The Belly Haüs
In 2020, with some extra time on my hands, we decided to build a playhouse for our daughter. I figured, why buy a kit when I could build something completely custom to fit our space and needs.
A few months later, we've got a play house ready for her second birthday, complete with upstairs loft, insulated walls and ceiling, a power outlet for lights and heat, and custom windows to look out on the garden.
Garage studio
When we hired a crew to build our new garage, we knew we'd keep the original garage as a studio space. When they finished the new addition, I got to work turning the old, dusty garage into a usable work space for making music and images.
In the process, I learned how to tuck brick with era-appropriate lime mortar. The ceiling rafter bays were stuffed with rigid foam insulation and then covered with thin plywood sheets to retain the original look.
The garage build crew swapped out the old garage door with a stud wall, which I then insulated and faced with a wood wall, reclaimed from our old fence.
Landscaping
Once the garage and studio conversion was finished, I built a patio in front of the studio. It is a great warm spot to sit on the cooler days. The grass wasn't doing great in that area, so I pulled out the grass and built a cedar timber garden bed and accompanying stone walkway. The garden bed made use of an existing irrigation zone, repurposed as a low-pressure drip system.
Alongside the studio, I dig a 24" deep trench for the electrical service to the house.
Cedar garden beds
We've loved making the best possible use of our little plot of land by adding garden beds wherever possible. Out front, I removed some landscaping rocks and added in a 4x4 cedar timber bed with irrigation, tapping into the line that was already in place.
We wanted them to look as nice as possible, so the timbers got sanded smooth, corners rounded off, and treated with weatherproof stain.
Miscellaneous wooden things
I designed and built a rack and box for the back of my Yuba cargo bike. XL pizza boxes and beer were the first priority, but it has also carried a small PA system for music gigs, photo backdrops and light stands, and kids bikes to ride at the park.
The table was built to make use of an old granite offcut from my in-laws former residence. It was a special keepsake from a former era and is now a useful piece of their back patio.
I've also built a few above ground garden beds.
