Well it has been almost 2 months since my last post--mea culpa! It's not like there hasn't been anything going on--quite the contrary. I am happy to say we seem to be entering the "enjoying phase" of the project. Most of the bugs have been worked out and the remaining issues are plodding along and will eventually sort themselves out.
I have instituted "maintenence day" every second Tuesday to try and keep up with the prolific spiders and other creatures taking up residence in dryer vents, eaves, window sills etc. as well as all the little tweaks to keep Cassilhaus running smoothly. An unexpected benefit of cleaning off the roof was some great new angles on the house!
One of my first maintenance day projects was a street address sign for the driveway. For someone who is not very handy with tools and rarely makes anything I was very proud of my creation--trapezoidal of course! I used some of the left over western red cedar from the house and got the numbers at Home Depot.
The solar side lighting ended up not working so I went for a ground mounted solar spot light.
There has been enormous interest in seeing the house. It doesn't seem to matter if we have 2 or 100 people over--the house seems to accept them graciously and it still feels open and relaxed. We had a very successful Meals from the Market event to benefit Durham Central Park last weekend with 70 people and raised over $2200 to support the incredible progress there. If you haven't been to the park in a while you should check it out. In a few weeks we are having sneak preview screening to support a fabulous new film by Kenny Dalsheimer called A New Kind of Listening. It is an incredibly powerful film and there will be a free community screening on October 15th at 7:30 at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham. If you would like to make a donation you can do so here or contact Kenny about the screening here at Cassilhaus. Ellen is throwing a party next month to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Ellen Cassilly Architect and there is likely be a crowd of about 150.
The response to the house has been overwhelmingly positive. I love it when people notice the subtle details of the design. It is funny that so many people associate contemporary architectural with cold and sterile and are so surprised when they see all of the wood in the house and how warm it is.
There is tons more news but I need to sign off for now. I promise it won't be two months before I post again.
To the extent that this world surrenders its richness and diversity it surrenders its poetry. To the extent that it relinquishes its capacity to surprise, it relinquishes its magic. To the extent that it loses its ability to tolerate ridiculous and even dangerous exceptions, it looses its grace.
Tom Robbins