Landscape project using recycling

Been working on a renovation project for about, well 7ish weeks on the master bathroom/bedroom project. However that said, the "Stage 1" of said project was to add a courtyard landscaping/hardscape outside the side of our house, a precursor to inside upgrades. Now I must say that almost EVERYONE that I know, meet, chat with... warn against renovating. Horror stories of contractors gone bad, fights with spouses. Double the time and double the costs predictions. All of these have kept me dreaming - but kept me from starting said projects. As a graphic designer and creative gal in general - I have been designing upgrades for our Ranch style 1950's house for years now. Sketches, drawings, some in my head, and many on paper or in the computer have been occurring since I married and moved in with my husband late 2002. One year we actually worked with an architect friend Jean, and she designed a STUNNING-earth friendly-sustainable-gorgeous-contemporary or "transitional" renovation for us. Fee's were costly but worth her time and input. Got a construction estimate and everything halted. I think it was over 4 or maybe 600k. Yes, we could rebuild an entire house for that. We had tried to utilize several existing walls attempting to retain our tax base. Well years went by and we even occasionally went to open houses in a charming nearby town of Los Gatos.

Eventually I got fed up with how dark it is in our house, and purchased "Solar Tubes". Awesome skylight-esque product that pulls sun into refelective tubes - to a flat/flush light like glass panel in the ceiling, and creates a "beam me up Scotty" feature which brings incredible life to our living room! Therefore saving electricity as no lights are needed until much later in the evening. Well one little project here and there, including redoing a shed for bike storage and some handicap upgrades to prepare for my leg surgery led me to really wanting to do this Courtyard on the side of the house. I've been fantasizing and designing a way to connect our bathrooms to the outdoors. Visually expanding the house without affecting the foundation or square footage. I wanted privacy for a sunny garden area with an OUTDOOR SHOWER! One thing led to another... and wa-la. My husband agreed to (and he's a slow decision making and slow to change, let me tell you) the idea and said "why don't you build it?!"

I'm a bit of a DIY'er and HGTV addict along with growing up in a family with a machine shop and DIY attitude. Caveat is I don't have tools, am cripple w/ crutches or wheel chair at the start of this - and could only participate with design drawings, direction, purchasing and waitressing skills.

Before: side yard sand box, start of footing.

We started in September, could have been October - but I was coming off my surgery and pain meds - so I'd have to look up the dates. Who built it? A handy-man builder fellow we met thru our neighbor handyman who had contracted him to help with landscaping. Juan. Juan is the sweetest builder contractor, and works alone, and is loyal, talented and knowledgeable. His favorite medium is Stone. Well after he built a footing for our wall that could withstand not only earthquakes but I think building a skyscraper on top of it - we started my design. I got to thinking it might be dark in this 5ft deep courtyard with 5.75ft tall walls. Oh... the creative juices got churning then. I had been saving blue glass bottles (mostly from "Blu Italy mineral water" - for another recycled salvaging sculpture project I wanted to do some day). I though instead of waiting for that bike-parts-mixed-with-glass chandelier project that I don't even have room to hang anywhere - let's put them IN the wall now! (imitating Earthship construction ideas). So in the wall is what we did.

Stage 1 complete: Shower with bottle design and stucco wall. Wall was finished in January.

Cutting the bottles in half, chiseling thru the wall - putting two "butts" or ends of bottles together with duct tape and toothpicks (don't ask), and next thing we know, we have a gorgeous art piece a "Hundertwasser"esque design installation verses a simple landscape project! I'll post more on the projects growth - but wanted to start somewhere with the evolution of what is now my master bath overhaul!

Falling into Fall

Thought I'd update my blog with a brief synopsis of the last month. Recovery is slowly happening since my surgery. My cat has had a few emergency's and I'm managing a landscape project at home trying to utilize salvaged bottles and wood. As tradition would have it - we also scared lots of kiddo's in the neighborhood for Halloween!

PHYSICAL THERAPY
The knee seems to be my focus still - even though the ankle was the original problem area on my let leg. The lack of movement for 10 weeks has trained my left leg to be in a contracted position and there is still so much swelling - that it's impairing my goal to start walking again. It's been quite a lesson in patience - as I am able to do a Frankenstein walk with my big black removable cast / boot on... but that only encourages incorrect usage of my leg. I have to get my quads and hamstrings to engage again -and correctly... and get the nasty swelling out. THEN - after that - I can start really working for mobility in my very stiff ankle!

Luckily I have the best PT's around - and now that I finally have permission... ahem... a prescription for Physical Theraypy - we have gotten to work. I'd say the message out the the surgeons world and for other patients of such a proceedure is - start earlier on PT and earlier to move - especially your knee! My surgeon was not interested in this part of the process - only the surgery and bone healing. I could have started sooner and be perhaps... without these pesky crutches now.

LITTLE ONE!
Our wonderful little fur ball has struggled after a sudden onset of "vestibular disease". She was meowing in a panicky way when I found her a few weeks ago in an unusual place in the garden - she never meow except under distress at the Vet's. She is a "silent" kitty w/ only jingling her collar bell when she wants attention! Anyhow... being on crutches is difficult to pick anything up... but she was "stuck" - after lifting her up - she dug her head sideways into my chest... and was acting extremely strange - turning her head in one direction. Seemed like she was having a stroke. It seems that she had suddenly lost balance - a vertigo of sorts. She was grabbing onto anything with her paws - as if she felt she was falling. The major bed spins for a confused animal. She had several days of all day at teh vet... and scared and unable to walk more than a few steps - drunkenly like ZBambie on the ice crossed with a Steve Martin drunk character. It wasn't hard to contain laughter though - as you could tell she was suffering. The Diagnosis of Vestibular Disease seemed to be correct - we waiting for her to slowly recover. 2 days later she had a reaction to an enema that caused her to contract for hours - trying to poo. Emergency vet visit and some pain meds - and another exam to irritate her arthritis later - (oh and a good grand investment later) - she was sad- weak - confused and home again. Good news is she is recovering with another strange new symptom of grinding her teeth - and seems to sneeze like something is stuck in her mouth or right sinus. Yee gads. We love her so much it is easy to do what it takes to care for her. We know she is at least 15 years old - and that she is "elderly" in our world - in her later 70's. But it's just not her time yet. Purring, eating and pooing, following us around and snuggling with us is still on her agenda - so Little One and Terry and I get to spend many more days, weeks, months and maybe years together!

HALLOWEEN
Well what can we say, this year with the added help of friends to help gimpy decorate... we outdid ourselves this year. More spider webs, more large spiders on the house. Good Lighting, a fancy coffin with an amazing skeleton that I was asked if it was REAL! We didn't get as many trick-or-treaters overall - well probably just under 100 - but they came in large groups - which is harder to scare. Our tactics remained the same, although different people took turns on the porch swing. Sit still abnormally long, even as the treaters and their parents question themselves aloud - "that's real... that's not real... look he moved... he got me last year" exclamations of self comforting they would say as they had to stand next to us to ring the doorbell. Terry made one toddler cry - but we all agreed that that one young-on that was in the group of young pre-teens was the sacrificial kid - as the others wouldn't have gotten jumped out at if we stayed concerned with the little one. Anyhow... his parents said it was allright - and the group enjoyed the experience. Thanks again to my neighbors and friends that helped decorate and came and enjoyed Sangria w/ us all!

SUSTAINABLE LANDSCAPE
I'm in the heart of designing and managing a landscape project of adding a little courtyard on the side of our house to visually expand the house - w/ out expanding the foundation or actual house. A creative way to allow the outside in and see more pretty garden space from the inside. Anyhow - the wall is filled with a design of salvaged bottles I've been collecting for years. Mostly the Blue Water bottles (that I was disspointed to find out they are now PLASTIC at Trader Joes!). The bottles I had intended on making into a chandelier someday - but this was a great opportunity to utilize them right now. Additionally a front gate/fence that starts the courtyard area - I got wood from "Whole House Restoration" in East Palo Alto. I purchase lots from this fabulous salvage yard. They seem to be under different management - and some prices are higher - but there are still many many treasures to be found. Doors and windows seem to be the best deal - but would siding and as in our case - no new trees - especially REDWOOD trees were sacrificed for our fence panels. It breaks my heart to see new houses or houses with new fences go up... and to see they are using redwood. Even the Cedar is so re-usable for the privacy panels in a fence. I hope more people donate their old fences - and more people build with re-using products.

Can't say I'll be on the bike by any certain date. I'm hoping to be walking by this week - but I'm willing to see how my leg does before I scold it for not meeting that deadline as well. Correctly healing is more important.

Cheers from the crutches
Bev