All photos link to larger images.

Welcome to our new, little Sunlight home! It's been some time in coming, but we're almost moved in!
	Come try out our flagstone walk, that's beginning to take shape in the front yard, along with the native landscaping. Our old weathervane with it's fresh coat of poppy colored paint is pointing the way. Come on in!
Jack the dog would greet us as we walk in the front door, but he's fallen asleep. The through-body porcelain tile in the entry and halls is proving to be beautiful and very durable and the bamboo flooring is a delight! The clay walls are soft and warm and are a perfect backdrop for our artwork. The cement walls have given us a lot of distributed thermal mass which has kept our home comfortable even in the heat of our desert summer. We have discovered a problem, however. The metal lathe and cement in the walls is reducing the range on our wireless network. (grrr)
Click on this photo to for a larger version that will be easier to see. From here in the entry you can see through the great room which includes the dining room beyond and kitchen off camera to the far left. Off camera to right is the built in entertainment center and the west windows looking onto the porch entry. Here's a link to the floor plan.
Our kitchen is small, but there is a lot of walk space around the island and since it's open to the other areas and has a vaulted ceiling and lots of light, it feels almost spacious! Our single bowel sink is working out great and so is our Fisher and Paykal dish drawer. We have found that the short 38 minute cycle cleans our dishes very well..and it's quiet. As with past butcher block islands, we're using the heck out of this one and have already scratched the surface with our knives. That's what it's for! Rope lighting above the cabinets and on the porch outside gives just enough light for evening conversations. We wondered how a bamboo floor would be in the kitchen, and now we know. It's great!
The living room has a built in entertainment center with doors to close off the TV when it's not being viewed. The south window seats are very comfortable and the west porch helps reduce glare from the setting sun. We're waiting on window coverings until we've lived here a while to see what we really need and want. We're exposed to the street and the neighbors right now, but we're back quite a distance so we don't feel on display.
This view from the middle of the great room is aimed back at the entry door with another view of our feature post. The skylight.is creating a shaft of light that brightens the entry. To the left, in front of the Danish wood stove is the brass cover for our external combustion air vent. At the top of the picture are the pulls for our ceiling fan, which we use to destratify the air. We tend to open windows and doors more than running the swamp cooler. It's wonderful to have a natural breeze flow through the home, but since there's so much dirt outside at the moment, the down side is the dust inside! We've found the microclimate on this lot to be much more severe than our other lot just 5 lots up. This piece is much more exposed and the wind blows harder down here. There also aren't walls and trees to block the wind. Interesting how different it can be even on the same block! Looking from the dining room table into one of the offices through double French doors. The room can be shut off and made private when guests are using the sleeping loft in the office.
The bookcases are already full of our most precious books. Many more are on their way to the used book store. We like built-in bookshelves in halls because they are a great way to use hall space well and, at the same time, add interest. To help get your bearings, the entry and living room can be seen at the far end of the hall. We've put up a couple cafe curtains for privacy since our entry porch is just outside. Just outside these windows is our birdbath that was carefully positioned to be filled by rain water running off the roof. A great example of form following function; a fundamental design concept. Now all we need is some rain! (see below)
The rosy colored clay walls create a warm, cozy glow in the master bedroom; even without our pictures on the wall. (We'll get to that soon!) The bedroom is small, but there is enough room for our dresser, desk and rocking chair; all made by the Woodshop, along with our bed. The bed is higher than normal to accommodate the large drawers built into the frame under the mattress. They are handy for expanding storage space in our little room. We each have our own reach-in closet with bifold doors (left of above photo).
Our little master bath is far from spacious but more than adequate. The single sink has a built-in soap dispenser which helps keep things off the vanity. The medicine cabinet drawers and vanity shelves have electrical outlets inside to recharge or plug in bathroom items without resting them on the vanity. This leaves the whole vanity area for elbow (and splashing) room. To the right are bifold doors that hide the washer/dryer and the shower and commode are behind the photographer. Again, a vaulted ceiling with a skylight makes this small bath feel just right.
We'll leave you, for now, in our guest bathroom. We've been enjoying our Caroma dual flush toilets (as much as one can enjoy a toilet) and we're really enjoying our custom tiled, 2 person tub. Try it out for yourself if you like! The door to this bathroom (right) is a French door to let south light from the hall windows shine through. For privacy we've attached handmade paper to the glass to obscure the view. There is now plenty of privacy and light in the bathroom.
Here's the birdbath that I mentioned earlier and we've finally gotten a rain and it works. It's a miracle! Thanks for following along with us on our new home building adventure. We hope our experience has been enjoyable and informative for you.