Ultimate Open House

If you visited the R.E.X. Project in April during the Ultimate Open House when the house was nothing buts studs you are going to want to visit the R.E.X. Project again now that it is finished.

You can see the results for yourself on Portland’s Build It Green! home tour this Saturday, Sept. 20. Tickets are available online at www.portlandonline.com/osd/builditgreen or at Ecohaus, 819 S.E. Taylor St., Portland.

See how far the project has come on Shannon’s Blog.

Did you visit the REX project during the Ultimate Open House?  Keep up with the progress on Oregonlive.com’s Ultimate Recyle blog.  See a recent blog by Shannon Quimby below…. 

From the beginning of the Reuse Everything eXperiment, I’ve disliked the word “standard.”

“Everyone wants under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen; it’s standard” says the electrician.

“It’s standard to have the sink faucets centered,” says the installer.

“Bathroom vanities are a standard 32 inches high,” says the cabinet builder.

My reply: “Nothing is standard at the R.E.X. Project.”

So when the electrician showed up to install the doorbell and complained that the siding crew had covered his wiring, I was ready. I explained that I never wanted an electric ringer to begin with. Then I threw it at him: “Gosh, I hope you didn’t charge me for something I never asked for.”

Do I expect guests to bang on the door? Nope. I bought a crank chimer from Hippo Hardware for $98 — a bit more than the modern electric and wireless doorbells. It is installed in the door; turn the lever to ring the bell. It uses no electricity.

That’s not a lot of energy savings to get pumped up about, but it’s something and will pay for itself and more over time.

As for the faucets, mine are off-center. My bathroom vanities are 36 inches high — and true to the R.E.X. Project, they were built out of old doors, flooring, and window and door trim.

The word “standard” sits right next to “can’t” — and neither gets any respect from me.

Shannon Quimby is a featured Design Expert on Homes and Gardens Television Country Style and was chosen amongst 250 designers for the new show on HGTV called My First Place. Her book, Shannon Quimby Color Create Decorate is a huge hit in the decorating world.

Currently, Shannon is breaking ground, literally! The R.E.X. Project Reuse Everything eXperiment is Shannon’s attempt to change wasteful building construction. Witness a national first, Shannon is building a house without a dumpster. “I deconstructed a house that was falling down and am infusing all the original materials into the new construction on the same site!”

Follow the R.E.X. Project on Shannon’s blog.