Day 16 - Plumbing and Forms

The kids are having a bit of fun here. I was gone this last weekend but the forms are going in, inspections are happening and pipes are going in. Because all this will be concrete, the plumbing needs to be in place. Lots of planning in advance!

Day 11 - Green Thoughts

I have been doing some research into water recycling systems in an effort to "green" up the house a bit more. While "greywater" use is common in industrial complexes (all the irrigation where I work uses non-potable recycled water with little "nonpotable" signs all around campus), it's not that common at all in residential development. There is a group called the Greywater Guerillas that have all kinds of water hacks available on their site. There are some other interesting sites that sell little filtering/pump systems and toilet systems. I am not looking to create a little water filtration swamp in my yard to purify my own water. But I am intrigued by what is being developed to make it easier to recycle water for things like irrigation.

For instance, you can add a diverter valve to your washing machine and send the washing waste water out to a system that filters and distributes the water to planting beds. The company that makes a little system for this is based in South Africa. Here's their site. You don't need a whole kit to do this but sometimes making things super-easy makes people more likely to try. There are also systems that take shower and lavatory water and fill toilet tanks. That seems like it might not be worth the trouble in a single family residence especially if your toilets are already dual-flush or super low-flow but it seems like that might be a good idea for an apartment building or place with quite a few toilets to fill.

You aren't supposed to store greywater for more than 24 hours because bacteria or other fun stuff could grow in it, so it's great for things like drip irrigation where the water goes right out to the yard whenever you have it on hand. This kind of system also creates incentives to use eco-friendly detergents and cleaning agents.

I am trying to configure our landscaping with drought tolerant planting beds we can put on drip irrigation and avoid a lawn out front altogether. Out back the boys will need a play area and there are some artificial turf solutions that seem appealing. Although I do hate the little black pellets that manufacturers use as in-fill. I know that some turf can get very hot so there are trade offs to consider. I love the look of lawn, I just don't want a huge summer water bill. We've used a fescue grass mix to reduce water usage in our current house but walking on that stuff gives me a rash. We have a BIG yard which means a lot of water bills down the road but also means a big up-front number if we do the artificial turf. I've read that it goes for $8-$12/sq. ft. So it might actually be cheaper to put down hardwood flooring in the backyard. Lots to think about.

What's very promising is that the stimulus bill has a lot of "green" incentives built into it. There are rebates for energy saving windows, appliances, solar, all kinds of goodies. It's a very exciting time to build a house! Greg is going nuts with his plans for solar hot water. We're going to have so much hot water we may run out of places to use it.

Now if someone would only explain why greywater is spelled with an "e" instead of an "a" I would stop scratching my head over it. Meanwile, more research....

Day 9 -- The Hole that Ate Los Altos

An enormous hole means... a mountain of dirt!!

Fence Post Caps - Which One?

Choices, choices... Each of the options is 2X the price of the option to its immediate left (I know these images wrap so bear with me). I'm thinking that once they are in, I'll never notice them again. Leaning toward the one in the middle. I'll take option "B" because on the SATs I think that was the one I picked when I wasn't sure. And I did okay on the SATs so...

UPDATE: We picked "C."

Day 8 -- Big Dig Continues!

The hole grows! Notice the large mounds of soil. You get a better sense of how deep the hole is when you see the bobcat inside the excavated area. Also - notice that my little persimmon tree is just at the edge of the hole over there. Hang in there, tree!

More Modern Mediterranean

I saw this house years ago on a kitchen discussion board and it still inspires me. It is somewhere in Portola Valley from the looks of it.

Mixing Modern with Mediterranean - It can be done!

Okay - I tried to include my own captions with the images but I think they are probably unreadable.

This house is in Napa and was featured in Western Interiors and Design in the Feb./Mar. 2009 issue.

I love the light, the clean lines, the combination of modern with Mediterranean themes. Just makes me happy to see it!

Day 6 (continued) -- The Big Dig, Los Altos Edition

Excavation will take about a week or so, assuming the good weather continues. We've been very fortunate so far with weather. Knock on wood! Today the concrete guys were sticking little sticks in the ground and doing stuff with neon-colored string. I think this is laying out the footprint of where they will excavate. Sort of seems like an archaeological dig underway. Lots of dudes crouching low to the ground, holding up string and little doo-hickey devices (that I think have something to do with calibrating distance). I hope they know what they are doing!

The lot looks pretty large all naked and all. It's just over 20k sq. ft. so just past the half acre mark. And while that isn't big by some regional standards, in Los Altos it's pretty darn substantial. I need room for all my chickens to roam!

Day 6 -- Fenced In

Photos of the fence from different locations. The style of fencing is called "piano key" due to the style of lattice at the top. It's not the regular diagonal lattice-work at the top. I thought this would be more in keeping with the linear look of the house.

Site Plan - Conceptually, Anyway

Sadly, I have not figured out how to convert a .pdf into a .jpg so I just took a screen shot. And guess what? It works just fine.

This is the site plan, for the most part. The image gives a general idea of what we are doing. The plants are just placeholders for now as we are finalizing the landscaping later, but the structures are where they should be.

Click the image for a larger view (true for any of the photos on this blog).

Go Local!

I love Sunset's One-Block Feast Blogs. They are inspiring me to use the half-acre of property we are developing in Los Altos in a way that uses the ample amount of land we have for something useful and not just something pretty. Makes me want to grow wine grapes, press my own oil, keep my own bees as well as chickens. It's all a little TOO ambitious really. But a girl can dream! In the meantime, I can always make jams and whatnot which is a lot less work than many of these endeavors.

But first we have to build a house!

Ode to the Olmsteds

The Olmsteds were the original owners of the lot we are building on. It was adjacent to "Mannington Estates" in Los Altos. Mr. Olmsted and his mother lived on the property for many years. According to city and county records the original house was built in 1940 and had been there before the subdivision of other property around it. All the land around it had been apricot orchards. There were tons of apricot trees and other varieties on the lot once upon a time, I imagine. Unfortunately there wasn't much that was salvageable in the way of healthy, producing fruit trees by the time we arrived. We have one prolific persimmon tree but sadly, that's all.

Each time I visited the property over the last year I was always pleasantly surprised by the things I found growing on this neglected but clearly very fertile patch of dirt. Freesia popped up between the bricks of the old back patio, a small lilac bush lived in the middle of the yard, and there was a small orange tree with pucker-inducing oranges on it alongside the pedestrian walkway on the south border of the lot. Each fall we were able to harvest an insane quantity of bright orange persimmons. They were the oblong Chinese variety, not the squat little Japanese Fuyu variety (which I actually like better). I think we picked more than two hundred pounds of persimmons in the fall/winter of 2007. They made a beautiful Thanksgiving centerpiece on my dining room table.

I am looking forward to growing some beautiful flowering plants and a home kitchen garden. I even have fantasies of a little chicken coop. I've been reading a lot about eating locally and am taking it to heart. It's wonderful to know that our little patch of land has a fertile history. I'm hoping we can cultivate our own gardens and add to the legacy.

The Best Real Estate Agents EVER

Vahe Baronian is our great friend and real estate agent who found the property for us that we are now building on. If you need someone to find you the perfect lot or home, you need to talk to Vahe. Check out the Baronian Team's website. The property we bought wasn't on the market. Vahe just knows everybody. And he can sell ice to Eskimos. Which works well if he working for you. Not so much when he's not!

Hot Water, Pipes, Blah Blah Blah...

To the far left is Jonathan Pearlman, our architect (with the antenna of our car bisecting his face in this photo - if I knew how to use Photoshop, I'd remove that for you, Jonathan -- sorry!). In the middle is Alan Aurich, holding the Diet Coke, who is Jonathan's partner and design guru. The gentleman to the far right is my handsome and brilliant husband. In this photo he is pondering solar hot water panels and pipe configurations. And this is why I am taking the photo. When Alan and I can talk about appliances and fixtures I'll be more in my element.

When I first discovered this property my husband was completely (TOTALLY and ABSOLUTELY) opposed to this project. But he loves me and indulges me more than he should. And I love him for it. Once the demo started, he went from being along for the ride to being genuinely enthusiastic. I think big construction equipment has that effect on men.

Scraped! Down to the Dirt!

The house was originally built in the 1940s and has been standing for over 50 years. It took a few hours to tear it down and only a day or so to sort the debris. There wasn't much there holding the whole thing together. And generally speaking, I think it's usually the case that houses come down pretty quickly. But still surprising to witness it. The enormous equipment they bring in makes fast work of this kind of thing. Which makes me recall the endless construction videos that my kids forced me to endure when they were toddlers. I can still hear the theme music to "Lots and Lots of Trucks" in my head.

Design Inspiration (and plugging my architect)

Love, love, love Elevation Architects! About this time last year my husband drove by a house not far from Los Altos High School when dropping off the kids at soccer practice. He told me about it afterward and said that I really needed to check it out. This is the house above that caught his eye and inspired our design.

I stopped in front of the house the next time I was driving by (which was about 3x per week based on the boys' soccer schedule) and asked the lovely lady who answered the door who designed her gorgeous home. She told me that she worked with a fellow named Jonathan Pearlman with Elevation Architects in San Francisco. Jonathan, it turns out, had designed a home in Los Altos where he was living part of the time. That house is literally less than a block from the property we are building on. I had a feeling that I was meant to work with Jonathan from that moment forward.

Day 1 -- Demolition!

Thanks to my friend Renee (the drive-by photographer with her handy cellphone), I have this lovely photo! Demolition began on Wednesday, March 11th, more than 14 months after we purchased the property. It's a date that I will celebrate every year from here on out. Or a date that I may rue forever. Let's hope for the former! This is going to be a long process....