Final colour and that's it

We went for the best compromise we could find, but it's still not exactly what we wanted. When the house is finished and covered in clematis and roses it will be more subdued. Thanks, Cyndie, for the suggestion of blue window reveals - but we're not in Mexico.

We had a busy weekend- Karen spent all of today sanding and polishing the stainless steel counter tops. They had forty years of service in their previous life in a University kitchen, so they needed some TLC. We will install them on Tuesday come hell or high water, so we can get the kitchen working. Boys and girlfriends are coming in three weeks, so we need to get a move on. Ordering oak floor for sitting/dining room tomorrow - installation on Saturday!

Spaghetti under the floor

Our shower room - we like the cork floor.

It's Redlands, but not THAT red

We thought we had the final colour, but the primer and render delivered to site were too strong. On a prominant site like this, we have to think of others (and ourselves in the coming years).

Cayenne!

We are going to tone down the colour a lot - if we get this wrong it will be hard to live with. It's a small setback, but nobody died.

Painting party

Friends came over to help us get about 50 litres of paint on our ceilings and walls - all that new plaster soaks it up. Special thanks to Clare (fresh from a successful fund-raiser), Lyn, Martin, Sue, Jo, Liz, Charlie and Di, who made a great team and made our house look a lot more like a home. We will resolve the render colour tomorrow (we thought we were there), but I'll cover that later. A few stylish headscarves created from the rag bag were modelled.

Thanks to:

Lyn and Clare

Liz

Simon (for the tower)

Jo

Di

Charlie and Sue

Martin

Open House

We invited Sustainable Crediton (and my students) to an open house on Sunday, and forty or fifty people came. We were so busy we forgot to take any pictures, so if anyone did, let me know! There were lots of good questions and interest in our project.

We have decided on the render colour, which will go on in the next few days, so look out for another dramatic transformation.

Light (reddish orange light) at the end of the tunnel

The Foleys finished off the first coat of render beautifully - it's a different house again!

That's the latest in a long line of render samples on the window sill - still too strong?

Starting to look like a sitting room

View from the dining room (Karen calls it something else)

We are desparate to finish this project, but it looks like it might be a month before we move back in. There is no boiler, no bathroom, no stair and no working  kitchen. Still, a lot has happened since August, and as our neighbour said today, the old house is unreconisable now. Julie said she was struggling to see our vision for this house, but she gets it now! Sun, wind and light!