Weaving Studio Plan

In the early 1970’s I was commissioned to design and build a small weaving studio on property located along the coast in Bolinas, California. The client was a weaving apprentice with my sister, who was living on rented property with her family. There was room on that property to place a small studio separated from the main house, and that is where she wanted me to build the studio. Obviously it would be foolish to place a permanent structure on rented property, so I suggested that I design it in such a way that it could fairly easily be dismantled and moved elsewhere if necessary. She liked the idea, so that is what I did.

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Salvaged Timber Trusses

Custom kitchen with recycled wood timber trusses
Custom kitchen with recycled wood timber trusses

Salvaged wood timber is an excellent option for building roof trusses. If you buy salvaged timbers through an architect for a custom home like this they will be pricey of course. But timbers like these can also be obtained cheaply or even for free if you do the work yourself.

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Recycled Wood Housing Business

Is a salvaged wood housing business in your future?
Is a salvaged wood housing business in your future?

This small construction company is just down the street from us. I’ve driven past it countless times and it suddenly dawned on me to do a blog post about this business. This appears to be the owner’s home. They build small houses similar to this one using a combination of recycled wood, slab wood and wavy edge siding, along with wood poles and curved branches from the forest. These materials create an interesting, natural rustic look that many find appealing.

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Old Lumber Reborn


Nothing beats the beauty of old growth lumber. “You’ll never find material today that has that characteristic. I don’t care how hard you look, unless you go to South America. And who wants to go to South America and destroy the rainforest when we’ve got material in this country that’s being thrown away.”

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