A straw bale home in the gentle hills of Romania.

Paul found Ileana Mavrodin, an architect who was familiar with straw bale construction, who took on the project. Paul and Ileana worked together for approximately half a year to draw up the plans, communicating mostly by phone and via the Internet. For the interior design Paul took many ideas from architect Raluca Suru and local artist Maxim Dumitras. Construction of the house began in 2012 with a local crew.

The project got off to a shaky start because the builders misinterpreted the plan and Paul ended up with a structure that only vaguely resembled what he was after. Looking back he now knows not to take on such a big project for someone new to straw bale building. His advice is start with a small building first.

Fortunately Paul found another crew that could repair some of the mistakes. The upside down inside out builders weren't the only challenge because Paul ended up spending four times his initial budget of 10,000 euro. This was partly due to unforeseen costs but also because he wanted the house to be finished to a better standard then he originally planned.

The timber framed straw bale house stands on a 500m2 (5,380 sq.ft.) plot. The straw was purchased locally and the clay for the render came partly from the plot itself and partly from a nearby forest. Both trees used at the front of the house came from a local woodland. Inside Paul used recycled beams and floorboards taken from a recently demolished old farmhouse. When the house was almost finished in 2013 Paul organized a workshop about clay and tadelakt plastering.

If you are planning to build a natural home then there are lots of experienced natural builders and architects willing to share their knowledge with you in our natural building group .