Use What You Have

Trying to figure out how to use all the little things of the deconstructed house into the REX Project was one of my favorite aspects of the job. At this stage there was no one telling me it can't be done because of code or anyone saying it's going to look weird.

My husband Glenn is amazing when it comes to letting me experiment with different ways of design and decorating. Case in point, we used all the original electrical insulators as drawer pulls throughout the house. Depending on one's taste and budget, the savings could easily have been over a thousand dollars. He loved the look and I love the durability.

Our wine and beer bottle chandelier has been a big hit. Published in The Oregonian more than once and will be featured in French Glamour magazine in December 2008. Most of the bottles were found in the laurel Hedge on the property. I did ask our neighbor for some extra beer bottles to complete the light fixture. Jerry Shirley with Full House Electric was very patient in installing each fixture and my buddy Harold Keever was the mastermind in figuring out how to mount the bi-fold door on the ceiling to cover all the cans. The cost was under $300.00 for the fixtures. We have them on a dimmer switch and they are the talk of the room.

More mini REX materials checked off and incorporated in the new house.

Saving History

It took less than four hours, a 50 ton crane, the crew of ProGrass and Gregg and Ellis Landscape Design and a bit of luck to move our trees from one location to another. The REX Project, Reuse Everything eXperiment once again proves that you can make a difference. We saved 50 year old trees, preserved the history of the Westmoreland neighborhood in Portland Oregon and $15,000.00 dollars! That's right! According to Steve Varga of ProGrass landscaping we had $25,000.00 worth of original landscaping materials. To save everything, hire the crane company and move it all cost us $10,000.00. To me, that's a major duh! All win-win.

Come by and see our progress, 2030 SE REX ST. Portland Oregon