My backyard

Water..................is my new backyard.  Living in the desert most of my life, I have always craved visiting water places.  I have always felt out of my element in the desert, it just doesn't agree with me. Now I wake up I see water, I drive into town I see water, I take a ferry into Seattle on water. I'm in love with water........

and crazy jellyfish things....

There are the most wondeful purple shells that wash up along the shores of my house, I have gathered a bag or two and plan on using them in my building project as a design idea for countertops.

   

Non Original Idea

I haven't shared with you until now, that I call my project The Treehouse.  It is a guesthouse / garage that I'm building first, and the second phase will be the main house. I am doing this in phases so that I can shift my mother and ourselves around while living here and also to tackle a smaller project to get comfortable with running a job site.  Its not necessarily a tree house per-say but it will be overlooking a wonderful grouping of trees and being elevated on the second level gives you that hidden / secure effect of being protected.

While in Seattle last weekend, I stumbled across this building with the EXACT same material that I was planning on using for exterior siding. Everything about this building made me want to jump out of my skin,  with excitement of course......I have been in search of raw, unusual, off the beaten path materials for quite some time.  Even though I'm estatic to see that it works, I'm beginning to believe that there are no original ideas left out there in the universe.   

Its a Mans World

I have been digging in the dirt for the last two days. While prepping for the foundation footings to be poured I looked around today, while hammering spikes into the ground, it occurred to me that I am definitely in a mans world.  As a designer I mostly work with contractors all of whom have been men. I usually get the eye rolling facial expressions and comments like "oh YOUR the designer" making me feel a bit like an outcast. It usually takes me awhile but eventually they except me and realize I'm not just some floozy decorator. Slowly they forget that I'm a women outcast in there manly world.  I am just a person like them, wanting to learn to grow. 

This project has been a little different as I have taken on a larger role as owner/builder, the big "general contractor" of sorts.  I still got the uneasy little look at first (them sizing me up), but I don't care anymore, I'm running the job, I'm making the decisions. So today I put on my carhartt overalls and started hammering away, building my foundation footings from my drawings, solving problems.  Thankfully I hired a wonderful foundation contractor who enjoyed the help, and taught me a thing or two as well.  I feel that I am just where I need to be in my life, I couldn't be happier in this mans world!

Documenting the foundation with carhartt's seemed a little blah, so typical, so my husband and I decided when everyone left to do a little photo shoot.  This wool jacket and shirt are vintage from Austria bought and handed down to me from my grandmother.  I don't know how many times she wore them (actually there is a beautiful wool skirt as well I will have to show you that sometime) but it is in pristine condition.  Every time I look at this outfit I think of my grandmother, her strength, her love and belief in me.

 

Time to get dirty!



The dirt on the ground is finally getting moved.  Work has begun......................................Im so excited I just needed to jump!

By plane, bus, ferry and car

It takes me FOUR types of transportation to get from the airport to my house.  From the Tacoma airport I jump on the bus system or monorail that drops me downtown and from there I board the Bainbridge ferry which carries me across the Puget sound and leaves me with a hour car ride home.  Basically I live in the sticks..... Its a beautiful place and when I'm in downtown Port Townsend soaking up all its small town charm I'm grateful to have found a wonderful hidden treasure, but its far. 

Saturday my mom needed to go to the airport so we decided to drop her and bum around Seattle for the day.  Our trip wasn't our usual shopping, museums, shows, good restaurants kind of trip. It was more of a spelunking expedition to my new favorite part of Seattle.  My husband and I usually find our way into the creepiest parts of towns in hopes of the best thrift stores, or junk shops for building renovations and interesting architecture.  We drove around all sorts of back roads exploring new territory, we went to a Goodwill "outlet" (probably the scariest thrift store I have been too) people wearing sanitary gloves, buying electronic equipment to get there "fix" for the day.  Items sold by the pound, (I got a purse) but think its a one time visit for me. I will post my trip all this week but for today a fun little photo shoot in a alley row of fun colored buildings. Enjoy!

Side Note: I wanted to apologize to Christina over at Second Skin for my post yesterday.  She was the wonderful person who found me those amazing suede boots and I wanted to give her credit for them and forgot!  She finds the most AMAZING thrift items...... so thank you so much!

Step Two



I decided that I wanted to start this blog as a creative outlet for me to record my construction project from beginning to end.  Documenting the construction process without adding a little humor would be a little boring so........... what could be more fun then spray painting the floor plan on the ground and walking around like you own the space.  I know my walls are not straight and my furniture is out of proportion, but you got to admit its better then looking at a set of construction documents asking people to visualize the ground.

This project, (even though I love it) has been quite a struggle for me emotionally.  I have been completely out of my comfort zone and  have been questioning when that shift of feeling like I have things under control will return? Pushing myself, walking thru the dark tunnel trusting that I will eventually see the light at the end is what I do best.  But something lately has me really questioning did I push to far?  I think I'm just in the thick of it, so bare with me and for now don't make to much fun of me lying on the ground pretending.....Happy Monday!

Step One



I have embarked on a journey to build a structure from the ground up using only my thoughts, my sketches, my ideas, my very first project start to finish..........  This project is not for me but for someone who I know very well, my mother.   This close relationship gives me the freedom to take risks (not to many) and a chance to observe her day to day routines and schedules. Learning the in's and outs of my mother even though she cant describe them makes this project  a unique design experience . After working in the design field for the last 7 years I have seen so many projects get to the "yes this project is going to be different" stage but then things get dicey. Budgets get cut, unique design features get thrown out, alternatives become the typical instead of the creative.  Well not this project, sure I have parameters to follow, a budget but no one can stop my creativity from reaching the end of this project.  I'm even going to have to pick up a hammer or finish up the tile in the bathroom, but I wouldn't have it any other way.