these walls

We have been very fortunate in that in the renovating of our weatherboard home we have been able to reuse all of our lining boards and so much of our hardwood in other areas of the house. We have moved walls to put in built ins, we have created rooms and rebuilt walls, only needing to buy about 40 recycled lining boards and about 10 3 x2 recycled hardwood timber pieces. In the process of moving these boards around we have had to keep children away and cover ourselves as we deal with old lead paint, we have cut, nailed and sanded and with all of this we have come to love these mis-matched but utterly beautiful walls.  So much so that we have decided to keep some of these walls like this for a while, yes we will oil them to protect them but we will leave little bits exposed, with a little nod to the stories they tell. 

We have also been busy injecting a lot of love in these walls by means of insulation, in both the internal and external walls and will also be redoing the roof insulation and underfloor insulation, it is so darn satisfying, making our home utterly cosy. Scott and I also worked out a really great way of retrofitting this weatherboard with insulation, basically it includes only taking off a couple of lining boards and a piece of masonite, stay tuned we will post a clip on you tube as we had a hard time finding anything less than overwhelming online. 

Working physically building our home is beyond satisfying, it is nourishing, empowering and so much fun. My nail gun compressor skills have been raised to a new bar, as has my drilling, nail punching and puttying skills. I feel like I am walking in a dusty haze, wearing the same pair of work jeans and top nearly everyday, my hands and fingers are throbbing from misjudged hammering and wayward splinters, my shoulders ache and my head is a bit frazzled as the rest of the time is focused on looking at secondhand kitchens and researching natural paints, paint prep and finalising bathroom layouts. But it is great, Scott, Josh (our carpenter friend and builder extraordinaire) and I are having a ball working together. 

Currently it looks like we will be in, in about four weeks, into the weatherboard part of our home, with the new extension looking to start in about five weeks, weirdly I kind of don't want it all to end, I know I will come back and curse those thoughts, but I am sure there will be no shortage of jobs to do as we look towards our garden and beyond.