Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The real puzzle is how can I get one of those.

Saw this guy on the news last week but just remembered him today probably due to the enormous amount of pie and booze turkey I consumed which apparently buried important information under calories and booze tryptophan. Wonder what other good ideas I lost during the mashed potato blackouts...

Dan Phillips is a renaissance man (former dance instructor, Army officer, antiques dealer and cryptogram puzzle maker) in Texas who collects your trash and builds sustainable houses with it for low income people.  They happen to be works of art and he happens to be my new hero in jean shorts.   Here's an article about him in the NYT earlier this fall.  He says he's freed from "the tyranny of the two-by-four and four-by-eight" standard construction and if you've seen a house like this lately tyranny is correct.  McMansion is the real tyrant of this country. 

Check out some pictures of these liberated houses:


Frame remnants on the ceiling.  I effing love it.



Corks make the floor.  Give me a few friends and a weekend and I could give you about 2100 square feet.




Osage wood counters.  What a fan-friggin-tastic photo.






Wine bottle inserts in the door.  See above note about cork floors.  I think my liver needs to take one for the team so I can start giving back to the community.




Chair made from cattle bones. 






Shingles and "siding" from scraps and throwaways.




How adorable is he? 

Check out the interview I saw below or do some more investigating at his website Phoenix Commotion.  Lots more pictures there too.  I even love the name of his company.  I bet it's a puzzle!!!  Tee hee!!



*updated size of video for maximum jean shorts viewage.

1 comment:

  1. Man you know in undergrad I had several friends that lived out on this farm and the story I always heard was that the materials came from cast-off from campus cause he was the janitor or something like that. Must be where it all came from.

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