Inspirations

Charles de Lisle in Sonoma: The Low-Impact Retreat, Off-the-Grid Edition

Four ytears ago,

I always wanted to build my own house,  reminded me of where  I grew up. in Western Mass.

Native. Calfiornia landscape

I do residental work My neweer client are looking at creating refernce a. lot of cintageand traditional; part of my new. nengland.  upbringingworking with. what  my one footint hatyankee mentality.

Updatet he well andt hewater goalistoconnect batterybackup.

When purchased? Looking long?

a shack on a 10-acre parcel of land as a weekend getaway for himself and his partner, Ralph Dennis, design director at Steven Volpe. The property consisted of a two-bedroom house, a redwood barn from the 1880s, a disused chicken coop, and two sheds.

Go Solar

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Above: De. Lisle. installed. solar panels.  Old airforce base. windows.

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Above: A Jøtul stove propane a little less.  spark inducing. supplements solar panels. Daybeds from old house; charlotte. perriand inspired; black chair is Gitanbo Pesci, funny mash of things that are important and not, Sofa  from

Repurpose Family Stalwarts

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Above: Charles repurposed his ,  and surrounded it with vintage Josef Hoffmann bentwood chairs. De Lisle added Kohler fixtures to an existing cast-concrete laundry sink; only thing we kept. From my dad’s school, shop table, still has initials engraved., machinist . Whole furniture workshop. Gardiner Massachusetts;  Grainger. worktaqble ; induction burner, toaster oven.

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Bath House Old office refrigeaturew plywood handle very DIY refrigherator

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Japanese tansu,

Bathhouse is Separate

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Above In the bathing pavilion, where an antique Japanese tansu, a graphic Isamu Noguchi lamp, a vintage Bas van Pelt rope chair, and a knotty-pine room divider repurposed from the designer’s erstwhile office in Hayes Valley all mingle amicably in polite conversation. As in the Bro-jo, the quotidian plywood walls of the bathhouse recall the unpretentious beauty of early Frank Gehry interiors.

150 square foot shed

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Above: The sink skirt is a remnant  from a previous project
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Above: Wall came from old office; two . toilet . floor is marmoliern sqaures with cork back
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Above: Japanese cedar soaking tub; cedar tub from a friend

Embrace Outdoor Bathing

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Above:  A jKohler outdoor shower. made for state parks. Can withstand any elements. We use biographable soap.
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Above: No electrical pool; repurposed the concrete. pool. rebar. concrete. with local fieldstone. pergola is. all galvanized steel industrial. farm. look. we wanted. it to. feel like a