Clintonville Passive House

I started off this project by digging myself a hole. I’ve since filled that in with a certified passive house to relative success. Now I’ve made my bed, and I’ll lie in it.

Literally speaking, of course! I’m not much of a woodworker, and I don’t do anything too fancy. Nevertheless, I had been planning from the beginning of this project to build my own bed frame using, in part, wood from the two tulip poplar trees I was forced to cut down to build this house.

Here it is:

The house has been finished and in livable condition for about ten months now. It’s been a certified passive house for about four months. But it’s not until today that the project truly feels complete. Now that I’ve finally incorporated material from the trees harvested from this site into a piece of furniture for the house, things have come around full circle.

Since I couldn’t save the trees from being cut down, the next best thing I could think to do was to save them for material to make useful things inside the house. This is the first time I’ve ever made something out of rough sawed, live edge lumber. The slats are a little utilitarian with all their knots, staining, and whatnot. But I’m pretty pleased with the result. It feels special.

I’m planning a tulip poplar bench for the front entryway next. I’ll let you know when that takes shape.

That’s all for now. Next up, I’ll take a look at my renewable energy production to date and share some thoughts on my progress toward net zero energy.

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