Casa 4.11.14

Posted on April 11, 2014July 21, 2017 by admin

: This was interesting, at least to us…This is part of the indoor patio and we were amazed at how this curve looked formed. But then the secret was revealed, or I should say we figured it out…See the boards tacked into that post? there is a wire attached to a piece of rebar that Patrice is holding, and it matches perfectly that curve. Simple tools = beautiful work.

: Ok, ok… I am giving into the demands to see a closer look at the Dreamworks logo by our front door. You can see where the lights are going in, those little black holes, and how much that side is raised.

: This is further proof of me giving in and showing more detail of the Dreamworks logo – yet an even closer lookat the detail. Ok now everyone has to wait until the weekend for further details

: From our rental…Oh what is that appearing on one of the Dome’s? Could it be the Mosaics?

: Oh yes it is the Mosaics being applied – very nice.

: A bit more details appearing but mostly on the inside…Lets take a closer look…

: On the front porch looking through the front door and you can see the tunnel at the far end leading to the Master bedroom. That sliver on the left is of course the Dreamworks logo we showed earlier this week. —

: Stepping into the front door and looking slightly to the right you see the hallway to the guest wing and the left side of the picture shows the living area and a bit of the outdoor kitchen and a bit of the tunnel to the master.

: From the kitchen looking towards the front door across the indoor patio.

: The outdoor kitchen is taking shape. The bread oven is being made and it looks like supports for the counter are being made also. On the ceiling you can see a bit of the sanded and finished beams that they are working on.

: My office and they are starting finishing in there too

: Master bay window has made great progress this week and details are showing up.

: This is looking from the Master closet into the Master bathroom. Straight ahead is our shower cave. It does have a whole in the roof to let the sky light light in though – it is about 8 feet tall.

: Looking from where the bathtub will be towards where the sink area is with the skylight showing through. On the right you can see some of the shower cave.

: Standing at the entrance to the guest wing looking at the front door. You see the reflection of our wine bottle window. On the left is the Dreamworks logo and on the right is the hallway leading to the Pantry and kitchen.

: Our electrical panel is in place.

: Looking from the doorway of the Outdoor Kitchen towards the kitchen area. On the left you see part of the indoor patio; straight ahead is the breakfast room. Those ornacina’s you see on the right are just inside the door going to the backyard.

: Just a view of Imabura it usually doesn’t have a cloud resting on it. A very nice day…back to the house…

: Not much new on the outside, but you can see that it looks like they completed one of the Domes in blue Mosaics.

: Outdoor kitchen is coming along. Bread oven is making progress too. Logs are finished and the slats for the glass cover are in place also.

: Another view of the outdoor kitchen looking into the house and out the back door. Past the swings that are still hanging in the house.

: Kitchen – sanding is almost complete on the logs.

: Back of the house. Nice detail on those windows. From left to right, Bodega door, Master closet window, windows in back of master toilet and window by master bathtub

: Looks like the last details in the Master bathroom are in place. Patrice’s Tiara is still growing…See there over the shower… You can get an idea of how much light comes down from the skylight by how much you see the ladder in the shower.

: Just wanted to show the high tech clamps. See those bend pieces of re-bar holding the wood that is forming the bottom of the window.

: Hard to see but the roof over the outdoor kitchen is all stained and detailed out. The bay window in the Master Bedroom on the right is close to being complete and ready for glass.

: Dome all covered and sealed now. This is from our rental house

: Outdoor kitchen, the work continues. Starting to look like a kitchen now.

: One of the ladders, made on site of course, I guess they couldn’t find any straight pieces of wood.

: Cover for the patio is all ready for the glass it looks like

: Surprise! We have a counter on the kitchen side of the outdoor patio. I think we will have the carpenter that is doing the kitchen cabinets and island come back and remeasure.

: Detail on the cover over the outside kitchen patio.

: Wires are appearing everywhere, even on the Dreamworks logo.

: A look from the outside through the master bath window at the shower caver, just a different angle.

: Surprise! Two small windows appeared this week in the bodega.

: Bay window detail on the master bedroom.

: Close up of the mosaics on the Dome.

: Looks like something is happening on the side of the new counter attached to the indoor patio, and…all the bases for the beams in the patio that were square have now been chiseled down and made round as you can see

: Patrice’s office beams has been stained looks good too.

: Outdoor kitchen has work continuing…

: The tub in the Master bath is being built now

: Our second window is in now too. It is over where the toilet is.

: Not much new on the outside…except…look at the next picture….

: The second Dome over the breakfast room is now finished in Blue Mosaic as the other one!

: Looking from the Kitchen, on the far left is the new counter on the indoor patio wall, hallway to pantry and laundry room, center is the area the dish hutch is going, then the entry to the breakfast room.

: Glass is being placed on the outdoor kitchen roof.

: Dave’s office beams and ceiling have been finished now.

: Glass awaiting to be put on the patio, outdoor kitchen, roof

: Blue bottle window from the outside.

: Looks like they have finished working on the bay window, at least on the outside.

: Last few pictures for this month before we start another Album. This is looking through the shower area in the guest wing. There are 3 windows in the shower and they will have glass blocks. You can see they are putting the blocks in place.

: This is the sink area in the quest bath. That area above the sink goes all the way to the skylight on the roof.

: The swings have been taken down. Looks like our swinging days are over.

: Just a close up of the Dome over the the breakfast room.

: the famous corner – Dave has taken a photo from this spot every week – we have a movie (posting soon)

: A closer look under the Dreamsworks logo – it looks like a pot

: Wait it is a pot…

: This is made from the shattered pieces we and the workers found on our property. This will have a light coming from the bottom and showing light from the top.

: Side view so you can see how big of a bulge it has, Can you imagine what the light will be like shining up from the bottom at night?

: The shower windows being finished.

: A look from the Toilet area looking at the shower.

: A look at what the cover over the outdoor kitchen will look like. This area is finished.

: Baby Dome… Notice they put the chimney to the living room fireplace up and it is a baby dome… either that or the domes we have are a male and a female and they are propagating…either that or something else….

: It doesn’t show well but they have done some finishing work on the Pot, filled in the cracks

: Fireplace in the living room is taking place nicely.

: Parts of the house are primed now – this is the hallway to my office.

: Flooring is starting. This is my office.

: A little more finishing although it is hard to see.

: Wait a row of steps has appeared on the outdoor kitchen Patio. Look close and the baby dome for the chimney is getting some finishing done as well.

: Looks like we are getting some recessed lighting on a couple of the beams now.

: A closer look under the Dreamsworks logo – it looks like a pot

Casa 2.22.15

Posted on February 23, 2014July 21, 2017 by patrice

: This is just to give a better view of what Patrice’s tiara looks like from further away in our subdivision.

: The large window in the master bedroom is starting to take shape.

: Taken from the back of the breakfast room… There is now what looks like the beginning of a hutch – interesting. You can see the wall of the indoor patio through the archway into the kitchen

: The window in the tower is now round

: Kitchen plumbing continues – if you notice all the interior plumbing is copper

: Plumbing continues – this is going into the powder room

: Looking through the indoor patio you can see what the window looks like from the outside

: Another look at our first window – sure looks great how it reflects on the wall.

: Laundry room – the stand for the sink is coming together.

: Up on the roof a look at the detail and the tiles over the front porch.

: This whole side of the house has been plastered

: Breakfast room – the little hutch in there was completed this week and it looks like those holes are for lights actually and there is one at the top.

: Outdoor kitchen area is plastered and looks like they are starting to work on the counters

: You can see some of the plastering on the walls here

: A closer look at the window – wine bottles.

: Our first window is being put in.

Casa 1.22.14

Posted on January 23, 2014July 21, 2017 by patrice

More progress on the house

: This picture shows some of the detail that goes into doing a roof here. Over the cement pad on the roof is multiple layers of sealing. there is a black thick paint type layer and then what they call “Chova” is that black mat material you see. The tiles are laid and the facing areas have cement that you can see is red in this picture. Notice a nice detail here, in every house we have seen they leave that cement and don’t paint it. Ours, as you can see is painted to match the tiles.

: Floor tile arrived!!! In the lower center you can see what they will look like in the house and in the back you can see the center portions stacked up

: A closer look at Patrice’s Tiara, as it was named by a friend, and is catching on by everyone, including Patrice. It frames the outdoor kitchen patio.

: It is mid-week and noticeable progress. They are getting ready to lay tile on this part of the house and you can see on the right side they are making great progress laying the tile.

: New features in Patrice’s office. On the right you can see the new ornacina’s that are in the curved area of the wall. Over on the left you can see a new opening above the closet. Upper middle is the two openings for storage above the barreled hallway that leads to my office.

: This picture shows some of the detail that is going into the roof. You can see the black painted sealant and the Chova that they put over it. Every seam in the Chova is heated by a torch to melt the seams together. Another interesting detail that we haven’t seen done before, is the sealing going up all around the Sky Lights. Usually that is only sealed near the bottom. We shouldn’t have any issues with our roof…for generations

Casa 12.31.2013

Posted on December 31, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: As the roof continues…There is the wheelbarrow runner; the spreader; and the smoother.

: Now you can see the forms for some of the skylights

: Electrical wiring coming down from the roof. Yes it is under the cement, so no change orders now.

: A view from the roof. On the right you can see the covered outdoor kitchen on the peak you can see a form for a skylight.

: Another view from the roof. You can see the forms for the skylights with the bamboo showing. In the back you can see they are starting on the dome over the breakfast room

: It is Saturday and yup they are working. That mound of dirt was just delivered you see on the left.

: The Dome over the round breakfast room is going up. But what do the bags of cement have to do with it?

: Roof sealed and forms for skylights are now off too.

: Now that is a cement roof alright. Must be something like 3+ inches thick. This is with a very thick sealing coat on the cement.

: Skylight now showing in the Master just at the entrance to the closet. You can see that the slats are gone between a couple of the ceiling beams

: From where the stove will be in the kitchen. You can see the kitchen Skylights in upper left and upper right. Indoor patio is in the center of the picture.

: Now Palm branches over the cement bags hmmmm.

: Say what? Dirt over the Palm branches? Curious minds are wondering about the process of building the dome. It looks more like a beaver house.

: Finally figuring out what is going on with the Dome roof over the breakfast room… All the palm branches and other stuff was just filling the void below the real dome.They spent awhile today smoothing the surface and now you can see the re-bar is in place for the real roof over the Dome.

: This is the indoor patio and they have just finished making the edges for the pyramid ceiling. You can see the square hole on the tower in this picture where the round window made of wine bottles from the last Minga will go.

: Look closely and you can see the electrical connections are being mounted near where the skylight will go.

: A puzzle here – but I am sure when we figure it out it will make sense. The downside of not speaking good enough Spanish is… it makes it hard to ask questions when you don’t know enough words…But so far when we see the answers it all makes sense. Now with that introduction…The question here is, why are they building up like a mini wall higher than the roof of the patio? that is about 6 rows of bricks higher than the patio roof. Curious minds want to know; well forget curios minds, the owners want to know. Nice exposed beam in the corner eh, (that was for our Canadian friends).

: This is some brickwork on the edge of our bodega.

: A view from the back. To the left is the doors into the house; in the center is the kitchen; and to the right you can see the round breakfast room with the Dome roof.

: The Dome is complete!!! It is a little after 6 pm and that is our crew playing soccer now that they have finished the work day. Cool Dome eh.

: The week is over and details are appearing. This is the indoor patio and the mount for the glass pyramid is coming together.

: Remember the wooden slats? They are becoming history. The black plastic is next to come off. Notice how much of those hardwood beams will show? This is Patrice’s officina. See this is also educational as you now have a new Spanish word you have learned, well those that picked on it have learned it, and for those that missed it…keep studying.

: The Dome! That is the roof over the breakfast room.See that small point sticking up in the middle on top? that goes all the way through to the bottom and was used to shape the surface.

: A view from the roof! You can see some of the skylights in various stages of completion.

: That roof to the right of the picture is the front porch and as you can tell will have glass over that open part.

: Again…The Dome!

: This is the opening above the indoor patio. They made a place to collect the water runoff and that hole you see on the right by the opening is where the runoff will go.

Casa – 12.2.13

Posted on December 5, 2013July 21, 2017 by patrice

: from the street looking at the guest wing you can see the start of the tower over the entry/foyer

: we will have some exposed beams in the rooms

: bodega – we opted to add one for Dave’s tools, power washer and file boxes (you know old taxes etc)

: barrel ceilings – yes amazing

: come in through the front door and look to your left – powder room, laundry room and whats this a barrel ceiling to the entry of the pantry and the kitchen

: Bob shared this one with us taken from the roof of #16 we are building on 12

Minga – Alpa Raymi (Earth Party & house blessing)

Posted on November 16, 2013April 29, 2014 by patrice

Our first invitation
Patrice and Dave would the pleasure of your presence Friday at 8:30am in San Miguel Lot #12 for the best Mud Fiesta you have every been invited to!

There will be Music, Dancing, and a host of VIP’s will make an appearance, heck some VIP’s will stay for the entire thing. So if you want to rub shoulders with some truly important VIP’s, don’t miss a minute of the excitement.

What is this Fiesta all about? Well…since you asked…Dave and Patrice will be starting the walls of their new house and want you to be a part of it. So bring your boots or be ready to be bare foot and be part of this historic occasion.

Remember this is a once in a lifetime experience, it will never happen again. There are no second chances.

Oh I almost forgot to tell you who the VIPs are, no I am not trying to tease you…Everyone that is there is a VIP…If they weren’t they wouldn’t be invited after all.

Let us know if you will be there and we will see you at the grand event

and then the follow up
Well our plans they are a changing a little
Ramiro – architect says we should start at 9am – and Martha says 8:30 is too early anyways sooo 9am it is

Now they are starting to work on the ‘mud pit’ it’s being treated as we speak – YEA!!

We have opted to bring in pizza for everyone (workers included) around 11am
And seems we might even have some vino and dancing (there will be bottled water as well)

Be prepared for what we hope will be a really fun morning – so glad you will come and share this with us

Please let us know if you are coming if you haven’t already

See you Friday

: workin the dirt

: Ramiro jumped out of his car with a huge sheet of paper – made us this sign

: and more

: stomp stomp 🙂 we had music

: stomp stomp

: Hello Martha!

: we all became hobbits

: three amigas

: Roberto our Maestro – showing us how its done

: everyone working

: Susan – wow you go girl!

: Martha’s wall – considering a plaque 🙂

: Emily & Abigail WTG!

: Eva & Cindi working hard

: family affair – Steve, Abigail & Eily

: stuffing the walls

: are we having fun yet?

: wooohooo Ramiro

: stomp, stomp

: Nancy & Eva

: dancin

: working on the walls

: Julie had to work a little but picked up a pair of fabulous boots for the occasion

: end of the day pizza – 15 of them

: working on the pit

: makin mud

: Ramiro – architect (fabulous guy!!

: Eva & Ramiro

: more of the crew

: Ramiro & Patrice ‘Muddy’ Parent

: view from the master

: bamboo is attached and then wired

: mud in the walls

: no nails everything fits together

: inside close the fireplace

: It is truly amazing how they make the tools they need here. This is a table saw and every band of bamboo you see in the pictures was cut on this table