In the scale of living small

 

There are very few human beings who receive the truth, complete and staggering, by instant illumination.  Most of them acquire it fragment by fragment, on a small scale, by successive developments, cellularly, like a laborious mosaic.

Anais Nin

the cupola has a white plaster with a just a hint of manganese purple

Bit by bit, weight by weight, breath by careful breath, this structure, our home is coming together.   The walls are now plastered with rich, earthy hues of sunlight and sky.  Warmed and dried with summer, the living area walls take on the colors of our coastal grasses and rolling hills. 

 

  

earth plaster nearly dried-next step the windows will have some finishing touches--sashes and whatnots

 

Our sleeping room is the color of pale summer fog, that blue gray that shimmers with bits of silver.  Tim (of Vital Systems) added just a touch of mica to the earth plaster.  The walls seem to hum and sparkle with lullabies.  When the morning light streams in...the room shimmers shyly.  This room is intentionally small and boxy.  It has a high domed ceiling with a monastic feel.  I wanted it that way.  Very serene, spare and  simple.   

 

north side

This room is called the gallery by Herr R.  (It  leads out to a converted shipping container that will eventually become a small workshop studio.) It was planned as a breezeway.  It rarely gets hot on the coast here.  The breeze way is actually a fog way!  If we want we can open the french doors on the south side and the evening breeze can pass through.  The walls here had straw bits added.  The texture is rougher.  The timber is from our property.  They had to come down, along with one small redwood which now graces our living area and supports one corner of the cupola. 

 

Tim's and Earth's artful palette

There are so many more little things to do and think about.  Summer is coming to what I call  its western edge.  For us, on  the North Coast, comes the real summer.  The fog lifts very early in the morning.  The day is usually radiant and room temperature.  The ocean's cobalt color deepens and on the evening horizon line maybe just a hint of fog.  On this rising side of autumn I think of bathtubs and shower heads.  Of kitchen sinks and cabinets.  Of  California's GA1953 compliant faucets and GU 24 fluorescent compliant utility lights. I need to put this all in perspective of what is and isn't necessary.  What remains to be done and accepted.  And all in the artful context and scale of living small........