Little staircase in

I won't even try to deal with the Christchurch earthquake.  I'll just say that thankfully my family is okay, and it appears that all of our friends are okay too.

The new stairs

On a more mundane note, our work has continued.  The little staircase that steps up the lower bedroom level to the upper bedroom level has gone in, so we don't have to balance on a plank anymore.  The stairs are made out of dark plywood, and I think that the Architect plans to have them stained a reddy/brown.

Macrocarpa wall under carport

The builder used up the last of the macrocarpa that we had to hand on the exterior of the building, putting it up under the carport (he had set aside all the better stuff to use inside).  As you can see, we were just a few planks short!  It sounds as though we've managed to source some more macrocarpa now, so hopefully it won't take too long to get that moving again.

The photograph of the exterior macrocarpa wall is taken from the north end of the house - the dining room is immediately above the carport.  The block that the front door stands in is immediately behind the macrocarpa wall that you can see.

Lounge wall

I've also added another photo of the completed lounge wall, which is at the south end of the house, ie. the opposite end of the dining room block, behind the macrocarpa block that you can see.

More photos of that macrocarpa wall

Dining room/kitchen windows facing east/paddock

My busy week is over, so I have a little more time to blog.  I think the pictures really tell the story now with this macrocarpa wall.  Our only current issue is that we've run out of macrocarpa!  So I don't know how long that is going to take to sort out.

Apparently The Architect has finished the kitchen design.  The Builder appeared to consider it do-able, so now we just have to wait for the price...

The bath framing has also gone in, which means that that room now looks less like a small box.

Macro wall continuing through

So, photo narrative:  The first photo is taking from the dining room looking into the kitchen area.  This is the start of the internal/external macrocarpa wall.  After the big square window, the next gap is the door for the hallway.  The macrocarpa wall continues in a straight line after that doorway (although it is a little hard to see in the photo).

The second photo was taken by opening the sliding door to the left in the first photo.  Hopefully that gives you an idea of the thickness of the wall.  It has that thickness all the way through.  Again, hopefully you can see that the line of the wall continues straight through into the lounge and out the door at the end of the lounge towards the master bedroom.

Bookshelf in library/lounge

The third photo is taken in the lounge, and you can see that the wall continues out through the door at the right of the photograph.  The big gap in the wall is because that is where our bookshelf will go.  The finishing work that the Builder has done on the corners of that bookshelf and also on the doorway in the hallway is amazing.  It is the work of a craftsman.

Hallway

The fourth photograph shows the other side of the wall (ie. opposite side to lounge), in the hallway.  The first gap in the wall will allow us to see through into the stairwell area.  The second gap is for a cupboard.  At the top of the hallway, the wall has not yet been finished.  Hence the issue with running out of macrocarpa....

Close up of doorway into hall

The fifth photograph is simply a close up photograph showing the amazing mitre (correct terminology?  No doubt I'll be told!) work that the Builder has done in places like the doorway and the library shelving.  It actually looks as though he has folded the wood rather than using two separate pieces.

Bath in situ in bathroom

Lastly there is a photograph of the bathroom with the bath all framed in.  The unpainted parts will be tiled.  The macrocarpa wall will, I think, create a good contrast to the white walls and the tiles and give it all a bit more texture.

I hope that this gives a little more context to my last photo dump!

Internal macrocarpa wall

There have been busy times at HFD over the last two weeks!  And busy times for me, hence the lack of photos.

Dining room, almost painted with macro wall

Wall going inside to outside in the lounge

Lounge

The Builder has been putting in the internal macrocarpa wall, which is looking really great.  Now that a lot of the walls are painted, it no longer feels quite so boxy as you get the juxtaposition of the white and the macrocarpa.  You can also see how the wall runs from inside to outside.  In the lounge photo, the photograph has been taken from inside the lounge, then you see the frame of the glass door and then you can see through to the outside along to the master bedroom.

Regan has also been painting like a trojan, and all of his and Ray's hard work is finally paying off as it feels like he has broken the back of the painting.  Regan has finished the lounge!  You can also see there the inside/outside flow there, with the soffit continuing on the same line as the internal wall on the outside of the house.