Peter and Natasha

1. loo details
(Comments)

...ml. If you are ever down our way, you are very welcome to visit and see the loo (and house) for yourself. Natasha...

2. Thank you
(Comments)

Hi Pete, Natasha & Dillon. Thank 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 o

3. Have a look at this!
(Comments)

Natasha has now posted the before and after shots from the clean up in progress.

4. 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

5. Ouch
(Comments)

Sorry to hear about your nasty slip Pete. I hope the knee is going to be ok. It was great of you Natasha to pack everything up while Pete recovered somewhat. Can't believe your temperatures over there

6. Tom & Captain Najork
(Comments)

I think you should forget trying to get Natasha to dress as Catwoman - Aunt Bundlejoy Cosysweet would be much nicer. At least you wouldn't have to eat your cabbage and potato sog or learn pages of the

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

...is coming Sunday will see a second coat go on - yay! Stay tuned for photos and updates. A very happy Natasha signing off for now :-) ...

8. Goodbye yellow tongue
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... around the house with, most parts of the house will be off limits to feet while this is going on. Luckily Natasha-the-Pregnant and Dylan-the-Unstoppable-Curiosity-Machine are hundreds of KMs away by ...

9. Nice Dream
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... of the eaves. Sounds like a job for a render fix – someday. We inherited a lawnmower lately from Natasha’s Uncle Alan which has given us all great joy. For some reason, I love mowing ...

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

...be done!  Peter had barely picked up a hammer in his life (except to hang a picture or two) and Natasha had no experience whatsoever except for a 4 day course she did with Brian Hodge from ...

11. Brewing
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...s of topics of e-books/ dvd/movies that would be useful or entertaining to you, please email us on peterandnatasha@gmail.com or contact us by phone (if you are registered you will have access to our ...

12. Performance
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

... or from your place, please either comment on this blog (you need to be registered) or email us on peterandnatasha@gmail.com. But back to the magificent deck that Peter is building. It is one o...

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

...ort and that anything trying to get in the way of me watching a race is a serious nuisance.  Just ask Natasha (note: I'm not suggesting that Natasha is a nuisance).   I'm not sure how to rec...

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

...put a couple of Google ads on a part of the page and hope that they get clicked from time to time. I asked Natasha what she thought of this idea. Clearly websites don't get provided for free and we...

15. New opportunities
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

We were very fortunate to have some rendering assistance this weekend, as well as some great weather, and we are very pleased to have the north external wall now fully rendered. It looks fantastic. We

16. Render window trampoline mushroom
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...e jealous. I never used to look twice at houses going up, now that I've built one I am compulsively nosey. Natasha has to tell me to keep my eyes on the road as we drive past. But I've really only got...

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

...id 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 practical work...

18. Work and living
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

... a perfect way to enjoy the house that we are finally living in and to spend some good time with Dylan and Natasha. This house really seems to suit the three of us, beautifully serene, stunning sunris...

19. Certificate of Occupancy!
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

... on Friday and had moved in and handed in our keys by the end of the day. Thanks to lots of pre-packing by Natasha and Brenda we were ready to move and now it's a question of getting to some of the ma...

20. Dylan arrives and lock-up achieved
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

My last blog was very brief and I fully intended finishing it but was interrupted by Natasha going into labour. Quite appropriately I titled the blog Me Chief Running Water and soon after Natasha's wa

21. New Year's Eaves
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...uild. But we've got to a stage where it really helps to pay some professionals to accelerate our progress (Natasha is 10 days from her due date and our mortgage is looking very pregnant too). Steve an...

22. An excellent Sunday
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...o go by the steps at the front(south) of the house. It's funny that we should be doing this, as last night Natasha, Brenda and I watched our short movie showing our original stump adventures, trials a...

23. Dirty work
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...n, and that we have really come quite a way. Thanks for the help guys! After they left I was inundated by Natasha and most of her closest friends who had been celebrating our impending baby. On the w...

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

...which finally stopped at 11am. By that time I had been drenched for a few hours and was very thankful when Natasha arrived with some dry clothes and lunch. In the afternoon Daz installed a lot of insu...

25. A good cut
(Blog/Walls and Render)

A couple of months or more ago I rashly said to Natasha, in answer to the question "when are you going to cut your hair?" - "when we have moved in to our new house". I can't rememb

26. Many tasks
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...ain I didn't get into much rendering today. It was just me on site except for a wonderful lunch visit from Natasha.I mixed up my tasks today, finishing off the wonderful work done yesterday by Aygun, ...

27. Getting closer
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...f 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 and also did some work on the ...

28. A proper day off
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...done before the weekend, that would be fine so all the finishing off and preparation is a bonus. Secondly, Natasha insisted on me taking a day off yesterday. Admittedly, it's been a few weeks since a ...

29. Rendering with the stars
(Blog/Walls and Render)

... old and new friends come along to help as well as Brad and Mark the pump rendering experts and of course, Natasha and myself. There was still a lot to be finished before render could go on the walls ...

30. Exstrawdinary
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...can be done so that when we have the answers we can rip right into action. The next exstrawdinary thing is Natasha. 24 weeks pregnant and up a ladder fixing wire netting on to stud walls. I'm sure it'...

31. Down to the wire
(Blog/Walls and Render)

... and I've never questioned it unless it doesn't work. So there have been many calls from me on site, to Natasha at work to discuss these things. A lot of choices have had to be made without ado. We...

32. Big steps down a long road
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...to see it finally happening.Sunday saw work finishing off the trickier angled ends of the north side while Natasha and Nicole got into baling mode. The had a brilliantly successful day, and the walls ...

33. Wind. Cheese. Time.
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...saw, the plane, the drop saw, the drill and of course the toasted sandwich maker. The latter is an idea of Natasha's that really helps on a cold day. There's nothing like hot cheese on a chilly, windy...

34. Many things at a time
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...t of materials to get in before we can start to bale so I'm working though my list with a lot of help from Natasha. I've been into the council to submit our amendment to allow us to change the r...

35. Stillness doesn't stay still
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

... rafters in preparation for fascia attachment. It was a productive morning, and as they got ready to leave Natasha and Brenda arrived with lunch. Fabulous! So a lunch break was enjoyed before I went b...

36. Plumbing and purlins
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...ly, what height everything needs to be and more. It's quite permanent. So lets hope it all works. I called Natasha at work quite a few times for conferring, answers and confirmation. After two days of...

37. Welcome advice and ideas
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

... This would have the additional feature of getting the steps undercover of the roof. I liked this idea but Natasha still had two concerns. On the north side (back door, sunny area) we were going to lo...

38. Veranda scenario
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...e wastage. So much for having a small environmental footprint, how many trees is that? With that going on Natasha suggested we put it out of minds for a day and get into putting on rafters where ther...

39. Veranda posts
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...nstead of 1.5 metre pieces of cypress pine we're dealing with 4.8 metre lengths.  Heavy and ungainly! Natasha has been burning the candle the last few weeks, so she had some rest this weekend, so...

40. 45 degrees
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...o fix them, it's torture!  We don't know exactly when it happened, sometime between Sunday and Friday.Natasha and friends Jeremy and Juni went out on Friday to discover that our central ridge bea...

41. No building pixies
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

... to wall framing and by the end of the day we had 5 done.  It's very satisfying doing the framing and Natasha and I get a really good rhythm going.  We can't wait to put them all up and walk...

42. Equinox
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...unk number 2. It was a nice day, very light wind and quite hot. At the end of the day I went and picked up Natasha who had been working from home and we went to get the pole standing up. It's amazing ...

43. Beaming
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...pole) to teach the borer and those termites a lesson or two and I'm glad to say there was no sign of life. Natasha has done a great job. They just need another pass to get rid of rough bits and then w...

44. Clerestory, cloistery or celestory
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

Sunday was the day to strip our new poles of bark and get a look at the timber underneath. Natasha went to work on this, hard work it was too. Once the timber was exposed, she both sprayed and brushed

45. Owner Building
(Blog/Posts, beams, framing)

...eatures we ask for, but comes out with a car full of tools, strength and level-headedness. And most of all Natasha who keeps me on the level when all things seem against me. Perspective is a most valu...

46. Building with Beethoven
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...going for tiles either. What I'm thinking right now is woohoo! it's the weekend and that means I get Natasha back to help me.  A bit of romantic Valentine's Day building.  Jeez I'm a s...

47. Oh ye southerly
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...t I will have to attack it on Friday. That leaves tomorrow as a simple day of flooring and stapling.  Natasha suggested I break up the stapling into small chunks so that my neck doesn't get sore....

48. Hard to comprehend
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

.... So with Katrina and Claire helping (Katrina seems to have caught the straw bale bug, what a great help), Natasha and I set to putting on our flooring. They have been taking care of the insulation in...

49. Ouch
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...hat our day of building was over, unless we get the ultimate in cool changes coming through tonight.  Natasha insisted on me going to the ute to sit down and nurse my injuries and pride while she...

50. Tom and Captain Najork
(Blog/Stumps and Bearers)

...ile we're installing the flooring I'll be Batt man.  Unfortunately I don't think this means I can get Natasha to dress up like Catwoman. It was nice today to be able to work a 9-5 day witho...