A SHADY TABLE

Trevor was recently rummaging around in the attic of the building our office is in and found a big stash of abandoned wood. He pulled it out and quickly transformed it into an awesome new picnic table complete with a shade trellis for our patio. His ingenuity and abiltity to turn scraps into gold constantly blows my mind. Do you need a picnic table for your patio? I'm sure he'd be glad to help. Give him a call 928-609-7422.

RAMMED EARTH

Some friends of ours; Alan and Birgit Francis; are building a beautiful home on Flagstaff Mesa this year. Among its many tributes to the site it inhabits, it has a solid connection to the physical land. They had all of the excavated earth (which was a lot due to the awesome water catchment cistern) sifted and sorted so that they could reclaim everything possible from it and they got quite a bit: A pile of sand, a pile of gravel, a pile of sticky clay, and a whole bunch of big beautiful stones that he had masons sculpt into landscape walls that curve across the site, opening space for a drive and a patio. 

They invited a bunch of hands out recently to help turn their stash of reclaimed earthen materials into a massive rammed earth wall that will sit just inside a solarium-style corridor that opens up via Nanawalls onto a south facing courtyard. The result: a heat sink in a mountain climate, in the middle of the home, made from the red dirt that the home sits on. 

I have a lot of praise for this project so expect to hear more about the construction as the progress moves along-- and of course, many cheers to Alan and Birgit for having the solid sensibility to build something so grounded. 

This last image is just a sneak peak: That is steel stair tread embed about to be encapsulated in concrete. Everyone loves a cantilevered stair-- am I right?

OREGON AVENUE REMODEL

Here is a sneak peak of the outcome of the remodel we completed this fall on the Oregon Avenue house down in Phoenix. We will hire a professional photographer to come out and shoot this beauty but we couldn't wait to share some pictures. The house that was once hard to navigate, closed off, and out of date is now open, cool, and bright-- perfect for them to raise their new family in. 

A JUNIPER JEWEL

Trevor has been spending a lot of time in the shop lately, and consequently in the lumber yard. On a recent trip to A.P. Sawmill (http://www.apsawmill.com/) he spotted a large juniper remnant and had to have it. We've decided to use it as a top for a new island in our mini-kitchen. Here are some pictures but we'll post more when the island has been built!

AUXILIARY BARN

Here is a sneak peak of our project in Parks. Got a roof on it just in time!

YURT DECK

A good friend of mine has a big pile of 6x6 lumber. After a few happy hour design sessions filled with napkin sketches and sunsets, we have decided to turn his lumber into a yurt deck for a property he owns in the high desert hills of central Arizona. Below is a picture that inspired us, followed by some of our design work.

HYPERTUFA POTS

We had a lot of fun making these cute little planters. They make great indoor pots and are perfect to bring perennnials or herbs indoors as the seasons change. Hypertufa is a manmade material composed of perlite; a volcanic glass, sphagnum; also known as peat moss, and portland cement. It's a very maleable material and you can form it by hand. We used plastic cups for our forms, and with a little cooking spray as a coating, they were very easy to remove. The hypertufa only takes about a day to harden and only about 3 to cure completely. Then you can paint them any way you like. Plants are very happy in this pourous limestone material! Try it at home, it's even simple enough for kids-- but remember to always wear gloves when working with cement.

COOL AND WARM KITCHEN

Here are some images of Justin and Cassandra's new kitchen down in Phoenix. Tha cabinets have been ordered and Hawk Builders are wrapping up framing this week!

A BETTER BACKYARD

We've finally started construction on the house on Oregon Avenue. One part of part design that we are very excited about is how the new dining room doors will affect the backyard. The new 12' opening houses a 4-Panel aluminum sliding glass door by Heritage Doors of Phoenix. We're taking out the dated and dirty glass block windows and replacing them with frosted panes. The new nursery windows add character to the corner of the addition, and a new mechanical screen hides the cleaned-up HVAC system. New sanded stucco will wrap the doors and base of the wall making the old house and subsequent addition read as one. 

OUTDOOR LIVING ROOM

Although Phoenix gets the reputation for having unbearable year-round heat, this is really not the case. From October to March it's generally beautiful outdoors and these months provide great opportunities for desert families to spend some quality time outside. Here are some images from an outdoor renovation project we are developing in the valley. The space includes outdoor dining, a private master bedroom deck with wood stove, and a garden-side gathering area for star-gazing by a firepit. 

PLASTER AND PAVERS

Here are some of the pictures taken of our patio project in Cheshire. For the full photo-set including construction techniques on how to build a wall foundation, install a strawbale formwork, and then finish with eco-plaster visit our facebook page fb UPDESIGN.