We drive a car that runs on used vegetable oil and we built a straw bale house... we thought this might be a fun way to document our adventures and maybe, in turn, help others who decide to give it a go as well. Note: If you are interested in reading about the building of our straw bale house check out the blog archive (on the right side a little ways down) from 2008- when we began our research and 2009- when we actually constructed the house.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
Water Heater= plumbing and gas are a go!
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Russ's Garage That He's Not Building!!!!!!!!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving Sewer Line



It started out as a little adventure to find the sewer
line. Then we found out that it was our job to connect
the line to the city. So the days we planned to finish
the bathroom turned in to the days we dug an 80 foot
trench sloping a quarter of an inch ever ten feet going
up hill (our lot is slope the opposite direction).
Along the way we broke the gas line at 8:00 on
Thanksgiving night and the irrigation water line at 10:30.
It sounds funny now......
Monday, November 16, 2009
Reclaimed Wood Trim

A coworker remodeled her kitchen- replacing wood
flooring with tile. So we cut the tongue and grooves
off, planed, sanded, routered, stained, and clear
coated the old wood back to life. That same friend
also gave us the awesome door. Which is now even
cooler because yet another kind soul gave us a matching
one to go on the bedroom at the opposite end of the
hall! Hurray for reusing!!!!
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Concrete Countertops
Friday, November 13, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Red Wall!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Finished Ceiling and Drying Mud

I can't even begin to total all of the hours that went into the
sanding, staining, clear coating, installing of the pine tongue
and groove planks on the ceiling. But I do know that had we
bought the panels of finished ceiling at the hardware store it
would have cost us close to $20,000. We did for less than $500.
That's insane!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Fire Brick Wall
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Window Seat
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The making of a shower and hanging of a ceiling

We don't do anything the easy way.
Why by a prefab shower when you can just make one?
Stay tuned for the tiling of the shower...


Step one: buy 300 tongue and groove boards
Step two: sand 300 tongue and groove boards
Step three: stain 300 tongue and groove boards
Step four: clear coat/seal 300 tongue and groove boards
Step five: hang 300 tongue and groove boards

Saturday, September 26, 2009
The door that Russ made!



The the dark wood is reclaimed mahogany that a friend gave us.
The lighter wood is hemlock from the store.
The hinges are reclaimed from an old industrial refrigerator.
The door weighs about a million pounds and is about 5" thick.
We have yet to figure out and door knob and lock for that thickness.
Any ideas?
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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