Discovery Architectural Antiques & Tiny Texas Houses

Last weekend, on my way to Boerne, Texas, I took a detour off Interstate 10 towards the town of Gonzales.  Located two hours west of Houston and one hour east of San Antonio or Austin, Discovery Architectural Antiques is worth the diversion.  The business has grown to over 140,000 square feet of inventory in 13 buildings around the town.

The starting point is this storefront in downtown Gonzales, which showcases only a fraction of their inventory in four adjoining buildings.

The real excitement for me came when I visited their largest warehouse just six blocks away.

Here, over 5000 doors, 3000 windows, and thousands and thousands of tubs, sinks, brick, clay roofing tile, wood flooring, barn wood, siding, trim, beams, dimensional lumber, beaded wood, ship lap and other construction material quietly await new homes on the 2 1/2 acre site.

I am assuming that these headstones came from a bankrupt monument company or had typos, rather than an actual cemetery.  I plan to use these on a project by turning them face down and stacking them for steps up to a porch... Shh, don't tell my client!

As far as the eye can see in any direction is salvage material.

Floor material.

Trim material.

Industrial carts... and a kitten following me around.

Sign material.

Wood beams.

Entire gables.

A nice vent hood or canopy.

Stuff.

The workshop.

These windows are great for headboards.

Nicely colored shutters.  Maybe I'll do a ceiling or wall like this restaurant.

I don't know what this is, but I think it is upside down.

After walking the entire 140,000 square feet of inventory, I fell in love with this piece.  It is a trolley for a hay lifter and belongs in my home.  Unfortunately, I was told that it is not for sale... probably the only thing NOT for sale there.  If Discovery Architectural Antiques is reading this and would like to reconsider, please CONTACT me!

Well, the two-year drought in central Texas ended the day of my visit and the storms prevented me from visiting Discovery's other venture down the road in Luling called Tiny Texas Houses.  These photos came from their website and Sarah Wilson.

What material isn't purchased may end up in one of these houses in someone's backyard.

I lived in a cabin in my parent's backyard in high school and college, so I can relate to the allure of small spaces as an architecture of relevance versus an architecture of excess.

The Rustic Ranch House.

The Victorian Farm House.

Rustic Farm House on Bear Creek.

Carpenter Victorian Bed and Breakfast in Austin.

Living room.

Bathroom with sleeping loft above.

Rustic Ranch Styled Cabin and the Victorian.

Once in Boerne, I met up with family to support my dad's recently completed 1923 Ford T-Bucket in the Key to the Hills Rod Run.  Best in Show, IMO!

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Check out Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday!

One Man’s Trash ...

Dan Phillips and his construction company Phoenix Commotion were featured in the New York Times a few weeks ago. The article, written by Kate Murphy, included beautiful images of Dan's work, photographed by Michael Stravato. For more videos and photographs, see my previous post, Recycled Houses, and the Houston House & Home article, From Garbage to Glorious.


About 12 years ago, Dan Phillips started Phoenix Commotion, a construction business in his hometown, Huntsville, Texas, where he builds low-income housing out of salvaged items.


So far, he has built 14 homes on lots either purchased or received as a donation. A self-taught carpenter, electrician and plumber, Mr. Phillips said 80 percent of the materials are salvaged from other construction projects, hauled out of trash heaps or just picked up from the side of the road.


Salvaged wine corks, which are easy to come by, provide an inexpensive form of cork flooring. "We have some heavy drinkers in town," Mr. Phillips said.


The bases of wine bottles function like stained glass on the top of a Dutch door.


Mr. Phillips created a counter out of slices of osage orange wood, a ubiquitous material in East Texas that many builders find difficult to use.


The osage orange wood is used as railing.


Mr. Phillips's houses use scrap wood for siding. City officials worked closely with him to set up a recycled building materials warehouse where builders, demolition crews and building product manufacturers can drop off items rather than throwing them in a landfill.


Thousands of picture frame corners were used to create the ceiling at left. Mr. Phillips said, "A frame shop was getting rid of old samples and I was there waiting."


A wood-burning stove from an old ship found a new home in Mr. Phillips's "tree house."


Kristie Stevens rents one of Mr. Phillips's houses. She is working with him on building a house of her own nearby, since Mr. Phillips requires the eventual owner of a house to help with its construction.


"If the walls are wonky, it will be my fault but also my pride," she said.


A chair's back is fashioned out of cattle bones.


Cattle bones are also used to form address numbers.


Mr. Phillips oversees employees building a house. "I think mobile homes are a blight on the planet," he said. "Attractive, affordable housing is possible and I'm out to prove it."


One worker, Tom McKinney, applies mirror shards to a wall.


Broken tiles are brought together to make up a bathroom floor.


Mr. Phillips used old shingles, arranged by color, to build the roof of what he calls "the storybook house."


"You can't defy the laws of physics or building codes," Mr. Phillips said, "but beyond that, the possibilities are endless."


Other materials used in Mr. Phillips's houses include bull vertebra for decoration.


For the windows on the house, Mr. Phillips used crystal platters and lids of Pyrex bowls, creating a series of playful porthole-like accents.

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Check out Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday!