NAPA VALLEY BARN TOUR

THE RED POLE BARN AT ROUND POND

I am happy to be participating in the annual Napa Valley Barn Tour this weekend.  It is hosted by Preservation Napa Valley www.preservationnapavalley.org/upcomingevents/2011barntour.html.  The barn tour highlights a variety of Napa Barns and sites of interest.  The Hub barn this year is Round Pond's www.roundpond.com Beautiful pole barn.  The barn is a spectacular, large and very linear space;    architectural clarity and simplicity at its finest.  The hub barn hosts speakers, a brunch, and entertainment and is the jumping off point for the tour.  I have put together an "Art Lounge".  I used some of the agricultural posts that were stacked in the barn as a backdrop.  A barn inspired white on white panel constructed of perforated and sculpted wood strips.  A large zinc and mesh clad light fixture hangs from the rafters above.  The large low slab table is made from used French Oak dominoes (used to flavor wine).  A crate chair and route blanc sling back chair anchor the two ends and a long dark bench curbs the other.  A pair of hefty white bowls from Pope Valley artist Richard Carter www.richardcarterstudio.com rests on the table.  I hope you can make it.  If not be sure to get on the mailing list for next years event.

                                                                  THE ART LOUNGE

WHITE PANEL, MESH AND ZINC, FRENCH OAK, RICHAR CARTER BOWLS

                                                                     CRATE CHAIR

                                                                   WHAT A SPACE!

                                                           DETAIL OF WHITE PANEL

OUTSIDE IN

GROOVY?

                                               

A good friend who happens to make some very nice wine advivumcellars.com/ad_vivum_wine dropped of a stack of used French Oak the other day.  I am grateful to have friends that look after me in that way/participate in my obsession to turn one thing into another.  Pieces like I had not seen before.  They were long square profile block like beads strung on heavy fishing line.  They are used when fermenting wine in stainless tanks to impart some oak flavor.  Immediately I had found the material I had been seeking for a door screen/filter that I had envisioned for the door from our bath onto the front loggia/poolside.  I rounded up some antique african trade beads and some other beads made from recycled cut and sandblasted plate glass and voila the screen was made.  The rubber barrel bungs and steel weights hang at the base, the wood oak blocks still with residue/patina and accumulation due to use in the process of winemaking are interspersed with the random glass chunks.  It filters the light, gives some privacy and adds to the the ceremony of going through a door.

I still remember moving into a house bought by my parents as a child that had a very old set of strung shell curtains hung between a doorway.  I remember the sound and sensation of passing through that opening.  I also come back to memories of living in Provence and passing old farmhouses with the "chenille" hanging in the front doorways.   There it was a way of keeping what flying critters there were out of the doorway while still allowing some light and airflow.  It is a very simple thing but I am reminded that as a person who makes things and designs things I/we have the opportunity to impart simple pleasures that effect the process of our everyday lives and enrich that encounter.  It is clear to me that impression can be meaningful and lasting.

Thanks Chris

COLOR ME HAPPY

Found an interesting app that has been a fun way to keep a pic/diary of work and small views.  Can insert pics, choose different filters, for  an auto effect=instant altered point of view.  Try it.   Free and fun.  instagram.com  And thanks Leslie for the intro.

HAPPY 4TH

COOL POOL HOUSE

I am just finishing a project that I would like to share with you.  There are two buildings on the property.  One is called the pool house and the other a guest house.  The guest house I will get to in a later post.  The pool house is a small hollow brick building built in the 1920's.  It has great old steel windows and sits in the middle of a vineyard.  This is what she looked like when I first saw it.....

the front

the back

yes that is a moon gate (there were two)

the pantry

the pizza oven

It has come together, it has been transformed.  A shade structure and firepit were built.  Some walls lost some walls gained.  New paint, new kitchen, new bath.  It is a mix of pieces found and pieces made.  It reflects the owners passions and warmth.  To cut to the chase.....

 this is what she looks like now.....

the refurbished front door with inscribed lead trim (the client is an avid cyclist)

wine domino table

crate chair

old galvanized wash pan 

view from the dining side

black beauty bench

old galvanized wash pan

linen quilted back pad on bench

route blanc table

Italian mountain passes hammered into steel at edge

old tobacco barn oak from Blacks Farmwood 

blacksfarmwood.com

detail of working women painting on board found at Obsolete in Venice CA

obsoleteinc.com

steel windows were stripped and then raw steel was waxed

the new powder room

bluestone floor from Bay Area Bluestone

bayareabluestone.com

mirror made from 1930 SF Chronicle blotter paper

bowl carved from boulder

office magnet wall and beater lamp

old milk can

view from new kitchen

new kitchen 

tile from Mosaic House

mosaichse.com

1920's green lunch box

new pantry

stair to cellar

truck ice sign and soapstone counter/hemp sacking curtain

 newly made in the shade

Passo Gavia bench

zinc back

time to party

next time, guest house.....

FOR MOTHERS

My wife received this card today; made and sent by our eldest daughter Lauren who is away at college.  These pictures do not do it any justice but I am in awe.  As a father, I am in debt to all the mothers that made that possible.  To all the mothers out there, thank you for all that you do.....

TAH-DAH

Breadmakers Klismos chair 1

redwood slab seat, bone inlay, handrail legs, 1/2 an antique wooden dough bowl as the back

The work is finished.  The show is hung.   I hope you enjoy it.  The exhibit runs through April 30, 2011 at the Napa Valley Museum.  Thanks Jennifer for all your hard work!

www.napavalleymuseum.org

Garden Variety Nest

old split rail redwood fencing and various farm discards

Top view of Klismos chair

Bloom Cabinet

cabinet clad in discarded flower box tin,  old rivet strike handle

Nuts, Trading Places, Brush Work, and La Bella Figura

acorns, antique glass trade beads, much loved brushes

fence posts, ebony/ivory piano keys, old fence wire and mesh, garden stakes, trash can bodice

Broad Side and La Bella Figura

old plywood, barn siding. gunshot barn cladding, a barrel bung and used oak flooring

                                                                 view from the back

Liar/Lair painting, No Time Like the Present Sun Dial, and Sunlight

Lead roofing an old Walnut root, window sash weight, old water pipes, tin and an old steel blade

Close up

Spare Room painting,Nail fetish Box, Dark horse Desk

Route Blanc Chair and Piege
redwood slabs, bone inlay, old hemp sacking, old strap style barbed wire, shovel handle

                                              view toward La Bella Figura and Broad Side

Confundus detail