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Interior Decorating

Not my strong point!  But I can see bits and pieces.

Cushions for the cob couch - a long one along the entire length to sit on, I'd like to stuff it with wool, probably sewn out of a thick cotton material.  I plan to form the couch so that it is not just straight backed but has a comfortable back.  I might make a headboard that is padded but maybe not.  Pillows and cushions along its length in a hodge podge of colours that I have knitted and felted.  A blanket that I am already working on made from all the left over bits of wool that I have knitted into squares and sewn together - it has all the wool I have spun in it from my very first very uneven skein. 

The interior walls will be light colours to draw the light in, and with many niches in the walls for candles to reflect that light too.  The plan is to have probably only three, possibly four, electric lights.  One in the kitchen, one in the bathroom and one in the cool store.  The possible fourth light might be in the main living area, depending on how much of the kitchen light spills in there.  I am hoping to use candles and lanterns more for light sources - the muted light they brings is calmer and helps preserve the natural circadian rhythm.

The curtain to shut off the bed alcove will be a heavy fabric, possibly felt, maybe quilted.  I also want to use quilts or felt for the other windows to act as temperature control, keeping the sun out in summer and trapping the heat from the stove inside in winter. 

The kitchen curtains I hope to be able to match to the design on the dinner set my grandmother gave me a couple of years ago, greens and olives and golds. 

All the doors will be wooden and probably handmade.  I'll preserve the natural look of the woodgrain and the warmth that wood brings with natural waxes and oils.  Natural waxes and oils will also be used on the earthen floor to provide water proofing and shine. 

A wander through an unbuilt house part 2

The bathroom is on the southern wall, so has a hybrid cob/strawbale wall - did I mention that before?  can't remember but I have now lol.  On this southern wall next to the bathroom is a door that leads to the coolstore.  Thick walls, a double door entry (one door, short hallway, second door) and on the other side of the second door, pantry heaven.  This room will hopefully mean that I don't need to have a fridge, it should stay cool enough to store fruits, vegetables and other foodstuffs that need to be kept cool.  I will also have a freezer in here to store meat and frozen vegies.  Lots of shelves to store food and bins under the shelves for bulk goods like beans, flour and rice. 
Next to this door the first kitchen bench starts.  The house curves around at this point so the kitchen window takes in views down the valley to the south and over the hills to the west (or more likely over the trees and gully).  There is my wood stove on the western wall and the bench goes all the way from the storeroom door to the stove.  There are shelves under the bench with a curtain covering them.  The sink is under a window looking down the valley - the dream would be an old fashioned farm house style sink but we'll see what pops up at the time.  There will also be shelves in the wall, probably between the sink and the stove, to store the plates, cups and saucers etc.

Next to the stove, a table and chairs for eating, under a window that looks to the west.  The northern wall has the greenhouse on it, soaking up the sun and warming the house.  Where the wall from the kitchen meets this area it drops to be half height.  This forms the back of the cob couch that runs along this wall to the doorway.  The greenhouse is behind this half wall which provides thermal mass to soak up the warmth from the sun.  The top half of the wall is a window to allow the sunlight to come in and light the house and warm the floor.  There is a vine growing over the greenhouse which shades it in summer so the house doesn't get too hot and when it loses its leaves in winter lets in the sun to warm the house. Plants in there will provide us with food and greenery hopefully all year around and I'd love to have a second bath in there to enjoy an almost outside bathing experience.  The cob bench on the inside of the house is basically a shell that has a wooden top that opens to provide extra storage space.  In front of it sits a coffee table made of black heart sassafrass. 

Furniture is minimal in my house, this is on purpose - I don't need much. 

So that is a wander through my house - the dimensions probably don't make sense and it will probably change as time goes on and I get closer to actually building, but so far I think it works.  Works as a thought experiment anyway ;)

random lists

Electrical stuff I plan on having ( I was going to say need but that depends entirely on your definition of 'need')
Laptop/computer
mobile phone charger
freezer
light
washing machine


don't think there is anything else off the top of my head...  Its not a long list although I am sure there would be people with a shorter one!

Random thoughts I had over the last week

 - Would like to have a seperate room with a fireplace, bath and arm chair as a retreat
 - in loft have shelving in walls for storing wool and related stuff.
 - bottles built in wall niches for candles

Not much else I can remember off the top of my head - spent the week avoiding anything too strenuous due to migraines and a bad back and my brain has apparently turned to mush...

Oh yes - also wanted to note down to build a cob chicken house and a cob rabbit hutch.  While the current bunny (Rob Anybody) is ok outside in the heavy frosts we have been having he has been moved up to the apple shed due to wind/rain etc.  I think he would generally be happier with a home that protected him from the weather better than his hutch does currently and so build one when we have our house.

We have been getting very heavy frosts quite frequently this winter (after having only one or two all season last year) and it is staying cold for a lot of the day.  While the corner we are planning on using gets the sun earlier than where we are currently living it will still be cold up there during the harsher winters.  I plan on taking advantage of the sun by building a greenhouse around the northern facing wall with a wisteria or something else that is green in summer/ bare in winter growing over it.  This will hopefully fulfil a couple of purposes.
 - Provide extra heat in winter by magnifying the sun onto the cob wall which will absorb it and then release the heat when it is cooler. 
- Provide somewhere for me to grow veges year round


Huh, apparently I had more to blather on about than I thought!

organising a small space

I am planning on living in a very small space - essentially one big open room so I lie seeing how other people do it. 
I plan to keep minimal furniture - my great grandfathers wardrobe, the bed my dad made, my beautiful coffee table and my spinning wheel and chair.  The rest will be built in - the couches for the living area built of cob (possibly hollow with a lid for storage space).  The bed in an alcove raised off the floor to enable storage underneath.  Bookshelves as part of the walls (the walls will probably be a bit thinner behind the bookshelves but books will provide insulating qualities which will counteract that.  Seating for the dining area will be also built into the cob, possibly heated by the flue of a rocket heater, will probably have to get a dining table though ;)  I'm planning on having lots of niches in the wall for candles and lanterns too.  The look of cob houses lit by candles and lanterns is so warm and homely.  I love it.

musings on insulation

Having decided to have a wooden ceiling - partly because I like the aesthetic of wood, partly because I am hoping I will be able to find suitable wood cheaply/free second hand and partly because I know Dad can 'do stuff' with wood and I will be able to as well - the next question becomes what to insulate the ceiling with?  I'm going to use wool I think.  It fits with the natural materials I am using in the rest of the house, doesn't burn easily and is a great insulator.

I am hoping that the council permission stuff won't require insulation in the walls as cob relies on thermal mass rather than insulation to regulate the temperature.  If they do require it I will turn to cob/strawbale hybrid, at least on the southern wall.  Using flakes from a strawbale sandwiched between layers of cob.  I need to do more research on this though.

Speaking of the southern wall, I am hoping to make use of the southern wall (which won't get sun) and build a cold store and dry store on that side of the house.  The plan at the moment is to build a drystore off the kitchen and as you go through the dry store have the coolstore on the other side.  I'll slope the floor down through the drystore to the coolstore so that the cold air pools in that area of the house and hopefully that will mean I don't need a fridge.

Which brings me to noting down the fact that I want to have the least amount of electricity I can.  I am hoping that I will only need one or two power points installed.  I would like to try and get by with alternative lighting (which I think I have mentioned before) and the bare minimum of things that need electricity - the freezer (especially if I start to grow animals for food), somewhere to charge up the computer and mobile and maybe a food processor.  Cooking and hot water will be taken care of by the stove (also some of the heating) and I will  build a fireplace in the living area if more heating is needed.  I am also contemplating a solar hot water system for summer so that I don't have to have the stove lit all the time.

A long journey in front of me...

I'm starting this blog in an attempt to keep all my links and research and brainstorming in one place.  One of my major aims for the next 10 years is to build my own house, and hopefully do it mortgage free.  Being a single parent relying on the government for my income this is not going to be easy!
Thankfully my plan doesn't involve a huge mansion, but rather a small cob cottage.  The main building will have enough room for me to live there by myself when the children are grown and gone, with rooms that are part of the building but not integral to it for the bedrooms.  The idea being that when they have left home those rooms can be closed off  unless I have visitors.


I have chosen cob for a few reasons - environmentally it is great, using a mix of clay, straw and sand.  It has great thermal mass so I will be able to use passive solar heating and it should stay a nice even temperature all year round.  It is durable - there are many houses around the world that are hundreds of years old made of cob.  It is flexible, the only limitations on design being your imagination.  It is cheap - most of the things needed can be found on the building site.  It is empowering.  I can build myself a house that I own outright, from the foundations to the roof.  I will be able to do all the upkeep on it myself too.