You had to go There

Of course, you knew the second this was released that we would covet the idea. yes, dumpster pools. SO EXCITING! We aren't big "pool" people but when the temps hit 100 here it would be rather nice to have a little splash. But we have no intentions on spending tens of thousands on a fancy pool by some fancy contractor.

See the full article at Inhabitat

Enter - the Dumpster.

Such a fantastic idea, just dig a hole, stick the pool in, insert liner and water filtration and rotation system and voila, a lovely pool that is just deep enough and just big enough for fun. And if you ever don't want the darn thing, just pull it out and fill in the hole, or build a wine cellar.

And speaking as home owners that have a filled in old swimming pool in the front yard - pools stink, now we have to dig up the concrete, what fun.

Denim Pine

A repost from ReNest - I just found out about Denim Pine .

Hmm, sometimes things cross your path and you wonder if its just a green spin on a regular or alternative product or if it really is an innovative alternative use or product. It can boggle the mind to try to think what are the repercussions, unintended consequences, what have we not thought of that will come back to haunt us if we jump whole heartedly on the band wagon. But as Treehugger says - "Silk Purses from Sow's Ears".

Denim Pine is one of those things for me. It sounds so obvious and cool and makes perfect sense, but is it?

So we have all heard of the Pine Beetle infesting the lodgepole pine in much of Canada and parts of the NW U.S. Its devastating to the lumber industry and I know in Canada they are using much of this infested wood for industrial, throw away uses, road base across sensitive perma-frost in the summer for access to remote logging and mining locations. But now its starting to make an entry into the design world and my first impression is, its really cool, makes perfect sense and could start to be an upside to a rampant infestation that looks to have no solution.

Because of the higher temps, call it Global Warming, Climate Change or just a trend, whatever you believe, the pine beetle is thriving with these mild winters and hot summers of late. The pine beetle brings with it a fungi that infests the wood and ultimately kills the tree. So they harvest the dead tree and utilize the wood - which has no reduction in strength than a non-infested lodgepole pine, once milled and kiln dried the fungi is gone leaving the wood, so they say, free of health risks but leaving the wood with a blueish hue. It is banned in the U.K. because of health risks but I couldn't find anywhere that talked about and health consequences.

Its actually a really cool blue color and after living in a house that is wall to wall, yellow polyurethane wood paneling, I am loving the cooler, blue color, lightens up the wood look. Could it be that we could utilize this already dead resources and thus preserve healthy, strong trees?

You can read more on the facts of Denim Pine HERE. Or get industry feedback HERE.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl

Kyle asked me if I wanted a new car or a little utility vehicle for tooling around the land. I chose Lola and now that i work at home she also serves as my commuter vehicle, though Ziggy often causes a back up on the driveway as he stops to sniff and pee.

Lola is fantastic. She is the best thing we could have ever gotten for the farm. Her little pick up part lifts so she can dump. She has a better drink holder than my car and she even has headlights. She goes through any kind of terrain, she is just amazing. Lover HER!!

 For a little while I had all my tools in a bag that I kept in the cab part. But every time Ziggy or Kyle got in there was no room. So Kyle built me a little toolbox welded on the front, its fantastic.

It fits everything I need as we trundle around the property.

Also, behind the driver's seat is my Rattlesnake Wrangler tool. We are actually getting some rattlesnake tongs to be able to move the suckers when we find them and relocate them somewhere in the forest to live their lovely lives far, far away.

The Container Home in Richmond CA

ReNest just featured the container home in Richmond, CA on their blog. Some great pics and info. We have toured this house and met the owner and architects, they are great and the home is stunning. They used insulated containers, thus eliminating ht need to add insulation. We thought about this but with all the cutting our house will require, it would be a beast to cut through insulated walls and insulated containers are insulated on the inside and thus you lose precious space, ours will be insulated on the outside.

It does run right over the Hayward Fault - apparently the foundation was quite a job to engineer to withstand that impact. Its in a lovely part of Richmond up in the hills and backs on to Wildcat Canyon, a great park I used to run Ziggy in.

Richmond Container Home on ReNest

Container Home featured at Dwell on Design this Year

This nearly got past me - god forbid I miss a container home. Jetson Green just featured a container home that is on display at Dwell on Design this week in LA. Its pretty cool, and the company - IQ Haus - has kept it really affordable. Pictures and Info courtesy of the fabulous Jetson Green blog.

I love the black metal surround on the windows and the siding. For our house I would love to have some kind of wood siding or slats like this. Kyle is worried about putting wood siding on due to fire risks but I am thinking if we utilize on the front it would not be exposed to where a wildfire would come in from and with the driveway and parking area in front would be a good fire break.

This is a really great design, so easy to move, place and run and its attractive and usable.