Freeze frame

Yes!

A new material has arrived.  Steel.  I love steel.  Well, I do after looking at 17-18000 concrete blocks since April.  Steel is the best.  Steely steel steel.

Anyway, what may have not been clear to readers, unless you looked at the post that referenced the plans, is that there is a bigger structure around the side and the back of the house that supports an additional room and a large deck.

The additional room is cantilevered above the ground below and in to the trees.  Supporting all this is a custom made steel frame.  This has been made to measure off site, galvanised and then erected on site.  The pictures, as ever, probably explain it better.

From the back of the house, most of the frame you see will support a deck across the entire back of the house that extends the upper living space by about 3 meters.

As an aside, and it would be easy to miss, the land has been built up outside the back of the house making the rainwater harvesting tank disappear along with the other drainage works.

Above, from the master bedroom you can see the L shape in the frame.  The part of the frame that juts out will support the steps down to ground level - joining up the living spaces to create a communal and social living space (something Kevin McLoud would say).

Above, not something we have been able to appreciate up until now.  Looking from downstairs through the gap that will take the stairs you can see the frame for the front door.  As the front door, and the roof above it, will be glass the daylight and the view of the trees should be quite a sight first thing in the morning when climbing the stairs.

Again, something that is now clearer than it has been.  From left to right on the top floor we have the dining room, the kitchen and behind the garage the utility room.  Under the utility room window is the rest of the deck above the master bedroom.

The cantilevered room is defined by the part of the steel frame that runs from the house on the left to the 2 uprights.  Everything else will support the deck around it.

Another view of the cantilever room from the dining room, the cantilever room will only be accessible from the dining room.  This picture shows how close to the trees the room and the deck will be.

Last photo.  We do sometimes think it would be cool to be able to park the car under the cantilever room, it works with the dumper - but a mini cooper doesn't have the torque or the 4WD,  This photo gives a view of the steel work from ground level.

There are a bunch of other photos here