As has been said before, by me in previous posts, we cannot really see much during the week now that the evenings have drawn in. However, we do visit, and, like burglars, roam the house with torches looking for progress in an environment that would give a health and safety officer a coronary he wouldn't recover from.
So, turning up on a Saturday is now the highlight of the week. Turning up on a sunny Saturday stirs the soul and makes us realise why we did what we did about 4 years ago when we bought the land. If we can wait 4 years, we can wait another few weeks - right Rhian? ;-)
Anyway, you are not here for my writing, its all about the photos. Before you look at the photos below, have a glance at the last post for an appreciation of what has been done.
In summary, this is where we are:
Underfloor heating - fitted.
Floors - done.
Windows - just the front and a bit of the lounge to go
2nd fix electrics - started
The photo above is a great insight into some of the complexity in the build, it is the manifold for the upstairs underfloor heating
I posted my favourite photo recently, the photo above is almost the reverse of that photo. This one is taken from outside and you can see the trees reflecting off the glass. Clearly there are finishes still to be done. In the foreground you have the wrap around deck running across the window.
Something new! The front living room has a beautiful outlook onto the trees like the cantilever room. It also has doors that open on to the deck, those doors are now in! This photo is taken from ground level looking up at the living room, to the right you can see the cantilever room.
The view of the same door from the inside.
I popped up Friday morning for an onsite meeting to find the insulation had been put down in the cantilever room and the whole of the upstairs was being prepped for the underfloor heating, as can be seen above on the floors. Its also a gratuitous photo of the windows in the cantilever room as this was the first time I had seen them all in daylight. It was emotional.
When we turned up on Saturday afternoon the floor had been laid upstairs, which was the best news ever. On the down side we couldn't wander around, but that is a small price to pay for progress. Because we couldn't wander around I took the photo above, I think this is my new favourite photo because:
- It's the first photo I have taken from the garage looking in and it shows perfectly the layout of the main room. In the foreground we have the kitchen, in the middle is the dining area and in the distance is the living room/cantilever room with the killer view
- You can see how the sun will beam in through the windows in the autumn/winter when the trees have lost their leaves
- The upstairs floor going in is a bit of a watershed as it now looks more like a house than a building site.
As magical as the house is becoming, the wait is very difficult. The rented house can feel like purgatory, somewhere temporary where you cannot settle. The artificial deadline that Christmas imposes doesn't help, making the wait harder. However, we have to appreciate what we have and what we will have, as Morris West said
"If you spend your whole life waiting for the storm, you'll never enjoy the sunshine."
Today, we enjoyed the sunshine. And it was beautiful.