The Garage Studio

Studio Left, Main Home right. Taken about 8 AM in the morning, in May, just as the morning clouds are burning off and the six rows of Zin are moving into some serious new leaf. The studio is approximately 800 sq. ft., the maximum the City allowed us for a second building.

A clean, well-lighted place to play. The City informed us we were allowed two buildings, a main home structure and an out-building of not more than 800 sq. ft. So we built this simple 2-story space.  The fist floor features a 2-car garage, a small room/office (that is officially not to be called a bedroom), and a WC (that is officially not to be called a bathroom). However, the WC is designed and plumbed so that, if one were so inspired, one could easily expand it into the garage space to make room for a shower hookup. There's also a small storage niche below the staircase (can't have enough enclosed storage space for "stuff.")

From the Front Vineyard. Garage window on the right. "Office" window on the left. Studio skylight in the roof. The low structure to the left, in front of the building, houses the propane tank. The half-wall on the right side blocks the view of the trash (brown), recycle (blue) and compost (green) cans ... all of which are picked up at the head of the driveway on Thursday mornings.

Entrance. (Now put the accent on the last syllable of that word.)

From the West looking back toward the huose.

West view. Front door on left, "office" windows right, Studio windows up top.

From the laundry room window, upstairs. Something to look at while you sort your socks.

Room with 4 views. The studio "office." Another Pattern is "light coming from at least two sides of a room." You find this pattern in virtually every space in both the studio and the straw bale home. The book says people gravitate and tend to linger in such rooms ... and we have found this to be oh so true. People have slept in this room, but for most of the last decade it has been a massage, cranial sacral, and alternative therapy studio. Central, forced-air air conditioning and heating keeps things comfortable year round.

Shelter from the Storm. Michael Ruiz, the master builder who also built the redwood trellis in front of the main home, built this simple covering for this entry door to match it. It keeps the hottest summer sun off the entry, and its main function is to keep you and your liaisons dry during gnarly winter storms. Two beautiful fruitless pears (with short-lived but delightful white spring blossoms) stand guard outside.

A WC. That longs to be a shower room one day.A storage niche across the way, under the stairs.

Come up and see my etchings?  Stairs lead up to the upstairs studio space. Clean. Simple.

Another Room with 4 Views. Light from four sides fills this inviting space that we deliberately left as open and rustic as possible so it would be available -- and inviting -- for almost any activity. For most of its existence it was the lone Pilates studio Up Valley, but it is also a space for yoga, dancing, drum circles, chanting, meditation, painting ... and slumber parties. The floor is the simplest (and sturdiest) kind of plywood which we personally covered-and waited-and-sanded-and-swept with more than 10 coats of sheen. It still gleams with the original gloss.

  To the West. A view of Merik and Carol Lee's Cab vineyard to the left, and Clayton and Martha's line of olive trees to the right.

To the East. Home. An eye on who's coming and going. Sunrise.

To the South. A skylight frames the front vineyards.

To the North. Another skylight frames Spirit Oak (and, if you lean, a bit of Mt. St. Helena). The skylights are what Patterns call "A Zen Window." That means they operate as a standard window but they also become a living Zen nature painting if you walk past it at a certain angle ... and if you happen to look.

Just keeping an Eye on Things. The neighbors, they come and go, speaking of Michelangelo.

Red Barn. Electric garage doors. Trash enclosure to the left. A fun, easy hop, skip or jump on patterned bricks between here and there.