan, who along with Peter (and a little from me, yaaaayy!) finished the rest of the wall. It’s the wall we s...

34. Winter is here
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...re draughts are coming in to reduce the cold air flow inside! It's so cold that the final coat of render Peter has applied to the office/storeroom has still not dried after over a week. We are pret...

35. Making way
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...egie patch, and we can finally get our driveway done now that everything is out of the way. WOOOHOOO! Peter has also been working on some windows, which has been frustrating, laborious and very eff...

36. A big list and a special visit
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... Brian did mention that a lot of the people he is consulting with have spoken about "helping out on Peter and Natasha's house", so he must have the impression that we are a continuous practi...

37. Keeping perspective
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

... and non-usable, the finishing off in the ensuite... and the list goes on! The good news is that Peter only has 2 more days of contracting work, and then we can get stuck into some organising ...

38. Taking a breath
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

This is a short blog, as Peter and I have both come down with a slight bug/gastro and are only just holding our bodies together! Peter has had some contracting work, which is fantastic for our bank

39. On the path to completion
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

...Rendering is so enjoyable and has the added bonus of quick satisfaction at the results. As I write this, Peter is finishing off the final sponging of the walls. We have finished the two larger walls o...

40. Bliss at Possumtail Run
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

...ts of unpacking to do, but the stuff we really need is all set up, and it feels great!  We've had Peter's parents Sue and Ian visiting (in photo), all the way from Wellington in NZ, and it's be...

41. Denial is a long river
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

...presence too. Thanks to this crew, we were able to get HEAPS done, and it was a massive morale boost for Peter and I. So now our oven is in (yay, baking here we come) our lights and electrical i...

42. It's a long way to the top if you wanna straw bale
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

...are pacing ourselves and enjoying this new journey called parenthood! The last few days have reminded Peter and I of the amazing contribution our friends and family have been, and continue to be, i...

43. Appreciation
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...no hurry, the baby will know when it is time. There has been some great progress on the house, and Peter is doing an amazing job plugging away and keeping things moving. Today we thankfully had ...

44. Render, kitchen, doors
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...ll - Katrina, Ethan, Claire, Nic, Culina, Roisin and Mel came around in the morning and in the afternoon Peter H and Kristine came along. Mel took charge of the mixer while Nic and Katrina got up on t...

45. The joy of windows
(Blog/Walls and Render)

No, I'm not talking about the Microsoft product. Not a lot of joy to be had there. I'm talking about the windows I've been joyfully installing in our house today with the help of Aygun. Before getting

46. Eaves lining
(Blog/Walls and Render)

Sometimes I wonder if we'll ever be finished building this house. I'm so close to the process that it's not until friends who come to help us build remark on the progress we've made, that I get some p

47. Nesting
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...like a broken record, we are welcoming any help we can get til then. Many tasks are time consuming for Peter on his own, but not with someone to help him. Sometimes having one person with him can sp...

48. Getting closer
(Blog/Walls and Render)

Heat, a cool change, a couple of days of paid work - it's been an interesting week. On the first 3 days of this week I had the company of Natasha's dad Terry who helped with a good amount of rendering

49. Revealing Walls
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...We had almost forgotten to do some test renders, but thankfully the hot weather dried them out quickly (Peter did them Friday morning), and his combo of 5 parts washed sand, 10 parts local red clay...

50. Another big dose of generosity
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...Brad and Mark, and Cam and Leora stay at our place, and I think everyone slept pretty soundly except for Peter and I, mainly because of the heat. Today we awoke to a much cooler morning, and th...