The Abiquiu House

nrlymrtl ♦ December 19, 2013 ♦ 2 Comments

The fireplace at my parents’ new house.

As some of you may know, my parents bought a plot of land a few years ago out by Abiquiu Lake in northern NM. Over the past 2+ years, they have been building a large, gorgeous house that is both weaving studio (for my mom) and office (for my dad) along with great views of the lake.

They hired local folks and artisans to build the house, buying locally made building supplies when possible. The house is off the grid, using solar power to keep a bank of batteries charged, radiant heating floors, and a fire place (along with a soon-to-be installed wood cook stove). While they tried to drill a water well not once, but twice, they were unsuccessful in locating water. So with a combination of rain barrels and trucked in water, they have plenty for drinking, cooking, washing, and the bathrooms.

At the main entrance, my parents put in a slate floor that wraps around to a bathroom, in case someone needs to wash off some mud.

They used local slate to create the entrance floor and from there, all wood floors. With the left over bits of slate, they plan to make a few little tables to sit at the ends of couches or beside their bed. Also, the downstairs windows have deep sills as the ground floor is all adobe walls; they used bits of slate to line the window sills.

These two plants were some of the first things my parents moved in.

The large ground floor room is open to the roof, allowing lots of natural lighting for the weaving studio. The ground floor also has a generous kitchen, bathroom, and dining room area. The upper floor consists of a long, loft-like room for my dad’s office, the large bedroom, and the master bathroom.

Some of the first things my parents moved in were these two really large plants (a type of euphorbia, I think). Next, a real staircase was installed. Hooray! But then we had several heavy things to move upstairs.

My parents have a real kitchen in this new house, with plenty of space, a futuristic fridge, garbage disposal, and dishwasher.

Here is the finished stairway, much better than the one they had up for construction.

A few small things still need to be completed, such as painting the interior second floor walls, finishing off the master bathroom, and laying the wood floors in the master bedroom. Also, they have planned to do balconies off the ground floor at the back of the house and also balconies off the second floor. But that will come as can be done. Then there is the ginormous chore of moving my parents from their current house to this beauty. Little by little, quite a bit has already been done, but hopefully by the end of next summer the move can be complete.

Here are the ceiling vigas and the upper loft.

Here is the bulk of the kitchen.

Some of the left over slate was used for the window sills.