One day all your resistance is absent, and you want to write again. So you start with what the resistance to writing might be about, and you find a lot of pictures of your house in the chaotic and interesting process of having its weatherworn decks rebuilt. I did not anticipate this level of mess and disruption, and beyond that: the delays wrought by the current supply chain disruptions. Few could have, but still. Here we are: disrupted. We have the best and most artistic contractor in the world, and what they have been able to accomplish is stunning. California Bay Area building code is st ..read more

The Sea House Conservatory deck needed a railing. So I built one. SH Conservatory railing, under construction The Conservatory has a celestial motif in the leaded windows, which is carried through in the railing panel design. I cut multiples of each panel from chipboard on the Cricut Maker. (Side note: I get the best results from editing the cutting presets, after a test cut on my chosen material.) I decided on a double, rather than triple layer, to lessen the alignment errors. I used a lamination technique I learned from the talented Heather Tracy at Thicketworks. She uses thin cyanoacryla ..read more

HBS 2020 contest base kit dry fit In no particular chronological order, and because I accidentally downloaded like 40 photos from my phone into Photoshop. Semi-despondently late one night I decided to dry fit the HBS contest base because I needed to look at something new. I quite like the kit, but am wholly undecided if I can responsibly build it. Ideas abound, and it’s currently atop a turntable on an IKEA side table next to the studio thinking couch. It’s also a great morning coffee cup platform. Sea House Conservatory under-pier detail Here’s a glimpse of the under-pier, under-stair Sea Hou ..read more

Total homage and lifelong appreciation to John Prine, RtFIPMostly, my family and I are OK. My charming husband has been working from home — as I have been for the last 14 years — and given the wee square footage of our house, it’s been remarkably harmonious and kind. We’ve weathered the death of my younger brother, after a long illness, without being able to gather and grieve his passing, and most recently, the furloughs and layoffs of half of my husband’s corporate master company. The awareness that many others are experiencing far worse experiences and circumstance is never far from my he ..read more

Bolinas, CaliforniaAlthough this photo was taken during high tide, this is the water feature look I want to emulate on the Sea House Conservatory low tide build. Sea House LeadlightsAfter watching countless hours of video demonstrations from a variety of sources, I started my experiment with a small area at the front of the Leadlights landscaping that seemed natural for a water incursion. I glued a 2-inch tall length of acetate to the project board to form a dam, several inches longer than the intended 4-inch-wide pour, reinforced with masking tape below and tape holdfasts above. First p ..read more

Sea House Conservatory Pier, ready for her water feature!In preparation for creating the tidal water surge under the Sea House Conservatory, I mixed up a nice ocean green base color and painted it generously on the project board. I made sure the whole 26 x 20-inch base — foam cliff landslide, boulders, cobble, gravel, old tiled patio — was well-sealed with glue or paint to prevent water leaks. Two-inch tall heavy acetate strips were cut, ready to glue to the base to form a (removable) perimeter dam. I estimated an area about 18 by 18 inches would be covered an inch deep, then used the Wood ..read more

The first of two estate chairs for Sea House Leadlights. Probably.I bought two of Kris Comapas’s Estate Chair kits because I wanted to use more of this thrift store dress fabric, which I love. From a Pescadero thrift store strapless, bubble-hemmed dressHappy little estate chair, work in progressIt’s a rather large scale print for miniature upholstery, as well as being a very fine and lightweight fabric, but did I mention how happy it makes me feel? Though legless and unpiped, still a very welcoming estate chairKris includes good instructions and cord to make fabric-covered piping in her ..read more

Albie oversees receipt of Serendipity Shed base kits, 16 August 2019I thought it might be interesting to review building highlights of the Sea House Leadlights studio office, from start through submission. (Can’t really say “completion” because things never stay done around here.) There are links back to original posts — if any were made — with more details. I wasn’t very bloggy :) First ideasI spend a lot of pages thinking, sketching, dreaming, considering and working out dimensions and story. The starry floor in processThe first floor idea, though fun to design, paint and assemble, di ..read more

Hello Sea House Leadlights officeThe entrance to the Sea House Leadlights office is up a few stairs and across the deck to the left of the fireplace. A set of leaded glass doors opens into a snug but functional design studio. Details: Terra cotta pot by Braxton Payne. Basswood deck and siding stained with Minwax Classic Gray. Pumpkins made from tissue paper and string. Boulders sculpted from air dry clay painted in several acrylic washes and sealed with ultra matte varnish. All succulents, yucca and other plants hand colored with W&N Promarkers. Many are prototypes; some available as ki ..read more

Part of the back wall of the Sea House Leadlights design studioThe back wall of the Sea House Leadlights design studio is about utility and remembrance. There’s a water spigot and old brick patio remnant suitable for transplanting yucca and succulents. A faded advertising poster relic from nearby attractions survives on the wall, as well as a longhorn cow skull from ranch days. Who is this?I was fortunate to procure a vintage collection of gnomic being féves to populate the succulent understory. I tried to match their colors with the foliage, as I thought that is what they’d prefer. This gu ..read more