– We have a finished subfloor –

Well the sub-floor is now completed and it’s very exciting to be able to walk around up there on our floor level now. You can get a much better feel for where every room in the house will be and the proportions of everything. I can tell that throughout the build we are going to go up and down with thoughts of ‘is it too big’ or ‘is it too small’? Our local community is so friendly and we’ve had so many people stop to say how big the footprint looks, which kind of makes me worry we’ve bitten off more than we can chew (we are owner building this project) but we know our cottage isn’t going to be massive and is in fact a fairly modest house at around 230sqm, so we’re keeping it in perspective.

Mr B has also been surprised to hear many a local builder comment on just how solid and straight our foundations look, better than a lot of cowboy builders we’ve been told, so Mr B you done good!! So proud and again my Papa has helped us out so much, he’s been incredibly good to us lending his experienced hands and useful insight (he built the house I grew up in along with a carpenter, so he’s been here before). Timber has been ordered for our frame now and we hope it will arrive this week so that the framing can commence. We are planning to use a carpenter to assist with this stage and move into the roofing etc, as we happily admit this is an area for the professionals. Mr dear husband also has the daily task of keeping up with the workload of his busy I.T consultancy which he mainly does during the evenings now, as building and project managing is one huge job in itself and not normally done by the same person. Aargh, we are pretty crazy! I am working 2 days a week and looking after our young daughter, plus running my little business. I’m updating the budget and of course am relishing looking after all the selections and sourcing for the interior & exterior of our home, so this is keeping me super busy on the side. I’m hoping that as we move on further with the build that I can assist with more of the project managing side of things too.

Anyway, soon I look forward to seeing a frame on this sub-floor and to being able to walk around in the spaces and get a better feel for it all…this next stage will be exciting indeed!

Miss B planting our first plant along the front entry statement in that beautiful rich, red & fertile soil we are so blessed with! Here below you can see early plumbing is complete and the last of the yellow tongue and groove boards going on, which is now all finished. Beautiful day with bright blue sky, my Dad on site and Miss B loving walking around on top of it all…plus a little glimpse of the sea in the distance!