Landscaping as we go...

As the grading takes place, the mud and swampy areas go away. The site is taking shape with mounded planting beds and pathways, plus a small lawn area.

Saturday Visitors

Jeff, MaryAnn and Nancy drop by the site to see what's happening.

Rearranging Boulders

Brad, Kent & Ben struggle to get the boulders "fine tuned".

Guesthouse Rafters

The guesthouse is a bedroom and bath, plus between the bedroom and the bath, there will be a wide hallway lined with bookshelves. We call this hallway our library. The north end of the hallway dead ends at a window seat, with the other end running onto the bridge that connects the guest wing to the main living wing.

Brad on the top

Guesthouse

Brad, Ben and Kent put up plywood.

New Year Reflections

Our lot early on...

What a journey we've been on since we first decided to sell our home on Saratoga Road and purchase a lot in Langley. Numerous reasons drove our decision -- living in town to have walkable or bike able services; being on a reliable bus route; leaving a too-busy road; finding a sunnier location for growing our food and heating our home with solar; opening up the possibility of giving up our automobile; having more neighbors; and, in general, wanting to walk our talk. The walk-our-talk was living smaller and more sustainably -- closer to the earth. Being green! How could we live a life less harsh on the earth? How could we shop locally, eat locally, and although we've shrugged off much of the speed and need of this modern consuming life, could we shrug off even more?

It was with excitement that we found the perfect lot to build on. Great land contours; southern exposure; dead end road; in the city limits; and with all utilities set up for servicing our new home. Bonus: great neighbors.

Next came the design of our home. Naturally our architectually-educated son was our first choice for the design work. He already understood us and our needs and desires plus he has his own personal commitment to building small, efficient, green homes. Then we began the long design process -- a year for us -- to come up with a design that would, we hoped, fit our needs, our site, our budget and our aesthetic desires. We pretty much stayed on the same program throughout the process but the concept, although unchanged, led us down many roads of what about this? or this? or...?

Less efficient, but critical for privacy when living small, was our desire for our living spaces to reside under separate roofs. Also, necessary, in our minds for our life style, was to create lots of outdoor covered space so we could enjoy being outdoors even in the NW's frequent rainy weather. We needed space for hobbies, household building and repair tasks, storage for recreational equipment, two offices, entertaining and gathering spots, guest facilities -- all under 1000 sq. ft.

Naturally budget was a factor, as were escalating prices. Time wasn't necessarily our friend, but neither would moving too quickly. Dissatisfaction with the result was not an option. Finding a balance between moving steadily forward, but not too fast, yet enjoying each day as it unfolded was our challenge. Another challenge was to provide the love and respect between all family members so we all felt heard, important, satisfied and pleased with not only the end product but with our relationships with one another along the way. After all, if the relationships are destroyed what good is a lovely new home.

The Barn

The barn is complete so we're now more than one third of the way finished (more if you count design). The other two buildings are well on their way, with framing of the guesthouse happening this week. As we witness what we're creating we can't help but reflect on the fact that this is no ordinary house. We will need to live differently. Collecting too much stuff is not an option! We've designed so the house can expand or shrink as needed but, naturally the question, despite all our planning, is will the spaces work as hoped? Will each individual space meet the multiple uses we intend? Will the big spaces (that are actually quite small) be big enough to accommodate larger groups? Will the kitchen, unlike any other I've ever seen, function well? The answers will unfold, along with our changing life styles to meet the challenges of this new home.

But, through it all the process remains, with the exception of an occasional meltdown, wonderful. Despite the absence of any desire to build a new home, or create the "dream" home, we've found that engaging in building our own unique living space is exciting. It is further enhanced by the creativity of working with a designer who is able to step outside the typical home design. It will be our pleasure to live in these uniquely special spaces.

The Rake: Bringing Order to the Site

After much raking and gravel moving the north side of the barn is looking quite civilized. This area in the photo is where, for months, we've been risking life and limb crossing a 2x8 bridge over an open utility ditch. The main living building, in the far left hand corner, now has a heat sink full of compacted sand. Plus, the exterior grade coming up on the south and west sides settles the building on the site.

Ed and I spent some time yesterday, New Year's Day 2008, marking out the location of our vegetable garden and cold frame. I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, plus Steve Solomon's Gardening When it Counts, both unsettling yet inspiring for growing our own food and eating locally. We'd love to have our site completely without fencing but the deer are thick in this neighborhood so fencing the vegetable garden is a must. We're placing the vegetable garden centrally for the best sun but also for social reasons as it will be close to Fred and Laurie and Judy, for community sharing and visiting. Gates will help to create the garden's communal intent.