La Cienega Backyard

This peaceful secluded courtyard near Santa Fe provides an outdoor living space that rests perfectly between the simplicity of the modernist interior of their home and the wilder, natural landscaping just beyond the courtyard. The contrasting dark wood and light stone colored brickwork echo the colors of sage and mesquite and the gray silhouette of the mountains in the distance.

Quinn and Veree designed and built this space, laying every brick and securing every rafter in its place. The low stone wall that borders the courtyard was made as a gift by a family friend. The trellis has growing wisteria vines and the as the plantings mature they will provide a visual interest throughout the seasons and for years to come. The courtyard is a true extension of their home. It embodies their love of tradition and natural materials. It shows their appreciation of strong foundations for their family and the importance of space in which to welcome others.

Published on December 17, 2011.
Made by: Veree Parker Simons Tags:

Venice Reliquary 2/12

Published on November 30, 2011.
Made by: Melissa Cicetti Tags:

Bolt Anchor Imbeds

These bolts will be held in place by the twisted steel wire until the CMU wall is grouted in.  They will provide anchor points for a corrugated bare cold rolled steel running vertically along the exterior.  In the image below you can see the bolt is propped in the notched CMU.  You can also see other bolts pre-drilled, awaiting for the wall to be filled.  The washer helps contain any grout that might ooze during the concrete pour.

Published on November 28, 2011.
Made by: TwentyFourHundred Tags:

Russian Olive Dining Table

Veree and Quinn’s home manages a marriage of contemporary design with a timeless sense of place and tradition. This is evident in the centerpiece dining table that Quinn hand planed from two fallen Russian Olive trees that had lived on their property for generations.

They made the choice early on to forego a formal living room and embrace the daily living that defines their home. It is a place for family and friends to gather for meals. At the table they study, they lay out design ideas, and they sit here to look out on the garden and the wilder parts beyond it. The artisanship and design reveals the heartwood of the source trees and the daily use by this family makes it the heart of their home.

Published on November 21, 2011.
Made by: Veree Parker Simons Tags:

Venice Reliquary 1/12

Reliquary: A container or shrine in which sacred relics are kept.

Relic: Remains/corpse a survivor or remnant left after decay, disintegration, or disappearance a trace of some past or outmoded practice, custom, or belief an object esteemed and venerated because of association with a saint or martyr souvenir/memento

Memento Hominem: That which registers a life. each object contained within represents a decisive moment or relationship in the personal life of the compositor. the objects are often commonplace; the reason for their selection is not.

 

A Venice Reliquary records traces of being in and memory of a location, embodying that which captured my imagination and commanded my devotion while living in Venice almost 20 years ago. The juxtaposition of everyday scenes of domesticity with the dreamscapes of dusk conveys the reciprocal flow between corporeal and mystical space. Here, the diptych format allows me to portray the ambiguity between past and present, where issues of internal/external, reality/fantasy, and place/placelessness are brought to bear.

Published on November 17, 2011.
Made by: Melissa Cicetti Tags:

Prep for Last Pour

 

 

Published on November 7, 2011.
Made by: TwentyFourHundred Tags: ,

Kitchen in La Cienega

This kitchen’s mixture of old and new, handmade and vintage goods, is warm and functional.  The cabinets were handmade by Quinn and the finishes selected by Veree, notice the sandstone counter.  The impeccable easy styling of this kitchen makes clean up a breeze.  Check the smart placement of their chalkboard wall – below the bar.  Perfect to keep young ones distracted and out of the way while cooking – practical kitchen for a growing family.


Published on November 1, 2011.
Made by: Veree Parker Simons Tags:

Truck Tarp Fence

Fence made from custom white truck tarps and 10′ galvanized steel posts. Each tarp wraps around two posts and is corseted along the back to create a taut privacy fence, overlapping by 2′.

In order to provide more rigidity we filled the posts with concrete.  The posts are deflecting due to tension and is causing the tarps to sag a little along the top. Two good solutions are to buy stiffer steel posts or to cross brace the existing posts.

Published on October 31, 2011.
Made by: Karole Mazeika Tags: ,

A New Mexico Reliquary (6 of 6)

FICTION
Caprock by Grady C. Jaynes

They leave the car beside the highway, parked in tall grass, hidden from view by a cluster of juniper brush. There is no radio in the car, nothing of any value inside. Cars run out of gas on these empty stretches of highway all the time, engines fail in the heat, and he knows an empty car beside the road will get picked over. A stranger may stop to offer help. If there is no one around the stranger may help himself. It’s just the way it is.

She is smiling as she tugs her boot laces tight. The sun is high and the air shimmers with a blue light. They take a few oranges from a plastic bag in the backseat. He puts a bag of almonds in his pocket. Two water bottles each. The girl ties her hair back with a bandana and she shoulders her bag. While she is putting on her sunglasses he takes two wooden flutes from another plastic bag. They bought them at a truck-stop one hundred and thirty miles away, but they were made in a warehouse on the other side of the world. The flutes are ugly and cheap and it made them laugh to buy them. The one with yellow feathers is hers and she puts it in her bag. The one with blue feathers is his and he holds it in his hand. Details »

Published on October 13, 2011.
Made by: Melissa Cicetti Tags:

Supporting Beam Forms Removed

Published on October 10, 2011.
Made by: TwentyFourHundred Tags:

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