Peter and Natasha

1. Dylan's not a baby anymore!
(Comments)

Hi guys, Look at Dylan! He's a toddler! Nice to hear your news.Thanks for the post. Our build is ticking along slowly.SLOWLY...happy to report we have a caravan, sandpit, driveway, shed and some n

2. Question about the Loo & Thanks
(Comments)

...time reader, first time poster how much I enjoy and value your site. I've been thinking about straw bale building for quite a few years and reading about your exploits and in particular the awesome ph...

3. thanks for the post
(Comments)

Thanks for the latest entry. After originally planning to be building all summer, our project has been waylaid but we are hoping to start in Febuary. Maybe March, gulp. We were hoping to get slab, fr

4. website's worth
(Comments)

...ucky enough to get the rebate like us!) and it pays itself off over decades, and thru the good karma you build up for future generations. ;)...

5. Thank you
(Comments)

...h for your encouraging words, we look forward to meeting you and having a good ol chin wag re straw bale building....

6. Well done
(Comments)

... to other interested people. I have no doubt that you would have inspired so many people helping them to build their own dream. Well done to you all....

7. Thank you
(Comments)

...you for your wonderful generosity in giving us the opportunity to be part of your amazing strawbale home build. We enjoyed every bucket full of mud and spoon full of soup you guys served up to us. We ...

8. Congratulations
(Comments)

...he fruits of your labour! Well done. Thankyou for sharing your journey online. As someone contemplating building their own strawbale home, it has been a really valuable resource for me....

9. Absolutely incredible
(Comments)

...o 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 for the C of E- break a leg!...

10. Great work Pete
(Comments)

...keeping up with the stamina in the finishing up of your fab home.... I look forward to coming out on the build soon.... keep the blogs coming, even if they are only short punchy ditties - i love being...

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

As you know, your family back here in New Zealand are still staggered 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 com

12. Boxing, Bales and Gales
(Comments)

...o hope they've left you in peace now. Wish we could be with you this weekend to lend a hand, but our own building is at a critical stage and we can't make the trip. We're looking forward to seeing pho...

13. music
(Comments)

well I'm glad you asked bro. I have iTunes playlists called Build and Build Groove! Build has anything with building related words in the title, such as Michael Jackson-Off the Wall+Get on the Floor

14. Building percussion
(Comments)

... how completely astonished and awe-struck I am that you're doing this yourselves with precisely no prior building experience. It just floors me. Being a DJ though, I have to ask... in years to come, w...

15. Building site residency
(Comments)

Don't worry about living in a building site Pete - we did it when you were in the incubation stage and the other two were at the toddler stage (fun, fun)and managed to survive. Actually it can be qui

16. Great Strides
(Comments)

...o up according to plan. We are enjoying having more frequent updates again now that you are back on the build on a more full time basis....

17. easter joy
(Comments)

...ooray for the dominant Christian culture of this country such that you could have these glorious days to build! Lookin' great. You should include some of the lovely photos of you two frocked up for th...

18. no enticing
(Comments)

...ntice the pixies, they wouldn`t have the determination, courage and tenacity of you both to continue the build (especially without you on the site) I really enjoy the photos...

19. scale model
(Comments)

what a great idea to build a scale model. When I first saw that suggestion I thought "typical architects idea!" but when I think about it I can really see its value. Like a little dress rehearsal. An

20. Success
(Comments)

On Success 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 th

21. Greetings from Scotsburn
(Comments)

...us? Stayed with Ian & Sue after Xmas. How frustrating for you sorting out the roof. Have you thought of building a scale model? We have found models are very useful for understanding complex 3-D for...

22. All is not lost...
(Comments)

... continuous, inexorable and I have no choice about many of the things that happen. Two things about your build; 1) you caught it before MUCH worse things could have happened, you stuck to your mantra ...

23. Briefs
(Comments)

...f blogs are greatly appreciated over on this cooler side of the Tasman. Keep up the good work and happy building....

24. post names
(Comments)

How about Arthur and Martha, in dedication to how you have felt at certain points in the build. Go Ivan! How brilliant having the Man of Steel coming to help :)

25. Classic
(Comments)

...lse like? What a trooper, even working in your sleep! Any luck with getting long weekend off to come and build?...

26. Go the Kiwis!
(Comments)

.... I hope you are successful in resolving your flooring and underfloor insulation without holding up the build at all....

27. 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

28. HORRAY!!!!
(Comments)

...es a long range perspective, respecting future generations! Good on ya! Can't wait to see it and to help build!!!!! Bring on the work party! :) t...

29. New Life
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...e public meetings to inform our local community. It's been pretty full on and we have re-prioritised our building time so I can concentrate on supporting the campaign against the mining. If you would ...

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

... airports, he is in his element, and he is working with a great team, which he loves. Another benefit to building our own home, as Peter would never have had the confidence to apply for a job which su...

31. Moving along
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... and although we had Dylan to look after, which was not easy given the weather conditions and being on a building site, we got stuck in. I know I have said this before, but we love rendering! Despite ...

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

This building caper has had many silver linings - not the least of which has been the wonderful people we had met along the way. Ari was one of the first people we met. Ari now has a fabulous partne

33. Building Community
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...ult div.WordSection1 One of the great things about the community we’re had rally around us to build our house is seeing friends begin and progress with their own building projects. We had ...

34. The Hilux
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal .MsoChpDefault div.WordSection1 Well before we started to build our house we bought our Hilux ute in anticipation of building someday. Buying a vehicle ...

35. Nice Dream
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... had when we were pushing to get in. Having said that, we don’t want to be forever finishing this build. It’s an easy trap to fall into.   Recent jobs have been fun to do, ...

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

If you think that this 'owner builder' or 'straw bale' thing is only for experienced or 'handy' type people, you would be mistaken.  We had very little experience when we started on this journe

37. How we built/compressed our external staw bale walls
(Straw Bale House/Straw Bale House)

Over the years a few different methods of building straw bale walls have developed. Some use steel rods, some use wire netting/chicken wire over all the walls, and there are some other tried and tru

38. New Loo
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... dry. Part-time work locally is what we are after, to supplement my work/income and get us moving on the build again. I am also about to attack our website with some new areas and information. I...

39. Brewing
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...g about putting together some resources for others who are curious, considering or in the midst of owner-building a house, straw bale or otherwise. We are thinking that some of these resources will be...

40. First Steps
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...rush to get our certificate of occupancy, so Peter had a great set of stairs to help guide him on how to build them. Nevertheless it took a fair bit of calculating angles and other 'stuff' to get it h...

41. Deck done
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

Finally a payoff for all the "more important" building tasks! I built the south deck!  It took me about four days to complete but I've been looking forward to it for ages so it hardly s

42. Performance
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...gistered) or email us on peterandnatasha@gmail.com. But back to the magificent deck that Peter is building. It is one of his favourite jobs of the build, and he is revelling in it. It looks bea...

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

...enjoy the cooling southerly breeze. So after some down time and relaxing, this action on the house building front is feeling very rewarding and almost addictive (a familiar feeling from days of ...

44. Twos
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... without a care.   Not that we have much time for frolickery. In the last two days I've returned to building action. Being a rural location we get lots of flies, spiders and mosquitoes and that p...

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

...llen off the wagon of 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 ...

46. Carried Away
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...e are both off from work, and this time we have been designating as 'family time'. As a result, not much building has been happening. Now that the weather has been getting warmer, we have been no...

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

Time is a funny thing. In some ways it seems not long ago that we first set out on our house-building quest, full of enthusiasm and blind faith. In other ways it seems like a great deal of time has pa

48. One room to go
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... do a day here and a day there. Most of our days are now taken up with work or looking after Dylan so we build when we can. It's a really nice way to live!  The interior of the house is mostly re...

49. Website and progress
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...s unstoppable. What we have got from this website goes way beyond keeping our families up to date on our building adventures. It has introduced us to many wonderful people, all interested in strawbale...

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

...n fact we had our "A" team - Merav, Aygun, Matt, Ivan, Jo and Rick. All of them have helped us build this house, and it was brilliant to have Aygun, Matt and Ivan to very capably take people...