Still feel like the turtle...

Just after I finish this post and press publish I have to march straight out and continue staining wood siding.  I have been staining for days, weeks...... forever.  At this point I have stained roughly 2,000 lineal feet of wood.  That is enough to drive anyone a little nut'so.  So, hope you are all doing something I little more entertaining then me and miss norah jones.

Ready Set Go!

We have begun the first leg of the exterior siding marathon.  I call it a marathon because we have just started the race and have at least another 25 miles to go.  I don't like typical design and have really tried to blur the line of cost effective materials with originality and sometimes you have to pay the price of doing it yourself to reap the benefits. My siding bid from a contractor would be a nightmare with all the material changes and extra detail I want for the look and architectural design.  So, we started the weekend with alot of head scratching and making it up as we go.  My mind felt like the turtle slowly inching it's way to the finish line while my heart wanted to be the hare and just race to the finish line.  The turtle won..........

I'm the measuring / cutting girl and my husband is the ladder climbing  / nailer guy.  We make a good team most of the time......we got off to a rocky start with all that head scratching, he keeps telling me this is his last project and I roll my eyes and tell him ok........we will see with a hidden smile............I know its not true secretly....

Biggest accomplishment so far: Reading the ticks on the tape measure correctly. Its so much easier when we aren't telling each other.  "It's the second small tick past the big one on the right side of the half inch mark." 

100 percent for real

I was in Seattle last week dropping my friend off from her visit and before we said our goodbyes we made a quick trip over to Bedrock Industries.  My friend Katie is a mosaic artist who creates amazing pieces and I was looking for some inspiration and a launching off point for the interior finishes of the tree house. So it was only fitting to go and get inspired at the best little trail blazing tile shop in town.  This place is 100 percent amazing because their tiles are 100 percent recycled........from start to finish.  Now if there are any other designers / architects out there you know as I do nothing is EVER 100 percent recycled.  This company takes old and unwanted bottles or light fixtures, just about anything glass and produces a variety of wall tiles for kitchens and bathrooms in all shapes and sizes.  Plus they offer the DIY a huge variety of tumbled glass for all your wildest creations.  All the tiles  / glass are created in their plant and no pigment or anything is added it's just crushed up bottles. 

So simple, right? Lets just keep something as it is and change the dynamic of the application..... But oh, lets take it to another level and ship tiles out in the world in 100 percent recycled shipping containers.  Uh brilliant!!!!

So why is this concept, this way of life of using what we already create and throw away such a rarity? It should be easier and cheaper to buy something that is recycled.  I love this company and what they stand for and ended up buying just a small handful of tiles as a accent in the kitchen because my budget can't afford recycled trash bottles to tile an entire back splash. Fireclay tile is also doing a extreme recycling line called Deris that is taking crushed and cast off porcelain toilets and sinks from landfills and creating wonderful tiles.  But at $21 dollars a sq foot my chances of using it just flew out the door.

I understand that these companies need to make a profit and I'm not pointing fingers at these two companies (they are amazing), but things are really ass backwards when you stop and really look at the big picture. They are getting free trash..... yes they have to dig it out of the landfill and go get the bottles from the trash, but I guess what I can't wrap my head around is the fact that its more expensive then a non recycled tile at home depot that was created using more chemicals and fossil fuels and is packaged with non recycled packaging and being mass produced all over our plant.

This post was intended to show you this really amazing tile that has inspired me and I have ended up getting really pissed off at what we are doing to ourselves. Is it a pipe dream to really practice what we say we want?  I don't want to pay $4.00 a gallon for gas but do I have a choice?  Can I really support building "green" if my budget is not $500,000 dollars? What can we do to really change? Are we ever really going to change? When is enough enough? Anyone have any answers?

Coming Back Home

This last week while electrial wires were running about, my really wonderful friend Katie from back in Nevada needed a much needed break and decided to visit.  It was perfect because my husband's spring break was exactly the same time (he is a high school teacher) so we did our best to try and balance working a little on the building (not much got done which was a nice break and excuse to rest) and a trip out to the ocean at a beach known as La Push.  Yes..... many people are now very well aware of the town of forks and La Plush from the craze Twilight (I did at one point get very caught up in the whole mess and have since moved on thank goodness) but it in fact is one of the most gorgeous places I have laid eyes on.  Needless to say it wasn't hard convincing Katie why we uprooted our comfy little lives in Nevada for this new found paradise.  Actually, it was a "spiritual life changing day" in her words and I felt completely dumb struck that every word that was coming out of her mouth about her feelings in the environment, the textures, and deep rooted sensation of belonging to this place was "EXACTLY" the same words that had come right out of my mouth 2 years ago almost to the month.  I was born and raised in Nevada............dont' get me wrong all you Nevada folks who read along............ the desert is a wonderful place and I have a deep respect and long line of family heritage but when I came up here had my "spiritual life changing day" I knew that if we didn't go right then that we never were going to go.  And I knew we would regret it down the line.  It has been a struggle in some ways, you always make a plan and hope that the plan works out, this time around the plan half worked so things have taken us on a little bumpy ride.  On most days its hard to get away from all the crap that is happening that you can't change but have to make it thru, but then you enjoy a day at the beach at the start of where it all began and it makes you realize that 5 years down the line all the little stuff doesn't mean that much anymore and you made it.  Katie helped both of us realize why we did this and reminded us to pull our heads out of the sand and feel grateful for such a wonderful place to live.  As always I was constantly pulling inspiration out of every tree and rock and sand for design ideas for the building.  There is so much beauty in our environment and its taking a new form in the shape of my treehouse!

The little bits

Things have been moving around these parts, but nothing really interesting to photograph artistically.  So sorry about the absence, but the electrical phase is in full swing and wires are getting strung and power should be here shortly. So much mentally has been starting to happen and I feel a little behind.  It's funny how the little details begin to catch up to you and your getting metally dragged in so many directions. I have been really prepared and organized and still manage to freeze up a little and go into mental decision overload. More to come shortly but first I need to get back to all these little fires and start putting them out!

Something's gone?

Notice anything different about the stairs?  Ok,..............I will tell you.........no railing!! It had to get cut off and modified and is on it's way to the metal shop to get sanded and welded to meet code. Right now it feels like a floating platform, I really like it the way it was, stupid code rules.  Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Who said redheads cant wear red?

I haven't done a fun outfit post in a long long time and my wardrobe has been so preoccupied with carhartt overalls that I thought I'ot to show you the windows from the inside with a little dose of color. These windows are wonderful and I'm proud to comment that my mad little plan of having such large overhangs to protect them from blowing wind / rain on them has been a success. Not one drop of water has reached a window, I went out in the dark with a flash light last night during a very large bucket pouring rain storm to check.  Now who's calling me crazy for a 5 foot overhang, not me.............I'm stoked I'm not going to have to add window cleaning service to my overall maintenance plan for my mom.

So, back to my red wool coat, I found it back home in Gardnerville during Christmas.  Its so big and comfortable that when I tried it on in the thrift store I thought this is exactly what I need in the Northwest.  Everyone's style is very comfortable / relaxed where I live, so I feel like I'm walking around with a big blanket keeping me warm.  So far I wear lots of layers to keep warm......I personally cant walk around in dresses with tights at this time of year, maybe I will get acclimated as the years go on so for now I gotta stick with jeans, boots, extra thick socks and red 70's-80's wool blankets.