Random Sonoma Scenes!

Architecture

Textured wall heater

Home Depot is not a four letter word

Badly done home remodels aren’t the fault of Home Depot. Too many homeowners watching “Flip this House” or “Trading Places” got themselves focused on the wrong aspects of home repair. The fundamentals of construction techniques that have evolved over centuries were ignored in favor of flashy fixtures and false ideas about quality and materials. Well [...]

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Roblar Road Barn

Roblar Road

Serendipidy can be your friend. In my case, a maps.google.com search for the fastest route to Dillon Beach told me part of my drive should be on Roblar Road. It’s been a while since I drove that stretch of Sonoma County between Petaluma and Sebastopol, so this morning I went for a drive. Man, it [...]

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Faught Road

Not too far from the energy of the Airport Business Park and Shiloh’s Wal Mart and Home Depot is Faught Road. It’s only a couple of miles long, but it’s miles away in space and time from the urbanizing 101 corridor. This classic farm house on six acres is architecturally pleasing on many levels. The [...]

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Details, details, details

I had a chance to visit a terrific ten acre property on Eastside Road near Forestville today. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to find on a place you can’t see from the road, but I have been driving past this secluded driveway for years and have never had a chance to see the [...]

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Healdsburg's Architectural Eclecticism

Healdsburg has an interesting architectural history with ornate Victorians and classic Craftsman era homes downtown interspersed with more humble bungalows, and the rare, but ugly, 1970′s condo complex. Healdsburg’s Growth Management Program mandates an average of 30 new homes per year. For the past several years, that program has funneled growth into Area A, in [...]

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Monte Rio

It was beautiful driving weather today, so I thought I’d check out some fixers along Highway 116 and the Bodega Highway. Northwood Golf Club is a beautiful spot for a little recreation, but I didn’t have time for nine holes, let alone eighteen, so I just stopped to admire the redwood shaded grass for a [...]

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Entropy 101, or why leaks matter

I was creating some graphic headers for this site and realized that I had just made a whole bunch of pictures of entropy in action. I could do a complicated discussion of the second law of thermodynamics, but you can read that here if you’re interested. From our real world perspective, entropy is iron rusting, [...]

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Occidental

I headed up to Occidental where I needed to get pictures of some of the Italian style family restaurants for an article Wild Jane is writing on the main sonoma.net site. I made sure to get photos of both the Union Hotel and the classic Howard’s Cafe two blocks up the street. The Union Hotel [...]

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Bodega Architecture and Quoins

The Potter Schoolhouse in Bodega is one of the few remaining buildings from Alfred Hitchcock’s filming of “The Birds”. It’s been a schoolhouse, bed and breakfast, and private residence. I’m a fan of the simple symmetry of the building with the round-top windows, corner columns, and octagonal tower. It’s a timeless building without the gingerbread [...]

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Stone over Reinforced Concrete Block

Stone wall revealed…and some far west grapes

I’ve bemoaned the loss of stone and brick as building materials due to earthquakes. We end up with a lot of faux walls where a thin stone veneer is glued to wood framing. This Freestone property has always had one of the most beautiful wooden fences in Sonoma County. They are in the process of [...]

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