Finally we're ont'elly... how did that happen?

11 months from when we first put a hole in the ground to start the foundations, we managed to move in and along the way build our dream home with the help and skills of some fantastic, friends, family and trades. We managed to do quite a bit of the work ourselves, found skills we didn't know we had, build it on budget (which was good, because we didn't have an extra few million to cover an over spend) and on time - not bad for someone who fixes cars!

Over the last few weeks I have contemplated what we have achieved (with the help of a quite few others) and it feels amazing to finally be living in our house. We poured our hearts and souls into the build and with the exception of the garden there isn't that much left to sort out. On the whole, I think we managed to stay pretty positive throughout the build with the relatively small issues experienced paling into insignificance when we look at what we've managed to do. Managing the build alongside working has been very challenging, emotional, sometimes frustrating, really exciting, great fun and at times very tiring, but extremely rewarding. Every success and imperfection we've had a significant part in. Not many people are lucky enough to build their own house and we feel very privileged to have done so. If anyone gets the chance, is prepared to make sacrifices and put in some hard work they should jump at the opportunity!

We were lucky enough to have our build recorded by the talented (not just with the camera) and generally nice fellow Lee Chapman. Thanks to Lee's filming along with the input from the rest of the True North Production team our house build will be visually documented forever. Lee who was on site with us regularly throughout -  helped us to adapt to being filmed with a massive lense in our little faces, keeping it relaxed and interesting and without impacting on progress. It is nice to think we have made a friend through one of the most significant 12 months of our lives and I am sure we will keep in contact in the future. Charlie, Christian, Stokey, Sally, Hayley among others at True North made our self-build journey fun, kept us (and some of the trades) on focus and on time along with providing us with some fantastic improvements to our home, which we wouldn't have thought possible and/or affordable - thanks for that Charlie, we didn't see it initially but in most cases you (and Fliss) were right.

While building, Fliss also managed to plan our wedding and while I moaned and groaned about help with the house on times, she managed to pull off a perfect day and the start of the next (hopefully slightly more relaxed) chapter of our lives together.

A massive thank you to everyone at True North and the friends, family, work colleagues, companies and trades who made it all possible. Here are some sneaky pics of our house which will be on later today, Tuesday 21st October 2014 - 9pm on More4 "Building the Dream."

 House designed, frame and shell erected by Border Oak with design drawings tweaks by Owen Hicks Architecture 

Open plan living space

Oak stairs made by Courtyard Designs, brushed Nickel handrail from Ironmongery direct and glass  from Balustrade UK

Liv's wardrobe handmade by Stuart Carter Furniture and painted by us

 Josh's bedroom not too messy yet

Bathroom tiles from Devant Designs, Hereford, Bathroom suit etc mixed and matched from various suppliers including reclaimed.

We love our new home. I hope you enjoy the programme as much as we enjoyed being part of it...

I will compile a list in a future blog with links where possible of the trades, companies and suppliers who we used along the way. Bye for now...

Our Luxton love in and a sawfinger

Meeting up with Charlie Luxton this time was an altogether less stressful experience, I'd even go so far as saying it was great fun and provided some more very useful ideas and food for thought...

After last time, when we were a few weeks away from starting our build, the suggestions Charlie made were a lot easier to digest and comprehend (and didn't make me feel angry this time!) The days filming started with a cup of tea and then followed with a walk through the house and a chat about which ideas from the first time we met we had decided to go with. We talked about how the build was progressing and the ideas we had for the stair and balcony area (which was one of the major suggestions we took forward into the building) upstairs bedroom storage and flooring.

Once we had finished filming at the house, we headed off down to the Corners for a spot of lunch and Charlie sketched of few of the ideas and suggestions he had. The main suggestions were around the stairs/balcony areas. The suggestion for the stairs half kite steps for the first 4 rises is likely to save a bit of money and will remove the need for a handrail at the bottom and gain a little bit of headroom on the stairs. We were planning on having a glass balcony, but the suggestion that we used only glass to form the barrier, without the need for a handrail is something we hadn't thought about previously and we will be looking into this some more.

We were both quite impressed with the 3d drawing of the stairs

A frameless glass balcony... could it be done?

This weeks progress has seen GRM Electrical first fix electrics moving on nicely, which should be finished next week

 Wiring for the lighting in the main living space

1st fix wiring

... but the one we really have been waiting for THE WINDOWS & DOORS ARE DUE TO BE FITTED, starting on Wednesday.

Please insert windows here!

Whilst we have been busy with the house, we've got a bit of local news today regarding the weather, we've had flooding in Kingsland and just 700 meters or so from us, the river has burst it's banks which we haven't see to this extent previously. Thankfully, we're quite a bit higher up so with the exception of potentially being cut off we won't be affected. 

The river just down the road from us

This should be a wooded field... 

The other end of the village

Finally, work this weekend has been slowed by my inability to use a saw correctly... I had been making good progress with the second coat of paint on the weatherboard (33 boards of 85), To enable us to fit them all in the house while doing so we have been stacking them with spacers to enable air to flow through the boards, allowing them to dry. I'd run out of spacers and decided to cut some more... but I managed cut a large grove into my index finger and finished the job off with a bit more lacerating on the backward stroke. So a trip to A & E and my finger was taped up and bandaged to allow it to heal, with strict instructions by the nurse to rest my finger and don't get it wet. 

"Sore Finger" with enhanced pointing ability

So to summarise it all, we have warmed to Charlie's ideas at the point of hearing them (rather than after a few days of reflection), I've learnt to ensure I concentrate on whilst I am doing jobs and I've also learnt that you can't do anything to control the weather (hopefully it won't delay the windows & doors again!)