Putting the face on

Hello 2015! 

So far the new year has been rather busy here in our new home. We got our moving-in permission on Friday 19.12 and the movers filled the rooms up during the weekend. 

I was determined I would not do Christmas at all, but our young ones decorated the tree for us and put up a few decorations between all the boxes. It was lovely.

We spent the holidays unpacking, building LEGOs with the boys, pretty much just trying to catch our breath after the crazy fall. 

While my master plan once was to finish unpacking before the new year and take January off, that did not happen. As one bathroom has to be recreated, a study has to be finished, a storage room has to be made, closets have to be built, a three month delay of the cladding and so forth, there is still a touch of a building site feel to our home. There are boxes that cannot be moved until other boxes are moved which cannot be moved until the storage is build which cannot be built until the closets are in place. You know how that is. Besides that, I am more concerned that we will get it right instead of rushing things, so we’re taking our time.

The house itself is very modern and minimalistic, which I am not. I want it to feel like our home and not like a showroom or a page in a glossy interior magazine, so for now we’re not replacing stuff unless we need to. The first thing that got finished was the downstairs bookcase. 

It almost looks like a scrap quilt, doesn’t it, with all the lines and happy colours. I love looking at it, and rediscovered some much loved re-readable treasures during the process.

I hung the first pictures today using 3M Command hooks. I’m not sure what I think, there are too many and the bottom line is not quite straight, but they will have to stay up there for a little while. Unless they fall down; this is my first experience with the Command products.

The carpenters are busy putting up the cladding, and what a difference it makes! 

(The slightly sloping roof is partly covered with solar panels, and the rest with cladding)

 

I almost missed the scaffolding when they took it down as the living room windows are huge, but I’m getting used to them. They are almost like mirrors in the dark, creating more interesting views as the outside and inside reflections merge. 

Twice as many orange goodies...

Can you see the face now? The sideburns will be trimmed.)

It’s a bit gap toothed as the glass panel which will go between the windows has not arrived yet, but I love the warm teak coloured skin. It was indeed worth all the trouble. The light makes it look like two different colours where the curved roof begins, and there will be even more variety when the vertical cladding is finished and the two accent colours are added, one of them matching the fab orange door.

With this patchwork-y image and the hope of getting back in my studio soon, I bid you farewell on this rainy winter day. Thanks for stopping by:)

Of colour and light, and colour, and light

Choosing colours has never really been an issue with me. I am happy to experiment and whatever I have been working on, whether made from yarn or fabric, have been rather small, you know, when looking at the big picture. Choosing colours for a house is a totally different story, particularly when you consider size and permanency - and the opinions of other people involved.

Our new house will have Accoya cladding. Accoya is an engineered type of wood which is quite new here. When first suggested by the architect, husband was drawn to its 50-years-maitenance-free qualities, and the main part of the house would be natural (untreated) wood. I absolutely hated the bright yellow colour of the natural wood, and even more the dirty grey that it would change to after a few years. I was very relieved when husband agreed after taking a closer look at samples and pictures and a couple of local houses. Colour is important, right?

(Orange to brown colour samples. Do they all read brown to you?)

After an interesting visit to the local supplier, we agreed on something between orange and brown. The interesting part was discussing colour and light with two colour novices; both of them could have benefited from a few quilting classes I'd say. Most warm browns would be ok with me really, but I had of course a couple of favourites on the orange-ish side, like the cherry wood. However, no matter how much I would love an orange house, the light is an issue.

The staining process involves 4 layers of stain and varnish on an already saturated wood, making the surface reflect light in unexpected ways. The beautiful red-orange cherry wood could for instance look pink from an angle or over time, and we would not know until the house was finished. A bright pink house? Surpriiise.

(Teak in the middle, cherry wood to the right - pink in one light, orange in the other..)

Anyway, today we had a meeting with the architects, and we could all agree on the colours. Yeeeey. Would you believe that the middle sample in the picture below is the same as the middle sample in the picture above? It is indeed all a matter of light.

Lots of modern houses here have 2-3 different colours, and so will ours.

(I have been sketching funky face blocks inspired by this drawing. It would make quite a different house quilt, wouldn't it)

We have rich mahogany (the darkest sample), teak (the medium brown sample) and cherry wood (the orange sample). The windows frames and window panels will be black (remote control.). It may sound a little patchwork-y, but I think it will be really cool.

Even in the dim indoor-evening-halogen-light, the colours look warm and fabulous.

This has been one of The biggest issues house-wise, the rest will be easy, well, maybe not the kitchen, and the bathrooms, and the floor in the upstairs living room, although it looks like we have found a common ground there as well...

Little boxes on the hillside

I’m singing this song

pretty much every day

kind of like my theme song these days.

Maybe not so odd, is it.

One big box

on the hillside

looking rather sad with the windows and doors all covered.

No fabulous face on the front .

It will get better, at least that’s what they keep telling me.

 

In the meantime, we’re staying right next door.

As uncomfortable and crammed and messy as it is, it’s still the most awesome place in the world every now and then:)

 

 

 

The grandboys and I are sharing a room with dozens and dozens of clothing bags, and this weekend we all had a cold. Not too much sleep, but still a grand weekend. I'm having a hard time getting them to stay still so I can take proper pictures, and never mind looking at the camera and smile at the same time. I kind of like it this way. Keeping it real.

Thanks for stopping by!

Forever and never

Hello there.

Things are moving ahead and the dust is literally settling down around here. Since I last wrote a proper blog post, quite a few things have happened. We have packed-up-or-trashed all our worldly possessions.

Empty, empty, finally empty!

We have moved into our temporary housing. It’s not top notch, but it’s temporary, so it’s ok. Our house has been demolished and the building site is being excavated to make room for the new house in which not only husband and I will live, but also our young ones who will have a separate apartment downstairs.

The gentle yellow dinosaur taking its first bite.

It has indeed been an interesting process, and I have enjoyed it very much, even the exhausting parts. Heading into this, I was debating with myself whether I should blog about the process, but myself and I agreed that it might be a bit too personal. I wish I had though, as it would make an interesting journal for me to keep.

You see, I had forgotten that a house does not make a home, people do. Some thing seems so significant that we want to hang onto them forever, and never let go, but forever and never are equally long and rather useless words to describe anything in the future, aren’t they.

Here are some of my forevers and nevers from the past few weeks:
- I never thought I would step away from my blog, and all other blogs, for weeks and weeks, but I did.
- I never thought I would draw on walls, but I went a bit marker-mad drawing smiley faces all over the first floor walls. It was so much fun. Not creepy at all.

- I never thought I would enjoy watching our house being demolished, but I did. I actually spent the morning sitting on a stool on the other side of the road, filming it. It was awesome. A two and a half week delay of the building permission helped; by the time we finally got it, I was sooo ready.

- I was feeling anxious about the move forever, but it stopped. I think I packed it into the first box. Wooosh, gone.
- I have let go of things that I would keep forever and ever.
- I never imagined making 20.000 decisions in a couple of weeks, but I did. Keep? Trash? Recycle? Donate? Store? Unpack? And this? And this? And this..
- I would never imagine how much dust and dirt that accumulates in a house during 21 years; now I know. Quite interesting, I’d say.
- Sometimes it felt like the packing/purging would go on forever, but it didn’t.
- I never expected finding myself walking outside in my pjs to take a shower next door, but I did.
- I never would have thought I would miss doing the dishes, but lacking a properly working kitchen sink, I do very much.
- It seems like the noise from the gentle dinosaur will go on forever, but the truth is that it will be done within the next week.

The rubble formally known as our house.

See the sewing machine which I drew on my former studio wall? Told you. Bananas.

The big hole in the ground in which we will all live in about half a year’s time.

Well, not in the hole as such, but in the rather funky new house. I was sold when I saw the face; who wouldn't love to live in a house with a face. 

Isn't the architect's model adorable, all those fabulous lines. Hmmm, how can I put this into a quilt..

I will not be spending too much time on my computer this month neither as I’ll be enjoying some hopefully-warm-and-sunny-non-house-related time with my family, starting tomorrow morning with a trip to Lillehammer to visit my family.

Have a lovely July and see you later!