House of Straw

Image Source:  www

Us RUDE Guys do not live in an eco-designed house.  It is an early 1970s glorified tent!  It has some features that are sort of ‘green’ like roofing insulation and energy efficient globes in our light fittings.  Some rooms have curtains that are lined, and we have outside awnings on the windows.

We do however strive to reduce our carbon footprint in other ways.  We reduce, reuse and repair.  We rarely travel preferring stay at home mending and making do.  We are wary of expensive products that are labelled/certified ‘green’, refusing to be green washed by The Man.

What we do admire is others who owner-build with sustainability in mind.  And we would not rule out buying an already built eco-house on a small parcel of land in some sleepy seaside town.  Time will tell when RUDE Boy retires later in 2018.

On the topic of sustainable housing, National Sustainable House Day 2017 is fast approaching.  We just had to share with you Peter and Natasha Miles’ straw bale house in Merrimu, Victoria just up the highway from where we live.

A few years back, we spent an informative hour with this lovely couple .  Us RUDE Guys went to their property to collect some items they had generously listed on Freecycle.  They invited us into their home after we expressed a great interest in their building method.  At the time RUDE Girl had just completed a carpentry course and my eyes were wide open to future possibilities.

We would highly recommend that if you are looking to visit a sustainable house on September 17th take a drive to Merrimu and visit the Mills.  We know for a fact that they will make you feel most welcome.  Refer newspaper cutting below.

Oh, and what did they generously offer on Freecycle that we collected from them.  A digital camera that we used until were handed up mobile phones with cameras.  A computer hard drive that is still operating in RUDE Boy”s desk top computer.  And a lovely electric throw rug that was used many a time, and one such time was when RUDE Girl was very ill and suffering from shock.

 

Straw Bale House ~ Merrimu.  Image Source: http://www.starweekly.com.au/pub/melton_moorabool/

Anchor Down

 

Image Source: www

 

When you buy things that are expensive, like a sofa or something that really feels like an investment, you need to keep it as plain as possible, as simple as possible. Make sure that it’s a clean design that will work with whatever style you want it to.

Nate Berkus

 

Many of our blog followers will not be surprised to know that we have a leather sofa and two matching lounge chairs , that are over two decades old.

This sofa combo was purchased new, yes back when RUDE Girl spent money on good quality new things.  The good quality investment has paid off and served us well.  However, there has always been one niggling problem.  And this was not picked up at point of sale.

The sofa and the two chairs’ cushions slip slide away from under our buttocks.  It’s very annoying because your back is no longer supported.

 

No back support means you have to sit sideways

 

It has taken until now to finally troubleshoot the problem.  Buying a new sofa and chairs was out of the question.  Why?  We do not shop for stuff.  Buying secondhand was an option but nothing had tickled our fancy.  And waiting for a free replacement, whilst always an option, was not happening.

I had to be jolted to remember that we are the RUDE guys, and good at re-purposing and fixing.  So, I said to myself it’s time to solve this issue, with what’s in the home, and for free.  The resource that anchored down the cushions, to stop them slipping, was actually stored in RUDE Boy’s shed.  I just had to go searching for it.  Here’s my fix it story in the video below.