PEOPLE -- it takes a village to go from this to that.

Last week's post introduced the people and work that has evolved on Project 851. This week is a short post giving you the visual comparison of 'before' and 'at the moment'.  With more to come it's a good time to take a quick peak.

It's worth taking the moment don't you think?

Off to prepare for the this weeks roofing party for the Octopus.

COMMUNITY -- a reflection on all the who's of the project...

Missing my daily trips to the site, since I'm away looking for old fishermen in Haida Gwaii, gives you time to meet all the people who have been involved (family, friends, trades, specialists, professionals, etc.).

From Orbs in the attic to hands on the old asphalt shingles.

Teams in place ,from friends/family who are related to those who lived in the house in the 1930's, to my family, to the construction and architectural groups, to taking the house to the bones and lifting it up to the sky.

Here we're going from researching what to put in wwwwwaaaaayyyy down the road.  As well as never getting enough house flying pictures and tossing in a little reality of infrastructure and excavation.

Next...

Those shots show how we had to open things up before we could start closing them up.  Beams were installed for structural reinforcement and the back deck closed in to become part of the main floor.  

Above and Below we have all hands and feet on deck working on the Octopus (and for some of us just looking with hands dangling and feet planted).

Wouldn't you just love to have a shot at that rock slingers job?  I know I'd be down for that.  The last one is the drone shot we got for the Blog showing the aerial view of the Octopus;  that was one yummy post!

Back to the Big House in the shots above.

Above we see Mom with a smile on her face 1) because she likes watching people work (maybe a little like Maynard the cat) and 2) because it means we get to take a break and celebrate (below).

Ok back to work!!

Top row:  from roof to sewer lines.  Middle row:  Big House art wall and Octopus roof (hey Eric!!)    Bottom row:  STAIRS an ongoing discussion (go Johnny go -- the Romanian, Hungarian, Italian Russian; yes, there's a story there)

I could go on to share some insulation, drywall and terrazzo work but then what would I have to share in the next Community post?

PROGRESS -- focusing on an evolution

We've come a long way baby!  Thinking about all the work, energy and love that is taking place on this project an idea popped into my head, "everyone loves before and after shots".  So here we're looking at before/after and during (hahaha) shots.  The focus is on the turret, which is a focal point of the Big House; let's take a look at how it's evolved both inside and out.

The next shots will show you the during.  The initial photo is of 1898 framing and windows of single pane glass that turned into melting liquid solids. We were able to pass them along to an artist residency project called the Blue Cabin;  if you pass by the public art fence you'll see a poster about that project.  It's nice our old windows were able to play a small part in the restoration of the Blue Cabin.   

The next images take us on an adventure from abatement, to keeping the bones of the house, to new double hung windows, insulation and arriving at dry wall: an adventure of same same but different.

Speaking of 'same same but different', a much overused phrase, let's continue on that vein with saying we're taking the turret back to the future! -- hahaha, I crack myself us.  It's my nieces that remind me  "ya right Teta M, you know you're the only one that finds that funny?". 

Well cheers to the turret and it's outside evolution!

ART... interesting coincidences? (a story of pink)

What made you decide to paint the Big House pink?  I've heard this question a few times now, along with "Oh my god, I love the color(s)" and "The color choice  makes me feel so happy!".  This week I'm giving up the goods on "pink". 

What seems like years ago now, Marianne presented us with color options for the project.  The selection was narrowed down to two for the Big House; a light pink and mint green. That's when the debate began, until Esther a neighbourhood friend mentioned that, "in the day", you could identify houses in the hood that were owned by Chinese people because they were pink; she should know having lived in the hood for 40 years .  When I heard that, the debate ended.  We would pick pink as a nod to Mrs. Lau and her family, who lived in the house for many many years (see history in the BIG HOUSE section of this site May 2016).  -- here ares some of the shots of what was presented.

Marianne was on it!  Creamy Tomato Sauce, Glamour Girl, Salmon Berry and toss in some Opal and we're off to the races (June 11th 2018 post breaks it down in techni-pink).   What I didn't expect was,  the house to nod back, not once but three times.  The first being when the siding started going up and the creamy tomato sauce with the fish scales came together and told me they were a fish!  I looked at the house and the herring bone turret pine layout and thought wow, the fishing family I've come from is waving at me!   (texture, head (fish scales and window for an eye), body and turret (herring bone), tail (bottom fish scale) -- to some it may be abstract but it's very clearly a salmon to me.

The second time the house nodded back was when Reece mentioned that the old door was the same color as the creamy tomato sauce.  This was a bit dumb founding, as I knew that old door was not the same pink but when I looked at Cameraman's post of the old house on the fence I noticed the door color had changed.  It now matched perfectly!!  How strange was that, I thought, and added a piece of the painted cedar to the fence to share the match on the public art fence. The color had changed since Cameraman  had posted it to the fence months ago and the door color changed leaving it's mark of approval; and speaking of marks...anyone recognize the tag? (who's ZAZFISH?  ZAZYISUZ?  ZAZYIEU?  ZAZYIELLZ?  -- I'd be happy to meet you happy tagger)

Lastly, and so randomly, I took an artist friend of mine on a tour of the house -- Mira Song asked to see how things were going.  When we came to the site she said "oh, I know this color.  I know it well".  She was painting works for an exhibition opening at SOMA on 6th and Main and had incorporated this color into her paintings!  The extra kicker was that Marianne had photoshopped  Mira Song's work into a visual she used when convincing me to take out a window in the kitchen replacing it with an art piece like one of this artist:  Mira Song hahaha.  Marianne had no idea that I knew Mira, she just liked the work.   

This weekend Mira opened her show and the stars aligned for Marianne to finally meet her and for fun with friends!!  (hmmmm, which one do you think should go in the BIG HOUSE....)