50 Shades Of Brown

Stairs, beers, and kwila...

Ha!  I made a music funny.  A funny that is probably flying over your heads at 50,000 kilometres per hour.

*sigh*

Everyone's a critic.

Anyhoo... STAIRS!  To accompany my big, throbbing deck.  And BROWN.  It's like the 1970's escaped and exploded all over the Axon paneling on the exterior of the house... it is GLORIOUS.  And  actually compliments the light gray concrete plaster, the darker gray soffits and the 'lichen' coloured roof really well.  Most of the down-pipes are now in place as well so next time it rains our tanks should begin filling properly, which is a good thing since they're running very low on water.

The interior stairs are now all in place, and are made of kwila.  Or quila, or kwela, or however the hell you spell it.  Wood.  Solid.  Dark.  Durable.  

Stairs, they'll be 'connected' by wood paneling on the floor instead of carpet so will all flow together nicely.

Brown!  And gray!  And ... uh, lichen.  On the roof.  The colour that is, not the plant stuff.  Shut up.

A wet weekend

Well, it was raining a lot on the weekend - so not many pics...

The plastering has been progressing slowly inside, the exterior plaster is now grey, and the deck off the bedroom is built :-)

Getting ready for painting inside

Rain rain - go away

Grey walls and a deck!

Ohh what a big wet deck you have!

Painting begins - at last...

So, a quick update... The plastering inside is almost done now, I'd say by the end of this week it will be done. Also - painting the exterior has begun as the exterior plaster work was FINALLY finished early this week. Only problem is that the painter got the wrong colour for the Axon panelling - instead of our dark chocolate brown, he painted it an insipid light fawn colour - ewwwww! Well, that's being fixed (not at our cost!).

Also - we took to the outdoor parts on the weekend. While I mowed the lawn (weeds), Kane got into the waders and like a sexy wader wearing person, he had a go at cleaning out the weed from the pond. What fun :-)

All suited up with somewhere to go

Oooo! It's cold!

And mushy!

I was soooo waiting for that to let go and Kane to topple back...

Good to see so many workers on site - not so good to see the wrong colours!

Funny how the last deck to go into the plans is the first built...

It even has a retaining wall

The grey on the soffits loos good though

And here's the top of the door and the Axon painted the wrong colour

Slow progress again...

Well, the exterior cladding is STILL going on - it seems that it's particularly difficult to pin down these particular sub-contractors to finish! Meanwhile, all the dry-wall (Gib) is done now, and the doors are all in - interior and even the garage doors. The finishing timber is mostly applied around doors and windows, and skirting has begun now too. Next the plasterer get's his stuff done and then painting, tiling etc...

Still, we are seeing more of the colours of summer and great sunsets these days when we can get up there - so are really looking forward to finally being up there full time!

Exterior plaster being applied - the second coat

We have walls ;)

And now we have architraves and skirting too!

Sunset at this time of year really lights up the aquarium!

And we have bright orange trees too

In six or so weeks the sun will be setting even closer to the centre of our view

What We're Looking Forward To

Watching sunsets like molten gold from our deck while drinking ridiculously fruity cocktails in the Summer... Although this one was taken tonight while eating greasies in the dusty 'aquarium' :-)

Things seem to be moving along again...

So, last night when we went up to the site we found that the "Gibbing" is going pretty well by the looks of things... although the rooms that now have their internal walls covered feel a lot smaller suddenly...

Pics tell the story:

The aquarium grows sides

The hallway looks like a hallway!

Sliding doors for the TV room with their insides exposed

Inside the second bedroom

There's a step ladder in our shower!

Master bedroom

Overview

Fat Kereru in a Puriri tree

Plastered!

Well, the plastering has finally begun anyway.

So - status update: Interior insulation is in place, underfloor insulation is also in place. The ceiling Gib (dry-wall or plaster board for those in other parts of the world) is going up, and over the next few weeks the wall gib work will be happening.

Spring is certainly here with vengeance - the grass and trees are growing fast, and the birds have returned to feast on the spring berries in the trees... We really wish we were living there already!

Builders decided to start catching some rain - the tank was getting low

The front door after it's first coat of stain - and a closeup of the first layer of plaster

The plaster layer has started. Two more to go...

Plaster, and temporary down-pipes (blue plastic)

Insulation (fibreglass "Pink Batts") and the ceiling in place

More ceiling and insulation

And the grass won't cut itself!

Colour me something...

So - we need to think about exterior colours. I spent some time with photoshop and came up with some concepts. We both like the idea of the Axon panel being dark chocolate in colour, and the plaster needs to be a lighter colour according to its rules of engagement... so - below are a few possibilities we'd like your comments on please.... And - please VOTE in the poll to the right!

Option A

Option B

Option C

Option D

So - that's how you wanna play it huh?

Well, here's a few more pics from the weekend - Back to our regularly scheduled updates now that I'm back from overseas...

For someone who doesn't like to be in the pics - he sure seems to get in a lot!

Still not done... :-(

But there's real live plumbing under the house too!

And here's the progressive shot from the gate post. Check this one really carefully...

Context

It's all about context, y'know?  Over the months we've taken lots of pics of the build all close up and detailed and stuff.  And you've seen pics of what the view looks like.  But where does the house itself fit into the landscape?

We went a-wanderin' on the next door section (which is for sale, BTW!) and got some shots from afar, that will hopefully show you where the house is situated, and how it fits into the local landscape.

That, and there is a picture of Pete being silly.  You've seen enough pics of me looking dumb, time for revenge, MUAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA! >:-)

Pete's too cool for school... HURPA DURPA DURP!

The house from afar, nestled against the hill.  Still standing out a bit, but once it's plastered and the ground around it is landscaped it wont stand out quite as much.

I'm read for my close up now, Mr. Demille!  They've just about finished putting on the Axon cladding - the lighter coloured, vertically grooved stuff that will eventually be painted quite a dark colour.  The brownish stuff is the paper & wire mesh base that the concrete stucco stuff will be sprayed onto, then painted a lighter, contrasting colour.

Better view of the Axon cladding on the games room.  It will provide a nice contrast in terms of texture as well as colour against the concrete stucco goop (when it is eventually done).