floor progress

The downstairs floor is shaping up. Made by cutting slices of Hungarian Mahogany, Redwood, Pine and Bamboo the pieces are then broken up and tile adhesive is used to affix it to the floor. As with the bottle cap and wine cork floors, grout and resin will be applied over this for protection and highlighting.

The design of the floor will morph into a Phoenix. As you can see on the left, a feather has been made from redwood. The bird will be on the east side of the kitchen ~ photos below are on the west side ~ kitchen in the center of one long walkway with doors on both ends to outdoor studio and front of the house.

pieces of pine cut and ready to be used on floor

view facing west to the front door

center of kitchen walk area

view from upstairs landing

Josh's cabinetry job in the upstairs bedroom

then and now, the bone house continues

the old bone house pre-fire

While I personally have not been working at the Bone House as of late, I do still drop in and keep abreast of the progress as well as interesting tidbits of news that is happening in and around the Bone House. Check in on Facebook as Kristie does a great job of relaying news and events there, as does Tod when it comes to projects/events and workshops, all posted on the website.

Yesterday I dropped by and was happy to see that the bottle cap floor has been grouted and cleaned and ready for Dan to coat it with a polyurethane finish. The metamorphosis that takes place during the installation of the cork and now the bottle cap flooring is astonishing. Each step brings out another layer of patina, texture and beauty. While I loved how the raw floors looked when just cork and caps were glued down, after grout has been applied and cleaned, everything just 'pops'. The cool thing is you can use any color grout you want, adding to the overall flavor of the entire room. For the bottle cap floor a light charcoal grout has been chosen, giving the room a nice cool feel.

unsealed, grouted bottle cap floor

bamboo floor/cut tiles

The third downstairs bedroom floor as noted in the previous post, is comprised of donated bamboo [above]. Now that the floor has been laid its time for the detailing to get started: that being the cutting of more bamboo into 'tiles'. The tiles will morph out into the front entryway and then bump into the sliced redwood pieces which will cover the kitchen floor. As you can see in the pre-fire photos [top photo], there are two steel stools at the kitchen bar. The stools once inhabited Goolsby Drugstore which was located on the corner of 12th and Sam Houston Avenue and closed in the early 80's. While I couldn't find any information about the store online, you can practically taste a chocolate sundae just looking at these candy caned relics. Very cool that Dan had extras in storage so he could replicate the original kitchen bar area!

today's bone house kitchen bar area

upstairs landing/office area

Bob's garden grows

And, as you can see in the photo above and below, the yard is slowly turning into an organic garden and food prep area. Yep, in just another month we are having David Reed host a Cob Oven Building Workshop. (interview with David coming next week). In the photo below an outdoor kitchen area is underway. It is hard to see in this photo, but Dan has placed two huge Chevron Signs on top of the kitchen structure. Surely this will serve up interesting table talk after say a cob oven flat bread pizza has been fired up and food and drink are served, perhaps on Dan's outdoor bone furniture...

another visit and update at the bone house

upstairs banister

donated bamboo flooring getting installed

bottle cap floor drying, waiting to be grouted and sealed

Plenty of progress still going on here at the bone house. As you can see the first floor bedroom floors are almost complete! That leaves the upstairs bathroom, stairs and kitchen/living area floors left to be determined. Josh finished the upstairs banister which one of the future renters says he will as an office/computer area. No space is wasted in a Dan home!

The artist studio has been on hold a bit as during cold weather as it wasn't comfortable working on the mirrored walls. Edie Wells, a teacher at The Fort Worth Academy of Fine Arts brought some students by to volunteer their time; that coupled with warmer weather made for PROGRESS both inside and out! Two walls are covered in broken mirror shards while the third wall is slated to be covered in reclaimed CD's. The fourth wall is more or less used up by windows, doors and an interior staircase.

Dan is also slated to give more lectures, tours and workshops in the coming months. Please visit the website for information regarding dates/times and cost.

progress!

Redwood doors made by Josh, and glass mosaic created by Linda

close up mosaic

Bob's garden growing....

cork floor getting installed in upper bedroom

Tod working on floor

It's been a few weeks since I've been to the bone house as I've had life get in my way. Subtle and not so subtle changes going on. Inspections passed. Exteriors nearly finished. Interiors getting more attention. The Bone House is starting to feel like a personality.

I took the picture of the redwood doors a few weeks ago (see above) and they are firmly in place with the addition of bone handles and locks ~ they are beautiful works of art. The deck continues to change, and a quick scan reveals subtle changes that as a whole make you feel like you are ensconced in an alpine forest.

Inside, deer horns serve as window latches; delicate pig bones as kitchen cabinet drawer pulls. Walls are being nailed up over the installation, and of course the most notable change is the start of the upper bedroom cork floor which Dan has so wondrously invented. The floor is an artistic science in and of itself. I don't dare explain it, you should read the article Dan wrote for the full scoop and scope of this creation.

Yesterday, with a touch of reverence, I began working on the cork floor. Dan isn't one to hover and point out what you are doing right or wrong. He shows you and lets you be, a bit later he pops in and checks in. It's a little unnerving but it is also freeing. That is the beauty of these homes, they are free. Expansive. Nothing is on some company time line and nothing, it would seem is terminal. I cannot forget that this is the second time they have built the bone house. I cannot forget how patient and available Dan is, or the crew for that matter. People don't seem to carry expectations about what you should or shouldn't be doing. There is an invisible thread that leads us all. The bone house is orchestrating it's resurrection from the ashes. The Phoenix is rising.....