Welcome to our blog.

This blog will follow the ultimate in home improvement: demolish and rebuild!

This is our starting point: a 1930s bungalow. While not a bad house; it is too small for us with three teenage children so what should we do? A full storey extension versus complete rebuild - ultimately the stronger eco-credentials and more certain finances of a new-build helped to guide our choice.

For a number of years we've been trying to find the right route for us to build an eco-friendly, low energy home. We tried various architects and building companies and have eventually settled with a German prefabricated build. The new house will be nearly to passivhaus standards (but not quite due to budget constraints). In any case, the house will be heavily insulated and airtight.

As a family, we have not built a house before so everything is new and exciting but the risk of making a mess of things is quite high!

This blog aims to outline the day to day steps involved in our build.

Friday 23 July 2010

Whitewashed

It was another day of decorating today. Brian worked very hard and has managed to get all the decorating done upstairs (except for bathroom walls that need malervlies first). The staircase in particular looks stunning. I am really looking forward to seeing the whole house looking like this!
Meanwhile, despite having a trip to the dentist and lots of phonecalls to catch up on, we managed to make a start on the kitchen units. Thanks to Brian's advice we are learning some new decorating skills and finding out how important it is to have the right tools! Anyway, we made a start on the units and hopefully will do more over the weekend. It will be lovely to see the units in place, I can't wait.
As we start dreaming about moving in, some caterpillars have beaten us to it. There are loads of them on this ragwort outside the sittingroom. A quick internet search reveals that they are Cinnabar moth caterpillars. It is amazing how much more diverse the wildlife and insect life in particular has become since we've been neglecting the garden! It is the cheapest and quickest way yet devised to increase our green credentials!

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