Artel House finished!

It has been awhile now since I last shot the Artel House in Niverville. As time lines go in the building world, we all know projects never finish according to schedule. The Dycks who own this beautiful home in Niverville had a lot of patience when building their dream home for the family of five! The previous images can be seen on the website by clicking on this link  Wood Anchor Portfolio

About a month ago I was given the green light to go back and re-shoot the Artel house in it's furnished state. Needless to say, I was stoked! If you have an interest in design as I do, I'm always psyched to see the finished project! I can assure you that this house was a labor of love. They paid attention to every detail from colour to style. It's incredible spacious but not in the sense of loftiness. It's ambiance I would say is "cosy cosy intimate".

As you will see below Wood Anchor's reclaimed engineered Elm flooring (coated with OSMO Polyx Oil) has been installed throughout the home with the exceptions of the bathrooms and kitchen floor which used tile and cork flooring respectively. One of the beauties of using wood flooring is that it will compliment almost any type of flooring side by side!

They used a great deal of reclaimed Fir as well. I would say the grand master piece of the home is the four level staircase that is summed up in one word, "colossal". It spans from the basement all the way to the third level upper deck making it feel and look like there are four full floors! Constructed with reclaimed Fir, this beautiful species is also carried out throughout the home as beams and posts. You may recognize one of our ten foot timber tables that was finished with a custom stain. Custom designed Fir doors can be seen in entrance/exit ways, bedroom and bathroom openings.

It's great to see how reclaimed and landfill diverted wood can be used in a contemporary way that will never become dated. Enjoy the pictures!

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse - Ray

What happens to your recycling?

I would like to think that a good majority of people know what & how to recycle.  The act of recycling has been around for a long long time. As stated in "wiki" 

Early recycling

Recycling has been a common practice for most of human history, with recorded advocates as far back as Plato in 400 BC. During periods when resources were scarce, archaeological studies of ancient waste dumps show less household waste (such as ash, broken tools and pottery)—implying more waste was being recycled in the absence of new material.^[3]

I've always wondered how much of our recycling gets reused. I know that our recycling and garbage is dropped off at the Brady Landfill site but where does it all go? That pile you see off the perimeter seems to get bigger and bigger every year! I've heard that many of the items we used from day to day that we toss into the "recycling" bin don't actually get recycled. Here was my train of thought for the longest time. 

Wait, could this be true? How valid is this information that "so & so" gave me. Is that glass jar that I have just recycled going to the dump? Why am I recycling anyways? This stupid city isn't doing its job correctly! Wait, the city MUST be reusing this stuff. Why would we have these blue bins then. I better keep recycling just in case this stuff does get recycled...

Now, I never said I was a reporter but how many people actually go out of their way to find out processes about such programs? Thankfully a friend brought to my attention an article that Uptown Magazine recently featured clarifying what is happening with our recycling when it is dropped off at the Brady Landfill site. The article headline reads, "Coming soon to a dump near you...The Brady Road Landfill is getting ready to introduce some innovative changes in the near future". 

Caught my attention! Here's a snippet of the article written by Marlo Campbell. Click here to read the full article...Brady Landfill

Hawley is particularly excited about plans for a redesigned drop-off area that hopefully will be up and running next year. Inspired by a recent fact-finding trip to an industry award-winning landfill in B.C., he says the new area will be more user-friendly, with clearly marked bins for various recyclable materials. It will also be able to take more products, including e-waste.

It is a relief to here that our city is working hard in creating alternative uses for our recycling. That landfill has gotten larger from year to year. As stated in the article, there is still more usable space but do we actually want to see it completely used? That mountain of garbage hasn't been a very good reflection on our consumption awareness. Our fair city seems to be their part. We have to be more mindful of ours!

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse - Ray

TIMBRRR!

With the increased demand for reclaimed timbers and landfill diverted lumber in the building industry, we've had numerous calls from designers, customers, and contractors looking for options with Wood Anchor. I think it's safe to say that wood beams and similar wood design aspects in todays architecture are often last to be recognized by the eye of the beholder.

The next time you find yourself wandering inside or out of an environment that has been newly built or updated in design, have a look around. See what you notice first. Will it be art pieces? Or perhaps stylish couches in a foyer? If you look beyond the obvious, you maybe surprised to find that an element of wood has been subtly incorporated to to help bring that beautiful feeling of nature into the space. Do you have pictures you would care to share that has creative use of wood in design?

Are you looking for lumber or timbers for a specific design build project? Have a look at what we have! Follow this link to see what we have to offer...timbers and lumber

Rethink. Reclaim. Reuse - Ray