Whilst I was away in Europe quite a lot happened around and in our new house.

I say around our house, because the neighbours wanted to get rid of some of their trees, and Michael Edwards, our builder, also wanted to chop them down to allow better acess.

So, they are gone.

This leaves a much better view of the house, but in some respects this is too much.  It looks monstrous!

Seen from afar, the house looks a really huge building, and brings home to us just what an undertaking this was.

This is comparable to views that I have previously  posted, and doesn’t it look bare?  We will be planting plenty of new trees, though, which will look considerably better.

The roof is going on.

This is a picture of the roofing men taking the tiles up to the roof.

This is what the house looked like before the tiles went on:

This is what it looks like now:

The inside is still just frames, but the outside is looking better and better.

We had to go out this week to choose the grant for our kitchen bench tops, and also the granite floor which will greet visitors (and ourselves) as we come in through the front door.

This is the actual price of granite which will make up the floor.

It is called an “Orinoco” pattern of black granite and comes from somewhere in Brazil (so much for obtaining all our building materials locally – there are a few ship-miles in this!).

There will be a 1.8×1.8m slab of this granite on the floor just inside the front door.

In this picture you can just see a reflection of  Sue, in the vast warehouse we had to visit to choose the precise bit (necessary as the stone is so variable).

This is what the house now looks like, not much different except the little roof above the bay window in the front bedroom is taking shape.

The house is coming along well.  I’m still Impressed with front circular window, but the front entrance is now becoming clearer and more prominent.

As the scaffolding comes down the entranceway becomes more visible.

It is not going to be small, or easily missed!  I had always wanted to live in a sandstone house, and the designer and builder are “doing us proud”: the two-level from entrance will be an impressive feature of the building by the looks of it now.

One of the odd things, if you look, is that the “bargeboards” (the front panels just underneath the roof edge) and the guttering are being put in place even though the roof tiles haven’t yet arrived, let alone been put in place.

This weekend we have been having to decide about electricals: we have had to decide on the location of 40 different site for electrical sockets, and the locations of no less than 110 different lights!  We have also been having to decide upon the house alarm.  Whilst this has never been an issue in our current house, in Glenbrook we will have to have a state-of-the-art house alarm.  Fortunately one of our friends is an expert in this industry, so we are able to use his expertise to get an up-to-date system, wireless, linked to the ‘net, etc.

In reality, it all sounds horribly expensive to me, and I have little doubt that it will be.  Still, out “Grand Design” was never going to be a cheap or cut-price project.

Whilst Sue and I were away in Europe, there was significant progress on our house in Glenbrook.

We returned to find that the round window above our garage – at the front of the utility room, had been largely finished, with the stonework around it done.

It looks magnificent.

As the house progresses, it becomes ever-more impressive.  The round window at the front is going to be especially impressive, I believe.

I hadn’t realised that this was going to be done, so it was a very pleasant surprise.

The stonemason has done a wonderful job.