it’s raining. all the time. really hard, actually. i guess this is why the renderers have decided to delay someone else’s job to come and work on our house instead. strictly inside, of course.

it’s far too wet outside. inside, too: apparently we had a bit of a water feature going on inside our new bedroom, which is innovative, but ultimately not the kind of natural feel we were going for. we’re not entirely sure what happened, but most likely the strong winds pushed the water in between the hemp wall and the cement sheet above the window.

the walls seems fine, hard as ever and reassuringly dry, inside & out. the cement sheet on the other hand looks like it’s been for a surf. we’ll have to consult with our builder if this is something that will not happen once the outside wall is rendered, or if we have to resort to the application of silicone (not our preferred solution, silicone is nasty stuff).

we do like how the rendered walls look. the guys did a great job and the finish is very smooth and dead flat. we’re told the colour will end up being a little less brown, and the walls will likely be light grey when they’re dry, which might take a bit. did i mention it’s still raining?

the ‘special’ render mix contains mostly sand, a fair bit of lime, secret sauce and a few hemp flakes. we think it looks great.

the rain has also been welcome by the grass we planted to stabilise the soil around the house. as an added bonus it looks good, too. kris thinks we won’t have to mow it frequently, the wallabys will do that for us. looks like she’s right, they are already munching on it.