Currently viewing the category: "alternative building"

west wall of the bedroom is up!

On June 17, 2013 · 4 Comments · In alternative building

Paul continues to build us a bedroom, a separate building from the yurt, go Paul!  We’ve started calling it, this future bedroom,”The Love Shack.”  Heh heh.  Sometimes it’s these little sillinesses that get one through the day.

The north wall was slip straw construction and you can read all about the process of doing this [...]

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the north wall of the bedroom is finished! 3 more walls to go….

On April 23, 2013 · 3 Comments · In alternative building

You might recall that Paul has been working on a bedroom for us and did most of the north wall in slip straw, or a clay/straw mixture, that is cheap, easy, and neat looking, but, according to Paul, and I quote, boring as fuck to do.  Anyway, he had gotten nearly through one [...]

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stuccoing over slip straw

On March 17, 2013 · 1 Comment · In alternative building

I wrote up a post in December about slip straw construction, wherein an enterprising (and broke) builder might construct solid, durable walls out of nothing more than straw and clay.  Which we did, or Paul did, in the north wall of our bedroom-in-progress.  Recently the weather finally got nice for applying stucco and so [...]

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slip straw construction

On December 14, 2012 · 2 Comments · In alternative building

I posted not long ago about the timber-frame bedroom Paul has been working on for us, over on the south side of the yurt. Now that the roof and the timbers are up, he’s starting to fill in the walls. And in his usual fashion (see his tool shed for an early example), [...]

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the jerry rigged life

On November 14, 2012 · 6 Comments · In alternative building, mayalife

After yesterday’s “poor-me” post I got several emails from people who were worried that the kids and I were wrapping our feet in rags and huddled around a candle flame to keep warm, a la The Little Match Girl (one of THE most depressing stories I ever had the misfortune of reading as a child, [...]

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when building yourself a house by hand, the tortoise wins the race

On August 21, 2012 · 3 Comments · In alternative building

Paul has been working on the soon-to-be bedroom and has just passed the milestone of getting the roof dried in.  This is carpenter speak for “it’s okay if it rains on it now.”  It’s going to be a living roof, meaning it’s going to have plants growing up there.  I don’t know what kind yet.  [...]

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our newest crazy adventure

On July 30, 2012 · 3 Comments · In adventures, alternative building

We just bought a school bus!  A turquoise 1968 Chevy Short Bus, to be exact.  What the–?

Here it is at its old home.

It still drives!  Sort of.  But for a few hundred dollars, we get a whole room to add to our compound of tiny buildings.  A room on [...]

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rocket mass stoves

On January 7, 2012 · 3 Comments · In alternative building

I’ve mentioned that at the thunderbolt pace of a sloth riding a glacier across a lake of molasses, we’re building a bedroom.  Well, actually, Paul is building a bedroom.  I just, you know, take pictures.  Paul says I also stand with my hands on my hips and offer “design consultations.”  He also says I nag.  [...]

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wabi sabi house built out of a shipping container, very cool

On December 7, 2011 · 2 Comments · In alternative building

I ran across this lovely short video about a single mom who, rather than work full-time-plus to pay rent on a house, built a tiny house out of a shipping container for herself and her daughter for $4000.

Our yurt is positively palatial in comparison! And comparison can be a real problem when you [...]

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cool thing about living in a yurt # 54

On October 8, 2010 · Leave a Comment · In alternative building

The thing about having a giant memory card in my camera is I can get slack about downloading the pictures.  I think there are about five hundred on there right now!  I really need to get on that.  But anyway, I found this pic on the camera today, left from some mid-summer photos.

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