Residence near Chico, California
Architect:    Skillful Means, John Swearingen
Floor Area: 1585sf/186 m2
Location: California's Sacramento Valley
Builder:    Owner/Skillful Means 2001-2002

The beginning

Raquel and Greg and their new family chose a home site on their family's farming lands, surrounded by rice fields.

Between oaks.
The house is spotted between two large oak trees.

The trees loose their leaves in the winter, allowing the sunlight to penetrate into the house........and in the summer the trees provide much needed shade.








Layout
The house recalls the simple style of many dwellings nearby--simple geometries with hip roofs, but this building is dynamic and it's appearance changes from different perspectives. Although the home is modest in size, it has the spacious feel and variety of a much larger dwelling.



The three main areas of the house, kitchen, living and bedrooms, are separate sections joined together. The kitchen (right) has a low ceiling and windows looking out on the yard, toward the entry, and off to the distant hills. The living area (middle) features a high ceiling with a cupola/light well in the center. The kid's bedrooms are on the ground floor (left) with the parent's bedroom and bath above.


Raquel and Greg wanted to feel connected to the landscape when inside the house; yet still feel cozy and protected. All rooms but one have windows on three sides, and the views are different and varied from different places in the house. The tall oaks surrounding the house also have great appeal for the many birds in the Sacramento Valley. Raquel and Greg, who have lived and done field work in the Costa Rican rain forest, wanted a bedroom "in the trees".








Protected from heat and cold
The north and west facades have small windows to save heat in the winter and to protect against harsh sun in the summer. The house will remain within a comfortable range without artificial cooling during most hot, humid summer afternoons, and is easily heated by a single wood stove.

A french door leads to a deck off the master bedroom provides a spacious, second-story view across green fields to the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east, and Mts. Shasta and Lassen to the north. A wide, horizontal corner window in the living room frames the landscape.







Framing
Skillful Means helped with the framing. The big day came when the cupola, which supports the four large hip rafters of the living room, was raised using a scissors lift.




The finished cupola in place, provides light to the center of the living room, and ventilates the ceiling during the hot summer months.









Baleraising
Greg and Raquel's friends and relatives came together for a baleraising party, and got most of the bales in place in two weekends.



The kids stayed busy mixing mud in the shade for "chinking" the bales (above) while the larger people tossed the bales (below).

Interior
After stucco went on the outside, Greg completed the wiring and plumbing on the interior, and the interior walls were hand plastered
.






Raquel tiled the bathrooms and the kitchen.






Greg and Raquel moved in as soon as the interior was ready. The exterior will be finished with a lime wash on the exterior, and will feature a pergola over the south and west downstairs windows.