Build Your Own House

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first time we saw her isn't she lovely




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the workmanship in places is undeniably beautiful and brilliant



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filling in more and more gaps

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from the back then (but side now)

So there we go I can now share pics with you all.

Even as I look at these photos I can see just how much more we have done and how different she looks. There is a window in that blue piece of canvas now and a door to the left of the canvas. The top of the roof is covered and snug. We are putting windows up where the red tin is (1 day).

So many people ask us when we are going to paint her. What colour would we paint her I can only think of 1 and thats red. Red to me denotes Rural, Country, Bush I'd rather have her looking distressed than all prissy and cityfied. If we wanted that we would stay in our place in the city with it's render and mordernism. Ah well some people need that we don't. I think sometimes it is a culture shock, when they find out we still use candles and gas stoves and there is no tv. But when they come out for a stay and they realise how quiet and peaceful it is and just how much serenity there is people change their mind and envy the lifestyle we have chosen and want to come and live with us, we get a lot of requests now to take in borders. Ha funny isn't it how thats changed.

I would recommend to anyone to take the tree change if you can get it. Don't give a hoot what anyone else thinks or says, go it alone if you have to. From what we have been hearing about the global warming of late one day my Great Grandkids may have property on the coast by the sound of the predictions. (Ha Ha)

So now I leave you for a while quite chuffed with overcoming user interface problems in downloading these pics and hope you enjoy them to. We'll be out there this weekend and see if I can't take some new ones to put up next week.

Love It Live It.

Until Next time
Regards


OB1&OB2
Kevin & Inez
Inez & Kevin

The place looks great. Plenty of character
Keep the updates (and photos) coming
Regards Simon

Hi Guys
Great to see your photos at long last after only being able to imagine what you are doing for such a long time. . . . keep the photos coming!
Loved the bit at the end about working towards your dream. . . . I've had a bit of flak about 'straw houses' and the 3 little pigs and the house burning down at the first sign of fire [better not!!!] but I'm learning to cope with it and, even better, with the proposed carbon tax, guess who will be sitting pretty!!

Thanks again for the photos
Best wishes

Thanks Anne & Scoots for the encouragement.

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and now we have doors out the front

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and the puppy is the guard.

We went to the land for the weekend and my camera decided that it wasn't going to take any photos for us so no new ones I'm afraid. I need a bigger memory card.

Anne they are the dreaded naysayers again, don't they know that just one well applied base coat gives strawbales a 2 hour fire rating, a properly rendered house will give so much more. They say anyway that most houses don't burn down because of the actual fire, it is what gets in through the gaps that set it alight, the embers go up get inside to the furnishings and it's all over baby blue.

Leave some Owner Builder, Grass Roots Mags around so they can have a read. Then when they are suitably interested you hit them with the "So you excited about our little project now, you won't mind coming out to help with the wall raising." That is where you find out who your true friends are. i explain it a bit like well it takes a while to lay a house brick, imagine how much we can get done in a day with strawbales, so much quicker and they only way about 20kg. no mortar required just building up those bi-ceps.

Offer them good home-cooked camp oven food and most people will be in. Oh and Beer for the boys (and some girls) but only after tools are down. Make a fun time of it. Make it a workshop. Approach your architect and ask him how this can be arranged. If he's in the trade he's usually in the know. Or just put an ad in this site, that makes sense, then you get to put a face to the name. Whichever way you choose to go, make it an experience people can walk away from with happy memories and a better understanding of the process of Building Your Own House instead of being made to sit back and watch it being done without any of your input other than to choose the colours. Which is what happens so often nowadays.

Relax enjoy and Love

Until next time

Regards
OB1&OB2
Inez&Kevin
Kevin&Inez

Hi Guys

Any more photos? How is the house progressing? You must be sooo pleased and proud of what you've been able to achieve - good on you!!! I'm still in the process of gaining permits/quotes/going through ebay & trading post etc etc nearly every day - ONE day I'll get there. . .
All of my chattering on at school has resulted in a [maybe] 'sustainability' module being [hopefully] added to the Dip.Pop Health in 2009 - too late for me but maybe I can do it on-line? Maybe there are others out there who may be interested?
Good luck with the house - your photos keep the rest of us inspired - I love reading about others plans but sometimes that means I end up changing my own plans!!
Keep your emails coming - take care
Cheers

Anne

Hi All

once again it has been a while since my last installment. Lots has happened and not all to do with the property.

We went down to the land on the weekend after a long time away. Kevin has been up north working so we haven't been able to go as much.

We decided to take the coast road down for something different this time as Kevin picked me up from my work at Helensvale. Never go the coast road on a Friday night it is shocking traffic and even with the Tugun bypass it doesn't help when it's stop start and no reason for it to be. We went past 1 area and for ages it was clear run after the spot where a car had his flashers on, but everyone had to slow down to take a look. The ghoul factor no doubt.

We got to the start of our road about 8 nearly having an accident with a clown who had decided to stop right there to take a leak. I think we may have startled him because there was a neighbour in front of us and no doubt he had a few words to say to him also. We travel for 7 k's of bitumen which then leads to about 5k's of potholed (I mean disappear) potholed dirt road, when SURPRISE SURPRISE they have graded the road. We looked at each other in disbelief and went WOW WOW WOW, it didn't feel the same to be on the road with no bumps, swerves, dodges, ouches, and oh sh.t as we bottomed out so many times before. It was LUXURY and we have a big thank you to the local council for finally getting around to doing it. The floods were in January so 8 month turnaround isn't too bad.

Nearing what used to be one of the worst bumpy areas, I mean 5-10k zone, we came upon a fire in the bush. Both our hearts leapt as we saw it and thankfully there is a creek between us and it. We weren't sure if it was a backburn or someone had thrown a smoke out the window rather carelessly, there wasn't much wind and the closest neighbours were out near there place so we continued on not knowing what to expect at our place. When we got there, no fire, no damage all was well. We went back to give them a hand but it was mostly out and under control.

They have reported an increase in crime in our local rag and have asked that young vandals be dealt with by the system where the parent is held responsible. I think it is a great idea, it will make parents look out more for there kids and know if they have to foot the bill, they will control the kids from doing this sort of thing. I say make the kids clean up and repair the damage they create, while the owners are there and then they can see the effect their vandalism has had on someone else, lest they forget the lesson. We haven’t seen to many people on our place, except when we first moved there, and a couple of ferals from around were pretty insistent about showing 1 of their friends our place. (we had the foresight to tell them that although we weren’t living there we had caretakers on the land, who didn’t take kindly to unexpected visits through the side of the property rather than the front gate)

We are off to the land again tonight, there has been a fare amount of rain up this way and we will see if we can get through. Looking forward to spending the weekend down there to just unwind. We have a date with a dam that leaks and are going to try some Bentonite to see if it solves our problem, we have been assured by the people who use it the most , FARMERS, it works. So we shall share with you our results.

Must fly enjoy.
Shall post some more pics soon.

Until next time

OB1&OB2
Kevin & inez
Inez & Kevin

Hi All

Well winter is nearly over and we are amazed at how green our place has stayed. We whipper snipped heaps to keep the grass down and as far away from the house as possible and got 55ml in the last few weeks. The dam is holding water so it would seem Bentonite does work. We had fun putting that in the bottom of the dam because it had not been wet for so long and then with the rain it became a mud puddle. We slogged through and got stuck occassionally but got the job done.

We have a visitor COW just 1, she must have got through a fence somewhere and wandered up till she found the dams and nice green grass. I suppose she's thought that there was no-one else eating it besides the skippy's so she'd enjoy it on her own. She has left behind some great fertilizers so we don't mind. There is a sign on the gate so if her owner goes past all they have to do is ring us and come and get her, she has a tag on her ear but it doesn't seems she's local. So until COW is collected she will live the life of Riley.

A big tree fell so we now have a view of the ranges to the North, it's amazing how much you see when there is a gap that wasn't there before.

We are off to the land on the weekend and are pulling out the cupboards that have served as temporary walls, it will be so good, I have my trusty can of marking paint at the ready to mark out where the internal walls will go.

Photos to follow I am sure.

So I know it's short but must dash.

Will update again soon.

Until then keep your dreams alive.

Regards

OB1&OB2
Kevin & Inez
Inez & Kevin

Hi All

This season has started of with a few curly's. We got what is expected to be the start of the storm season down at the land last weekend. we went out and did a whole heap of Lantana slashing and then came back up to the house and I was taking some photos when I heard a roar coming up the valley behind me and thought at first it was a fire, turned around and there was a wall of water heading our way. I raced inside yelling batten down the hatches and then stood at the doorway looking at it coming. It was freezing and in all my experience that can only mean 1 thing HAIL, we put a cover over the 4B and then turned to walk inside when it was like someone was throwing squash balls at us. We moved the 4B to the loo shed and ran around like mad things trying to get more doonas from inside to cover her up because they were coming thick and fast. I can imagine the laughs Kevin was getting as I'm running inside with my yellow rain coat on dodging and weaving trying not to get hit, we had a laugh about it later but at the time it was GO GO GO.

Budd was inside and he was wanting to come out, it was loud in there but one look out the door and he opted to stay inside. We didn't get much damage just a couple of perspex panels knocked out of there frames. Whew lucky. I remembered after about an hour that we had the camera so I took some shots of the hail.

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So that was the start of spring.

The snakes are all out and feisty, we have seen so many on the roads, a lot of them killed by cars but I see them slithering off the side as we drive past. (Fingers crossed) none on our land. Hopefully the Goannas are doing a good job at eating the eggs before they hatch. The Black Cockatoos were all hanging out and making a big ruckus, but very relaxing to wake up to, we saw a betong or pademelon on arriving Friday night, he was trying to disguise himself as a tree stump but didn't fool us. He was gorgeous and just hung out for a while near us and then we left him to his own devices. The wildlife on our place is amazing and we choose to live in harmony with it as best we can. We have fixed the dam now and it is providing extra water for them to enjoy over summer. I don't think it's going to be a cool summer so they may have to share the water hole with us too.

We are taking our youngest Grandson down for the weekend, he loves it and is very into the farm life, he will be one that wants to live down there rather than the city. He's 4 now but shows a keen interest in everything he is shown and follows Kevin around like a puppy. Kevin loves it because he doesn't have a boy just girls, so having another male around balances out all this female energy thats around. Poor bugger he is hit from all sides. Oh well he will survive and I'm sure he loves the attention.

Well I must close now. Hope you like the pictures I'm getting good at this downloading business now, just have to learn how to use the new camera. Shall share some more news with you all soon.

Until next time
Keep your dreams alive

Regards

OB1&OB2
Inez & Kevin
Kevin & Inez

Well Hello All

Has it been since October that I have posted.

I have been on 4 months long service leave and we got heaps done to the house. No it's still not finished and I sometimes wish it was but then again all good things take time.

We now have windows in the mezzanine, it's painted and did i mention the bi-fold doors. Not just bi-folds we have double sliding doors in the walls and windows and windows and windows galore.

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I hope this works I haven't done the photo bit for a while. But I do have some wonderful photos.

We have had visits from Snakes.. Red Belly Black and big ones too. We did have a lot of rain around. We have a Diamond Phython that has taken up residence inside in the pile of timbers, needless to say he got the run of it for a while.

So I shall post some more when I get the chance. But yes we are back and have thought it great the amount of hits we've had, glad to see people are interested in our lovely little building project.

Until next time
Keep the dreams alive

Regards

OB1&OB2
Inez&Kevin
Kevin&Inez



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Oh yipyah I believe I got it.

These are some of the pics we've taken i'm so excited about putting them on I don't want to jinx it so I will sign off now and see if they go up for real.

Soon.

Hi All
Okay now we're cooking.

a few before and after shots to help explain the progress.



Okay this is the original shell that we found when we first went to look at the place. Well actually we lie we cleaned it up heaps before this photo was taken but you get the general idea.



This is as she is today or not quite, I believe we now have perspex in the octagonal window and the window up the top.







Yes I know seeing these would have scared even the most ardent OB into running and grabbing the dynamite, and trust me we were tempted, but we plugged along and the result speaks for itself I think.

We had some of the neighbours come up and their son used to rent after the original owners went. They were stunned at what we have accomplished and are quite taken by the fact that we at least are giving it a go and with the minimal OB training we have, they are amazed.

Kevin has wired the whole house with electrics and we have LED lights everywhere running off car batteries with little solar panel back up. They work a treat and he has done such a brilliant job. Just lucky he's a sparky. The G kids think that because we have light we should have TV but they are learning to live with TRIPLE J.

We have our Orchard looking good, we have to wire everything with chicken wire or whatever is on hand because the skippy's love anything fresh and just planted. With all that green grass around you think they'd choose it but alas NO they persist in being the bain of my existence. I will win they will not get my fruit when it crops next year. MARK MY WORDS.

Kevin is still discovering the ROCKS, we dare not dig at times because what can seem like an innocent little rock just under the surface can turn into being the biggest boulder that you should end up needing an excavator to get out. the rocks are the bain of his existence oh and the lantana and the cobblers pegs and ...







Throw in a pic of the sunken lounge, I ran out of camera space so I will update this on Monday when I'm in.

So until then

Take care enjoy and Relax
OB1&OB2
Inez&Kevin
Kevin&Inez

woohooo amazing you guys are an insperation too many.
i get so many people saying they cant ob they dont have money time skills i tell em rubbish we dont have any of the above and we are doing it so are many like us and you guys are great.
keep up the good work cheers shelley

Hi All Amazing what a lick of paint does.





looking good



Couldn't leave it alone



An hour or two later but guess who forgot the batteries for the power saw? Me




Very cold that night but the fire works oh so well and kept us warm.




Another successful weekend at the land, we accomplished quite a lot again. The camera had the card in it this time to send some more pics.

Regards

OB1&OB2
Inez & Kevin
Kevin & Inez

Hi All

Well there is a method to my madness. I thought if I use my computer to type this then I can save and go back and update without loosing it then I might, just might get some more blogs up on my site. Only thing is though that I can’t insert the pictures into it and transfer them straight over but hey this way I even get automatic spell check.

Anyways it has been a while since we last wrote and once again so much has happened. We have picked up some of the most beautiful things from the kerbside pick-up or as I lovingly refer to it as the scab grab. We got a vintage but in perfect condition stable door with all the keys and bolts and iron lacework as the security grille. It has come up a treat. We have taken down the tarp that covered the walls and to our delight found the most beautiful flitches underneath that have no damage. They are a different colour to the rest but weathering will make them the same in the distant future. We filled the back of the flitchwoods with black gap filler to keep the drafts out and the ember attacks away. Previous had white in between and it looked very much like a prison, but the black seems to suit the walls and is a lot less obvious, Besides it makes it very warm near the fireplace now that there are no drafts ripping through.

We have more lights around and Kevin placed a blue LED down the middle of the shell decoration we picked up at a flea sale. It makes for an interesting feature and are the envy of some of our friend who wish they had the height and room to accomplish the same sort of thing. One day the may all own their own piece of paradise like ours, we’ll just keep plugging along and encouraging them.