Home stretch...........................

The list of items to finish is dwindling. Here are some interior views. The furniture is only temporary, to give a sense of the spaces.

The doors to the dining room storage were once the front doors to a home I did renovation plans for. I'll add amber colored glass to conceal the items stored inside this closet.

The last major item is the floor, which will be bamboo, a very "green" product.

However, we need the central heat to be turned on in order to store the flooring at room temperature for a few days before installing it.

The master bedroom has 12 foot tall ceilings & a great view of the creek.

Yes, we wood......................

This stove is central to the home's public areas, & should heat most of it. It's good for about 1600 square feet of space.

We've been breaking it in during the past few very cold days.

Today I worked outside most of the afternoon, & the smell of smoke made me think Country's Barbecue had relocated nearby.

Re: moat control........................

I don't want to seem too paranoid, but I like the idea of entering by a bridge over a dry "moat".
This does limit access, & a sensor will tell us that someone is there.

The bridge will be steel & wood.

Strangers at the gate.........................

At the beginning of the driveway there will be a security gate powered by a small solar panel.

Here's an "in progress" look. A few touches still remain. At the bottom will be animal silhouettes we bought in Sante Fe a few years ago.

It's built of welded steel, & will be powder-coated in a bronze finish.

Bridging the gap.........................

Earth berms will be planted to partially conceal the house as you go down the drive. All dirt used on this project was originally on the site. Only some topsoil was brought in.

Last weekend Pete built this bridge out of leftover materials.

What's cooking...................

The kitchen cabinets are in place & soon the granite installers will be measuring for the slabs of stone.

The feel of the space is like a loft apartment. Look through the open door to the car porch, & you can barely see the statue of St. Sophia bathed in sunlight.

It's tough to get a good view of the shower room tile work, but this will give you an idea. There's a mosaic wainscot with a darker tile below.

Bringing nature indoors...............................

Dale & Bill, our finish carpenters use cedar scraps for blocking as they create box beams. These beams conceal the joints in the grooved plywood ceilings.

Stone masons bring the exterior feel to the interior. This is the wall behind the future wood burning stove.

Inside looking out.....................

Morris, our low VOC painter, is adding the wall texture & color at the same time. Paint is mixed with drywall compound & applied in one step with a blade. The texture is not very rough, but sufficient enough that the drywall didn't need need sanding. The finished walls have a mottled patina.

The paint is low VOC ( volatile organic compounds ) which means there are few to none toxic particles released to the interior environment.

The wood ceiling also received a low VOC stain. The wood is a grooved exterior siding material that comes in 4'x8' sheets. False beams will cover up any exposed joints. Most homes have gypsum board ceilings with messy sanding required. These ceilings went up very quickly.

Unobstructed views.................

Scaffolding & the silt fence are now removed for a clear view of the exterior.

Bridge to nowhere..................

With winter rains, the creek is flowing well. The moss in a dry creek bed is a brilliant green.

I found a fairly level spot on the banks & soon we'll start a steel bridge using leftover metal studs.

Shower your people with Love.............

Eric is handling the master bath shower & toilet area. A cement fiber backer board is first applied to the steel studs. This will provide moisture protection & the rough surface will support the tile glue.

He's currently building the structure for a granite shower seat.

The hole on the upper right wall is where commercial grade exposed metal ductwork will be installed.

The wall dividing the shower area from the rest of the bath does not touch the sloped ceiling.
Concealed fluorescent lights will bounce light off the ceiling. Fluorescent lights are lower energy than incandescents.

I shutter to think about it..........................

A finish carpenter constructed these shutters out of cedar, & the painter immediately stained both sides.

After drying they were then installed into recesses in the stonework, so they will lay flat.

When one door closes.....................

All doors are 8 foot tall & of solid core wood. Vertical grooves are cut to make it look as if there are individual planks. The painter will darken the grooves later. The frames are commercial hollow metal. They can take quite a beating.

The Lord's Prayer is at the door from the car porch to the kitchen. By my office door is a ceramic we found in Spain. It says "Aqui viva un arquiteco". Here lives an architect.

Vast wasteland......................

For the septic drainfield trenches are dug & then filled with sand. The purification filters arrive & are installed. Waste water will be pumped from a settlement tank near the house.