Random Sonoma Scenes!

Architecture

Petaluma Roblar Road Barn

Sonoma County Barns

You can’t go wrong showing a picture of a barn on a Sonoma County real estate listing. People love the look of an aging barn more than almost any other real estate image.  We are mainly urban dwellers these days, but we still like the echoes of how our grandparents and earlier generations lived.  Sadly, [...]

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Healdsburg Fixer

Fixers Seeking Dreamers

Nicely-boned large fixers from the Victorian through Craftsman eras have always attracted me. In the first place, their exterior designs are often beautiful, and almost always handsome. Clearly, that was the goal of their first owners who wanted to live in a home suitable to their station in life. Building plans by mail and in [...]

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Cohousing in Washington

Sonoma Cohousing Project

Cohousing combines traditional neighborhoods and individually owned property with shared decision making and extensive common facilities including open space, courtyards, play spaces, and a common house where people can gather to play games, cook meals, and other neighborly pursuits. Sonoma County is home to several cohousing communities including Petaluma Avenue Homes in Sebastopol and Frogsong [...]

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Permaculture Solar Panels and Views

Permaculture Opportunity in Dry Creek

Permaculture can be considered as a systematic way to integrate green and sustainable agriculture ideas. The ideas were fleshed out in Australia in the 1970′s, but much core thinking about permaculture is based on cultures that had long duration ecological success, like rice growers in Bali. One of the key principles is to observe your [...]

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Tumblewed Tiny House

Tiny and Small Houses

There’s a small house to be had in Sebastopol. Well, small might be too grand a term for a house less than 200 square feet, but the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is drawing national attention for their tiny houses and house plans ranging from 65 to an expansive 837 square feet. Jay Shafer, the driving [...]

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Stairs make single story design inaccessible

When Single Story Isn’t Accessible

I met some new clients to look at a home that we thought might offer good access for potential wheel chair use. We ended up looking at a “single-story” house that happened to feature: stairs up to the house elevated entry foyer a step down all around from the foyer a sunken living room steps [...]

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Level slopes and drainage

Houses, Slopes, and Water

Today my clients looked at a house sited downslope from the road with clearly insufficient drainage. Clearly because you could simply look at the driveway and follow the path of least resistance for the water right under the garage door into the garage…which showed clear water damage including a big crack in the floor. There [...]

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h2hotel corten balcony

Green Luxury at the h2hotel in Healdsburg

The h2hotel in Healdsburg has to rank among the greenest and most upbeat hotels in the world. I toured the hotel today in advance of their fully b0oked July 4 weekend and was impressed with the deep attention to detail and brilliant design that squeezed this spacious feeling hotel into an underutilized downtown space.  The [...]

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Gate on Chalk Hill Road in Healdsburg

Chalk Hill Gates

Chalk Hill Road from Healdsburg to Windsor is great to explore when you are looking for a little adventure and some great back road scenery. Today the horses were variously running, sleeping, or rolling in the dust. If your timing is lucky, you are likely to see wild pigs, wild turkeys, and flocks of other [...]

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Perfect Corner Detail

Luxury Details – A Perfect Corner

I’ve been a builder and know the satisfaction that comes from doing a job as close to perfectly as I can. Not every carpenter or other tradesperson cares about the little touches that separate perfect from good enough, but craft still matters to many in the building trades. Those few perfectionists would prefer clients that [...]

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