That laser level looks lovely! We bought one for less than a quarter of that price off eBay. It worked really well for us and it's still going now, five…

We're off-grid here, running from batteries that are recharged by solar panels. The success of all this is based upon management of our power system. We run loads such as…

It's alive! We've just installed the new fireplace in our studio. And it works better than expected. It throws out so much heat with just a little wood. The granite…

We also did the owner builder course (an online version) as a requirement to obtain our building license. It has got nothing to do with actual building, it's just about…

We've been living in our house for nearly a year now and just coming into our second winter. Summer was great, the passive and solar active cooling systems worked really…

We easily got through our first winter, maintaining a warm cosy house with the solar passive design and fireplace. We didn't use any power for heating, even all our hot…

Throughout the build we've had "free" electricity as we have a 5kW grid feed solar system on our old house. We've had a 47c / kWh feed-in tariff and we…

An interesting side note to the slow combustion stove we built.

Mounted on top of the oven chamber is an old compressor we had collected many years ago and had been…

It's the middle of winter and although the house isn't particularly cold we still wanted a slow combustion stove. So, off to the "treasure" pile and knock something up. Lots…

One of the final internal jobs are our office desks.

I put aside these jarrah slabs when I was milling the structural timbers a few years ago. Perfect to knock…

The bathroom basin and the kitchen sinks are now installed and plumbed.

We made up our own tapware from odd plumbing fittings and window handles we had laying around.
And the bathroom…

Now we've done most of the bigger dirtier outside jobs we've turned our attention to the finer indoor finishings. And first off, the benchtops. We had the option of timber…

Our site has a bit of a slope and with recent (and welcome) rains we were able to see how the water moves around the building.
With the removed vegetation…

For the past few years we have been slowly collecting pavers. Whenever we had the time and energy we would scroll through the free Gumtree ads and haul them back…

We've fitted all the doors to the studio area and it has transformed the area into rooms. That might sound obvious but previously it felt more like a shed
.
These double…

Well, the rest of the studio is now built. It used a lot more mudbricks than originally anticipated due to sizes of doors, windows etc. But the weather has been…

I imported my evacuated tube solar hot water systems. Got a few modifications done at the factory to suit my setup. Saved about 70%

I guess if you're not actually building it yourself ie; engaging others to do the work, then they would most likely prefer computer generated plans. However if you are genuinely…

A pencil and paper. Gives you total freedom to express your desires without the hassle of conforming to software constraints and without the "learning curve".
You've lived in houses before, right?…

Working on the west wall of the studio now.
A few years ago a friend gave us a round jarrah window frame. We've been looking for a spot to fit it…

Attached to the back of the house will be a studio space (somewhat larger than the house). Now that summer is well and truly upon us we've gone back to…

We've now finished tiling the bathroom walls

Including the shower stall.

Just got a couple of connections to complete for the waste pipe and we'll be able to shower.

Thanks Amilelka. One of the great benefits of actually doing all the work yourself is that you can constantly modify and customise every single aspect to suit your hearts desires…

We've laid the bathroom floor tiles.

And the flooring throughout the upstairs area.

Onto the pantry shelves next.
Really feeling like a house now.

Working on the bathroom plumbing and the hot water system today.

The fireplace plinth is now complete. Very pleased with the result and it provides much valuable thermal mass right where we need it.
There's plumbing inside the wall to connect the…

Our new build and previous builds are being promoted during this year's Sustainable House Day. So, if you're interested to have a look, book for a free…

All the genie bottles are now installed. Glazed on both sides. All 23 of them. We cut all the glass ourselves, mostly from recycled windows
.

With the outside walls now complete, we've been working on the mud plaster finish of the internals walls. Also built the stud walls for the bathroom

and pantry.
But my…

And the curved wall is finished.
The Jarrah boxes will be double glazed and have genie bottles in them.

Very pleased with the result.