Multum in Parvo (much in little)

Michael Pennington, the fellow who designed and built our house, is busy designing and building one about a mile away. Rob and I decided to take a look. The outside gives no indication of the scale of the inside. The scale inside is not about square footage. It's about height and drama. I don't know how he does so much with so little. It feels like some sort of magic trick. We've been duped.

Here's the center core of the house, with Michael explaining how he did what he did and what it's going to look like when he's finished. Those huge timbers are going to be left exposed. I love the patterns they create.

Below is one of the metal supports he made and was eager to show what it would be supporting. I thought it was beautiful just sitting around on the floor, leaning against a wall. But then he held it in place, and I saw how perfectly aligned it was to the timbers. Like some ancient religious symbol.


My favorite was this V-shaped light fixture below (click to enlarge). It looks like a fusion of branches and antlers. It's probably six feet tall. He started with the stair railings from a movie he was working on (direct-to-dvd version of Jack and the Beanstalk). They were going to throw out the railings and Michael said no, he'd take them. He used part of them for a chandelier, and part for this.  I'm glad he's doing this much creating, otherwise I fear he might explode.