Peter and Natasha

1. Decking
(Comments)

To be able to work outside in the temperatures you have been experiencing over the weekend is beyond my understanding. It is great to see the deck progressing and I'm really looking forward to seeing

2. Boxing, Bales and Gales
(Comments)

...d your gales over here in Lower Hutt so 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 tri...

3. straw
(Comments)

forecast is good for the weekend, can't wait to see the strawbales!

4. Bathing
(Comments)

It seems a bit mean bathing in the warm glow of your remarkably successful Easter weekend's labours, but that is what we are doing - and unashamably. Well done to all of you who are contributing to t

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

I learned some things about myself this weekend Pete. Having Sienna spew all over me last night whilst screaming reminded me that life is bascially raw, continuous, inexorable and I have no choice ab

6. Not quite Monet
(Comments)

...some respite now that the temperatures have come down. I'm looking forward to seeing what is achieved this weekend and shall cross my fingers for early arrival of the timber....

7. Classic
(Comments)

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

8. great character
(Comments)

...ngs - majestical and wonderous and wise just like I imagine our ancient trees to be. I'll fill you in this weekend!...

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

... problem! Our Council has reminded us with a warning letter, so we have booked in some slashing for the weekend - fingers crossed. We are tossing up whether a ride on mower is the way to go... our...

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

...ll time training and then working Sundays at our local Foodworks, Peter is knackered (and so am I) so this weekend is catch up weekend. After we plant these fruit trees, Peter will be putting on ...

11. Moving along
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...move like it does when it gets that windy. Things have also been moving at Ari and Dean's house. Last weekend saw us travel to Malmsbury to their place where we had four fabulous people (Tim and ...

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

...retty hard road for them, and we are going up to their place to help them in on a Rendering Blitz on the weekend of 18th & 19th June. We want to get stuck in to the third coat of render and get ...

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

.... He has really enjoyed getting stuck into the work, and he is very excited about starting the deck on the weekend. Having the south (or front) deck complete will mean that we can use our front door, ...

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

...required! It has well and truly proved its worth. So on to our progress. We've been at work over the weekend rendering bedroom 3 with Mel. Some of it was only at first coat and some cob was need...

15. Front and south
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...bulk of the wall is now rendered, for the remainder trestles will still be required, that's a job for next weekend. First I need to attend to a few more windows before all the rendering can be done. B...

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

Wow, what a blast of a weekend. Being part of the Sustainable House Day has been such a fantastic experience for us. In years gone by we have visited other houses and got a lot out of seeing what ot

17. Pantry order at last
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...r second hand kitchen does. I love it when a plan, or lack of, comes together. It's just been one of those weekends when things go well. ...

18. 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

19. Rendering Bliss
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...w that the colder weather isn't the best time to be rendering, but what the hell, we scheduled it for this weekend, the last weekend in Autumn. Before I go on, let me explain the rendering we a...

20. Making way
(Blog/Living and Finishing)

...n down (we had leaking windows, which is ot a good thing).   We also have a 3rd coat rendering weekend on 29th and 30th May, and we are looking forward to getting the trickier and more vul...

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

... excellent timing for me to get work, from a professional and money point of view but by the time the weekend rolls around I haven't been too interested in building at all. Especially not wi...

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

...ebsite and plan some more rendering days. We've had a few people ask when we are having the next rendering weekends, so we have scheduled it and put it up on the site. We are looking forward to being ...

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

...ting a bit nervous about all the work that I know we still have to do to pass our full inspection. So this weekend we sat down for an hour and worked out what has to be done. The good news is that it'...

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

...t we are away - we are looking forward to sharing our home with lots more people in the future. Last weekend we finished off the rendering of the second bedroom, which is great, and will mean we...

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

... sections of the external walls to be rendered with a second coat. If anyone fancies some rendering this weekend, your help would be most welcomed, as we are aiming for our inspection early next wee...

26. Deck prep and entertaining
(Blog/Lock up and inspection)

...deck will go, as getting the deck done is a requirement of the C of O. Tathra did some of this a couple of weekends ago (while her mum and Emma got into staining decking) and I have gone cob crazy, fi...

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

...k with Natasha and Dylan. And I'm exhausted from the new rhythms that come with having a newborn. But this weekend I had the pleasure of the help of Matt Noyes, old friend and bloody handy guy. We wen...

28. Eaves lining
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...unfinished until we get more time so in context of that progress is good.   I've had so much fun this weekend and there has been a lot achieved. Into another week. ...

29. Many tasks
(Blog/Walls and Render)

It has been a very different weather situation over the weekend with cool weather turning rainy and dumping about 50mm of rain on us. I say "about" because our rain guage only goes up to 35m

30. Revealing Walls
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...nsuite done yesterday, and now we have a much better idea of how long things take.  So the next two weekends are hand-rendering extravaganzas, and now with our experience in the three coats, w...

31. Good mud
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...he finish line. To think that the interior will almost be completely rendered by the end of this weekend is a great thought. Next we need to think about ceilings, fitting cabinets and shower...

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

I don't know where to start! On the one hand we feel like we have accomplished SO MUCH this weekend with our amazing teams, and on the other hand we are in desperate need to get a plan together so we

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

...a stage in the week where two things happened.Firstly, we decided that if nothing more was done before the weekend, that would be fine so all the finishing off and preparation is a bonus. Secondly, Na...

34. Keeping the focus
(Blog/Walls and Render)

After a blast of a weekend, we are still recovering! I hope our renderers Brad and Mark have recovered sufficiently as well. It really was an amazing weekend getting the first coat of render on - ever

35. Countdown
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...preparation of these walls for rendering.  The only walls that won't be ready for pump rendering this weekend, are on east end, but we can render those by hand later, and all will be groovy. Ther...

36. All loved up
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...to have such amazing people in our lives who contribute so much to us!" That's what has happened this weekend. It really is incredible the amount of time, effort, imagination and thoughfulnes...

37. Reality Check
(Blog/Walls and Render)

...testing different combinations. In the meantime, we are planning to have a fun-filled wall stuffing weekend, in lovely Merrimu sunshine. ...

38. Many hands make fun work
(Blog/Walls and Render)

... aim being to create some really great teams to get some big jobs done, with the maximum of fun. So next weekend we will hopefully get the bulk of the walls done, and then the next weekend, get int...

39. Tank you
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...mpany. Although I do find myself quite engaging most of time, I am rather predictable. We've also set next weekend (12th and 13th) as days to launch back into internal walls, with any extra sets of ha...

40. Let the stuffing begin!
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

It's been a lovely weekend. Peter and I really enjoyed working together yesterday, and today we had lots of lovely visitors. Whilst I had some rest at home this morning, Alan and Peter started getting

41. Huff and Puff
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...lights using frequent flier points), arriving back last night, and with the incredible winds we had on the weekend, we were hoping there would be no damage to the house. I am nursing a crook lower bac...

42. More roof and more rain
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...sion to get more intermediate boxing done. I conquered the troublesome section that was annoying me on the weekend (what a difference a bit of fresh perspective can make) and did two other sections. S...

43. A great day
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...ted to see their progress! We are thanking our lucky stars that Tim and Darren were available to work this weekend, as it has been far too windy the last few weeks to put the roofing on, and it is fan...

44. Couldn't fascia before
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

After the excitement of getting a good chunk of our straw bale walls up over the weekend it was back to thinking about other things such as getting the roof on. Well actually from Monday to Wednesday

45. The Love of Straw
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...a for all your praying!) lots of love and straw bale walls to boot! The most satisfying part of the whole weekend for me was watching the crews work and learn together, observing the magical team wor...

46. Straw Bales
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...still not finished though! We will have to concentrate on certain sections of the house at a time over the weekend as we get all the components for the wall ready for construction. We expect about 10 ...

47. Boxing match
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...today which allow me to get on with the all important job of boxing and will also set us up for our baling weekend. All of the strapping, clips and tensioning tools have arrived from Brad and I took a...

48. Tour de France
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...ntastic, just finishing is a huge achievement.At present I'm hurtling towards the line of our straw baling weekend. I have all of the bottom, intermediate and top boxing to assemble and also external ...

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

... we should be fine. With that almost complete we can move on to the last preparations for our straw baling weekend next Saturday and Sunday. The first thing to ensure is that our exterior post and wal...

50. Reconstruct
(Blog/Rafters and Roofing)

...ther days he has helped the build pick up pace. You are very generous with your time Ivan, thanks! After a weekend away resting my body (ribs still sore after the flying rafter incident) I picked up t...