26 July

Even more progress! All the outside walls are up now! Put your 'cladding glasses' (panelglasögon) on and imagine the house with the exterior finished... Tessan and Danne came out with us to have a look, and Liam was as always impressed by all the blueberries...

1. View from the front of the house, now that the crane has been moved, one can see the whole structure!
2. View 'through the bathroom wall' and seeing the 'bathtub room' and window.
3. View from back of house.

Progress!

Literally all the outside walls are up so one really gets a good feel for the shape and size of the house now! It's big! It will be lovely!

Builders are starting with the roof, windows will be delivered next week... Picture texts to help you understand all angles etc...


Matt is standing in the kitchen looking up towards the 'lounge room' (will have a glass wall).



Entrance to master bedroom, and windows in two small rooms upstairs.


Whole house.


View of the whole house and master bedroom from hilltop.

Wow!

This is sooo exciting! Got out to the land on Thursday and there were walls! Our walls! You immediately get a feel for the space and all of a sudden it feels much bigger! The massive window in the hallway was in (or, the hole for it), and it was wonderful to have a look out to see what the view will be!

According to Anders, it will only take another four or so days to get all the walls up, so by mid next week, the basic structure will be there! Can't wait!

Unfortunately we discovered that two of the windows were placed a little high. The one in the guest bedroom isn't too bad (see pic of Matt in front of it), it works this way too, but the huge window feels out of place when sitting too high. We're looking into sorting it and see what have gone wrong.

Metal Beams and Mr Nordhus

Had to go out again on Tuesday to meet Mr Nordhus, Daniel Näslund, who stopped by with his family on his way from holiday! Always nice to get a face to a phone voice. He seemed happy that everything is going to plan.

The guys had put up a few of the steel beams, some welding going on whilst we (me, mum and George) were there. The downstairs wall in the guest room facing the concrete supporting wall (now unveiled!) had been put up, feels mad to be able to start sensing the space!

13 July, D-day!

It was nerve wrecking to make the phonecall to Anders, Westcon, on Monday afternoon, after we'd landed from England. But everything had gone smoothly! Amazing! So we of course drove straight there, George snoring all the way from Västerås (thank god!).

On the land was the biggest crane monster, lifting wall panels from the back of a lorry, onto the ground surrounding the foundation! Madness! Anders said that three Swedish crane drivers had been out to have a look and they had all said no to the job because the 'access road is too steep'. Luckily, the Latvian driver said yes - and drove up it first go! So there, nothing wrong with it, works perfectly!

Only upsetting thing was that the sanding of the foundation didn't go to plan. The stones in the concrete is showing through and that's not the look we're after, so will have to try and find another solution.

Left the land feeling very happy and excited, had a take away for dinner and slept like logs...

Foundation down!

Friday was a very exciting day! It was foundation day! I had the day off work and so did Matt. It's been hot, hot, hot here the last week but this morning the sky literally opened! The rainfall was mad! When we arrived at our land at 11am, it was still raining a little. Anders & Co arrived shortly after, and by then the sky, as if by magic, cleared up. By 12 o'clock the sky was blue and it was hot, hot, hot again! Felt a little sorry for the builders, but rather sun than rain (especially if you're watching from the side!).

During the week, Westcon has prepared the foundation with the pipes for water and electricity, and underfloor heating. The concrete truck and pump van (had to pump the concrete through a hose, since the slope up to the flat bit was too steep for the truck to attempting to drive up) arrived just after 12 and then the filling began. Mum came along with coffee and coins which she put in the concrete to ensure us not having to beg for money (yeah right, let's see if it works... Thanks for trying though mum, love you for it!).

Work was still ongoing after a couple of hours, but we had to go and get George, and Matt had some work to do. We left Westcon to finish it off and returned a few hours later to a finished slab of concrete and a job well done! It's all sooo exciting!

Now it has to set (and be sanded) until the 13th when the house arrives! Watch this space!

Matt the 3D rendering king-ding-a-ling!

Matt's learned how to use Cinema 4D, a 3D rendering program! Look at how nice the house will be when finished! We've also decided to go for a bright painted staircase instead of a wooden one. Colour recommendations anyone?

So far...

Had this mms from Anders at Westcon yesterday. They arrived on site on Monday noon and this is where it's at at the moment! Tomorrow we're going out there to be present when the concrete is being poured into the mould! Exciting!