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Well we've hit a milestone - the interior is almost all panelled out and its really feeling like a nice big blank canvas/wooden box to start building cubboards, benches, shower etc into. We are off on holiday to q/town with my brother who is over from the Uk so its nice to have got this far an know that when we get back its a lined out house to build into. We still have the ceiling to put up but that should be quick and easy. All the wiring is in place now too.
Anyway- we cleared it out gave it a clean tonight and took some photos- I have tried to get shots that show how roomy it feels but its tricky. Its got a lovely warm feel to it from mix of darker woods. And one of the floor boards creaks when stood on- which is cool.













Today I celebrated and got ready fro out road trip south by building this...



Its similar to the one I made about 3 years ago for the last house truck we built.
As we are going to be camping out in some bloody cold areas this will be handy I think. It cost all of $6 to make- it would have been less but I had to buy a bloody hinge Once in chch tomorrow night we will crank it up and burn off the paint. Maybe cook some bacon on it

back from our break which involved driving our slow as 2.4 diesel 4wd hiace around the south island looking at places to park a housetruck (mainly queenstown)

Now back into it and then we both got a nasty cold

Kitchen work...



almost finished- just some little finishing touches....... :-/

we are back into the swing of things after 3 weeks of not getting much done. feels good to see progress.

Firstly- I have finished making the last of the window frames. All together we have built 17 windows and 3 skylights. Much more than we had planned but its worth it as it will be a nice light and airy feeling house.



While I built the last windows Hannah painted all the ceiling sections we had carefully cut out of 4mm plywood.



We have chosen a colour called Koromiko- its a very pale lemon colour that we had used to good effect in the Bedford TK back in Oxford. We want the ceiling to break up all the darker woods and make the rafters stand out. Plus it will help with keeping the rooms bright.

Today I started putting up the ceiling and its looking great- way better than we thought. I have just finished the bedroom. Meanwhile Hannah is putting 3 coats of yacht varnish on the window frames. She also varnished the main rafters - just one coat to stop them getting dirty and bring out the patterns. She is now complaining of sore shoulder and hand from all this painting. Its a tough life...

Heres a couple of shots of the ceiling...





And this is Hannah's latest little treat. she rescued it from the dump and its in great condition- so will become our bread bin

Tonight Matthew I will be..... drinking whiskey.

Because we have finished the ceiling!!!! Very very happy with it too. We have just been sitting in the sofa listening to some Cuban music with whiskey and just enjoying looking at the ceiling. ahhhh. Tomorrow Hannah will continue painting the pop out ceilings an we will make a trip out in the Datsun 1.3 racing sunny to some random place - where ever we can find some suitable slate like rock to make the fire place hearth.

Here's some shots of the ceiling I took tonight...

Hannah chilling out...



Looking up from sofa...
The square hole is there waiting for stove flue to be installed.



Looking back up into 'spare room'..

we are so happy- just put the three windows up in the bedroom and the look great! The stained glass one in the middle is amazing during the day- the light and colours that comes through it is wicked! I will take some photos of the inside view once Ive finished the cladding around them.
There is still some batons and flashings to go around the windows. The batons will break up the big slab under the main window.



looks so cosy inside- it is ;D

In nelson tonight- just scored some more Rimu panelling given to us by my brother from his destroyed wendy house Hopefully it will be enough to finish the last bit of cladding in the spare room at back plus some for the inside of the bathroom.

the front is all finished now. just need to add carpet, drawers and a bed! This afternoon in Nelson while on the hunt for a piece of rusty corrogated iron to go behind woodburner we went to a recycling place in richmond and scored a rimu slatted bed base for $5 choice!

Anyway- here's some photos of windows with the light coming through and walls all done.





and pop out window which will be over the dining table- our favourite...

Over the weekend we cut up some slate like stone that we had hunted out up one of the local valleys. I built a frame out of miro and rimu then we set the stone in with cement.

Yesterday we finished building the hearth and bolted the stove down, cut hole in roof, cleaned up and adapted the S/S flue.

We fitted the last windows today. Very happy about that. Both the bedroom and the spare room are now very well lit.

Its almost upsetting that spring is here as I'm actually hoping we still have some more really cold nights to use fire- on monday we had 21 degrees!

Tonight was a little chilly so I cranked it up ...