As we prepped for a day of hauling load after load to the dump, Armand asked, “Is it worth putting all of this stuff up on craigs’s list?”. Yes, Armand. Yes it is. But would anyone want dry, brittle, tar-streaked wood, tiny rectangles of plywood, and – count ‘um – three – 30′x50′ tarps cut to tiny pieces?

Observe:

The plywood went right away. The takers are using it to make concrete forms to repair their dad’s foundation. The rest of the wood took three days to unload, but all of it will be put to good use. A set designer needs to create the inside of a barn for a two-person staged drama, an artist will be creating sculptures, and a gal will be repurposing it into some furniture. Perhaps the most exciting pickup for us was Jacqueline Sharp, a hot lady welder and woodworker who’s starting a business. Super talented, and couldn’t be nicer.

She’ll be creating steel frames and inlaying the wood after she runs each piece through a planer to freshen it up (and slough off the tar), much like this coffee table that I pinned on Pinterest (more on that later!).

We can’t wait to show you what these pieces of our house become!

I know, I know – you guys are saying “why didn’t you make something with all of that wood?”. Truth is, our plates are full and we just aren’t at the point of furnishing this house for realsies yet. We don’t know what we’ll want/need. But we did set aside the old redwood rafters. We have a feeling we’ll make something beautiful with them when the time comes.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about our latest foray into craigs’s list were the people interested in the cut up pieces of tarp. Twelve people were in competition for ‘um! They went to Bill, a nice man who was the first to come by. He works on bicycles and only needs small pieces to cover each bike.

So, now we’ve got a new policy – head to craig’s before we throw anything away. All in all we saved $250 dollars in dump fees and kept five Toyota Tacoma loads of stuff out of the landfill. Everybody wins.

And now, we finally resume Upper Yard construction!

Maybe we could do this somewheres.

We headed down to Montebello to rent our stake truck.

Here’s what we were facing:

Get it done.

This is where the day got all National Geographic on us.

Eaten.

Sorry, lil’ guy.

We pick up every piece, put in the wheel barrow, dump it into the truck, and pick each piece up again at the recycling center and throw it.

Every piece.

Here’s the progress throughout the day:

at 0 wheel barrow loads in truck

at 10 wheel barrow loads in truck

at 20 wheel barrow loads in truck

at 30 wheel barrow loads in truck

at 41 wheel barrow loads in truck

Part 2 later…

Ya know, it sure seems like we can’t get away from this concrete stuff. On Monday, we celebrated our two year anniversary with some roller coasters at Six Flags, and just as we got in line for the first coaster of the day, we saw this:

Really? Stop following us. What gods must we appeal to? I will appeal to them.

Tomorrow I’ll have pics from today to post.

This’ll come in handy for many a home project down the road, but presently we’ll be using it for all of the table lamps that’ll be populating Little Orchard Home (our shop!) in July.

Left: Coffee Sack Throw Pillow. 100% jute burlap post-marketplace coffee sack upcycled into a throw pillow and trimmed in hemp braid and hemp cord. Triple washed, lined in cotton, and filled with duck feathers.

Right: Vintage Barkcloth Throw Pillow. Vintage barkcloth that once dressed the windows of a mid century home in the Hollywood Hills, crafted into a throw pillow for your warm modern home. Duck feather fill.

Stay tuned for more barkcloth beauties, reclaimed wood table lamps, and pendant lights.

…into this:

Well, after getting a couple of quotes from stucco companies we found out that it’s a $20,000 job. Gulp. Also, the sandblasting to take off the old stuff would devastate the landscape – ours and our neighbors. Time for a new plan.

Fiber cement siding is a siding product made of Portland cement, ground sand, fibers and other additives. It is an installed siding, as opposed to an applied siding like stucco. It’s a green alternative due to its durability and is designed for easy installation by diy-ers.

Here’s the one that I love:

It’s Cedar Impressions made by Certainteed.

I’ll post our new idea for the front of our house later – it’s a biggie!

Any ideas on how to do so without cutting it all the way back? We’ve currently got it propped up some with a couple of 2x4s in a T. We’re extending the wall to 10 feet high.

Yes, I know that it’ll grow back, but it really gives the whole place so much life and color, I’d hate to lose it even for a year.

Help please!

We hit up Amazon and bought used copies of these:

So many folks had told us to pick these up, and by getting used copies (in excellent condition), we go green and save about $70. Win-win!

Now to get learnin’…