Little Green Cottage in the redwoods, Northern California

Naturally, people ask me what kind of house I live in!  While I love all the natural methods, especially earth and cob. I chose to buy an old cottage and bring it back to life using "green" and salvaged materials.

Little Green Cottage
My 1949 house is a total of 1150 square feet, with solid redwood planking, including a sunroom, and a laundry room cobbled on sometime in the 1950s. Cottage-style windows, a brick entry and a formal (if weedy) English garden in front made it a charming "find." A separate 14' x 20' studio building and a sturdy goat shed complete the structures. Two giant redwood tree stumps, more than 12 feet tall, exist on the property, one stump is big enough to host a Hobbit house inside.

Wood Projects: I have re-planed all the weathered redwood board fencing to make beautiful new gates and fences... the cost? Elbow grease. This older growth tongue & groove wood cannot be bought anymore, and is better in strength and quality than any newer wood I could buy. So all salvage is denailed, stripped, planed and recycled where needed. Replacing subfloors; exterior planking to cover an unused door, and similar projects let me reuse wood without buying new.

Natural Lime & Clay Paints: I am using a 'free' wall paint made of clay and lime water and a Chinese invented lime-paper plaster that has been used on the walls of a guest bathroom, for a very old world look.

Solar Hot Water: We don't have steady, reliable solar gain, even in summer, so other methods are necessary. I recently acquired a water tank, from the 1920s. It is designed to lie on its side, and intake cold water, and discharge gravity fed hot water. I plan to mount this at roof level on my patio, and glaze a box around it, so I can use solar-heated hot water to run the washing machine. ( And avoid a pricey re-plumbing job to the washer.) I used to use an old-fashion wringer washer until it dies. For a working 1950-70 model expect to pay $50-$120. Make sure the motor can operate the agitator and wringer works).

For showers and household hot water I use an electric hot water heater and timer, using the timer just 2-3 hours a day cut my hot water bill significantly. The HWH was placed inside a free shed I built, from new materials harvested from the scrap pile at a local bank being constructed. The job manager was happy to see me haul off the scrap Hardi-planks and 2 x 4s. A new on- demand gas powered HWH tank will be installed to convert  the 100 year old horse barn into a prime work studio.

Tire Pottery: I have shrubs and butterfly bushes growing in “tire pots" - car tires cut and turned inside out, which look like large pottery, and don't hurt the lawnmower if I run into them.

I barter, trade, and dumpster dive, and have been known to knock on a neighbor's door;or visit any new construction site when they are finishing a project, to salvage any useable materials. It saves them money in dump fees, and they are usually happy to let you take it. Always ask first! Liability laws may prevent you from walking on the site to remove items, and you should always wear sturdy shoes, and gloves, safety glasses or other safety gear when on construction sites, to protect your valuable eyesite, cranium, and limbs.

Finally, I am planning a garden patio poured using a brickmold pattern and Tufastone mix- a natural 'stone-like' recipe I created, made with no or little cement.

The point of all this is that you can literally "find" anything for free, and make use of it in some way. The trick is not to haul home too much scrap and get too far ahead of your projects.