Meet Amy Slaughter

We have a wonderful team of professionals helping me on this project including Cary Kipp of Kipp Flores Architectural Design Services, Slaughter House Design Services, Jim Donaldson, Superviser of Construction and ME, General Contractor...image that! Amy of Slaughter House Design is a blessing to me because a project of this size needs many eyes, ears, hands and feet. I couldn't possibly be in Fredericksburg night and day for 2 years while this home was being built, so Amy is my designer on the ground! She works with Cary, Jim and all the sub-contractors to be sure the overall design of the house completes my vision. She is one of the few ASID Interior Designers living in Fredericksburg so when Jim needs a question answered quickly, he calls Amy.

Now let me explain how wonderful this relationship is: she thinks like I do! We will be looking at soapstone, for instance, and after looking at many pieces of stone, we will both agree on the one we like best. In fact, it has become a game of sorts. I will not tell her my first choice until she tells me and it's ALWAYS the same...kinda spooky!...Naturally I think her taste is impeccable! Smiling...

The other wonderful gift of Amy is her sketches. She prefers to draw every detail herself. Cary did many basic sketches but Amy did all the interior wood cabinets, fireplaces, shelving, bath and kitchen design and even the iron work and door schedules. We worked together on lighting design, plumbing fixtures, hardware, placement of art and furniture, floor transitions and appliances. Unless you have built a home, it is hard to believe all that goes into this project and more importantly, the coordination of all that is selected so it indeed looks like the home I have invisioned.

So what is that "look" we are trying to achieve? I want a home that reflects all members of our family: warm, inviting, open, comfortable, casual and loving. ( that is, the family ideal, right?) The style is Hill Country Hacienda with a " dirt kicking", beer drinking, "boots on the coffee table" attitude. and DOGS ARE WELCOME!

...so this is what we have started inorder to make this Hacienda look like an old, warm structure with loving bones: We searched high and low and all over Canada and the USA for antique Pendleton blankets. Each casita has at least one we used to pull colors and develop a theme for the space. Remember we are trying to keep the naive American influence of this region in mind so the symbols, style and colors reflect this. We collected old gates from El Paso, Mexico and the Southwest for the privacy doors on the toilets. All the interior doors come from a source in El Paso who has helped us find antique wooden doors from all over the world. This will be our biggest challenge! Our poor trim carpender will have an individual door schedule for each interior door because they are all different! We also started collecting antique rugs from all over the world. These will be mixed with skins and hides for a colorful Hill Country look.

The Stone

Jose' Ramirez is our stone mason who has years of experience and a crew of jolly Mexicans. Today they were working on the west side of the house with their native music blasting and singing and swaying as they lay each piece of stone. Most do not speak English but smile with a twinkle in their eyes when you say "Gracias". Their clothes are soiled from the mortar and they have little to eat in their lunch boxes but they are as happy as can be! There is much to learn from these giving men. So many thoughts come to my mind when I peer into their sparkling eyes: something about freedom to work, pride in their work, humble attitudes, joyfilled hearts and their spirit of sacrifice for their families.

Jose' works his crews on some of the most beautiful homes in Texas. His crew are artisans who work long hours in the heat, cold and wind. They are building the container, the vessel of love by which everything else fits. I watch each of them work as they study each stone, chip it into the size and shape they want to use, turn it to get just the right color , stand back and see how this stone will look next to the one they just placed and continue to play in the rocks. God blessed their hands and their creative hearts.

This type of stone, the color, the lay, color of mortar and type of stone lay all contribute to the style of stone I wanted for this home. We spent hours driving around old Fredericksburg looking at the original structures to get ideas for this type of stone. I wanted a color that had more texture with greys, beige, brown, rust and white. I didn't want it to be dark as the stone used at Boot Ranch and also because we were using tobacco colored old wood as a contrast. With this in mind, Jose' created many sample boards for me to look at with various stone sizes, different mortar color and even the way the mortar is smeared between the stone makes a difference in its appearance. This lay is called "rumble" and is considered the old lay used by the pioneers. They found whatever stone was available on their property and "threw it up" quickly so they would have a place for their families to live. There is an art to the way it is laid and these men got it perfectly beautiful.

The Comanche Indians

Tonight is Halloween and a beautiful night it is! If I were dressing in a costume this year to "trick or treat", I think I would have to be an American Indian. Indian women were amazing and unlike the way they have been portrayed, they were very important in marriage and family. In Fredericksburg and the surrounding area there were many different Indian tribes. The one that was most feared was the Comanche Tribe. Above you will see a picture of several Comanche wives and their children. Check out their clothes, blankets and trim work on the fabric. This has been the inspiration for the fabrics and interior design for this house along with many other photos collected from the Smithsonian Museum. After much research, the European and German Pioneers, the American Indians, the Hill Country landscape and the influence of our Southern Spanish Neighbors all contributed to the inspiration for this home design.

A " Hot Chocolate" Roof

Chocolate...that is the color of our new roof. Here you can see the roofers laying the first sheets of metal. It is a hot day in the Hill Country! The roof was selected for it's durability, ease with rain water collection and design. Many of the old pioneer homes had metal roofs ( or tin, or whatever they could find). I selected the color so it would blend into the environment and those near and far could not detect it easily. The color reminds me of a wonderful story about "Hot Chocolate". An old professor asked his students to come by his home for an afternoon cup of hot chocolate. They could ask questions of him and visit about many things, not just school topics. He asked each to select a coffee mug from the cabinet. His collection of cups came from all over the world, his travels near and far, some old, some new, some big, some small, some ornate, some plain. He watched each student select a mug for their hot chocolate and then gathered them around the hearth to visit. One young student asked the professor with all his wisdom what he found to be his most important learning in life. The professor said " Life is like Hot Chocolate. You see, I watched each of you take time to select just the perfect mug. Most of you picked the tallest, most beautiful, ornate, fancy, expensive or biggest cup. But there are plenty of cups that are plain, chipped, old with cracks or broken handles. The truth is the mug you selected still holds the same sweet, smooth, yummy hot chocolate. We work our whole lives to find the best, most perfect container for our hot chocolate but it doesn't need any special mug to be enjoyed. Life is right before you, it's not owned by anyone, it can be seen, felt, heard and touched by anyone at anytime. It doesn't need a fancy container to taste it. Don't work so hard to find the perfect mug and miss the time enjoying, savoring the chocolate. So here's to the sweetness of chocolate." CHEERS!

NIGHT SKY OVER THE HILL COUNTRY

Amazing...this is the sky at night just after the sun sets. The sky stays this beautiful blue and pink for 30 minutes as the clouds change formation. This night there was a moon sliver hanging off to the side and a rain storm to the east. The sky was changing so fast and then totally slipped into darkness. It reminded me of a book I had read years ago called " Chasing Daylight". My thoughts drift to TIME and how little we have here on earth , how little we have together and how we are a BLINK. My prayer this evening: thank you, Lord, for the gift of time, for my awareness that you are the reason we exist, for the sunset, night sky, the darkness and the stillness where so much is revealed. Help me to use my remaining time to model your love. Amen

Neighbors and Friends

Today as I was driving on Eckert Road towards O'Mesa, I passed our closest neighbors. Mr Cow was acturally on the road.
Fritz and I shared a turkey sandwitch with the windows down, the sun coming through the sunroof and not a care in the world. It is a beautiful Fall day when the wild flowers are their brightest. The sky is a beautiful powder blue backdrop for hawks that soar in the gentle wind. Up ahead I can see our road cut into the side of the hilltop. It's 20 minute ride from town yet everthing is untouched, natural, primitive, fresh. If I didn't have my cell phone, I would think this is Heaven.

Ministers Working as Builders

Meet Jim Donaldson and Mike Childs! Jim is the Supervisor on this project ( stripped shirt) and very much in charge and Mike happened to stop by to check out the house before he starts weather proofing and laying tile. Both are ministers and both have many other skills. Their names should be Jack, that is, Jack of all trades! I keep finding out more of Jim's talents and skills as we move along on this project.

Both of these men are ministers. Here they are in the building business. How does one go from building lives and hearts for God to building a physical form? It's as though we act out what is going on in our inner world and that we symbolically put form around what our soul desires.

Maybe this house on the hill is a way for each of us to reconcile some inner desires.