Compton & Renee’s Earth House

This week I got to tag along with Lori on a visit to a project in process. It’s always fun to see the actual result after hours of planning and imagining. This particular house was so neat, I had to share.Compton and Renee built their earth house 29 years ago, way before sustainable building and green living had become fashionable. If you’re not familiar with the concept, earth houses are built into a hill to conserve energy. Compton and Renee’s has two sides (with huge windows) above ground, and the other two sides and the roof are underground.

The ceilings are made of poured concrete. That doesn’t sound very cozy, but they cleverly poured it onto old boards then pulled the wood away. The result is a gorgeously rustic ceiling that looks exactly like grey tinted wood. There is stone everywhere in the house, from the huge fireplace to the columns and arches that hold up the roof.

By designing their house in such a sustainability-minded way, they cut their energy consumption in half!

Granite was a no-brainer when they decided to update their counter-tops. Their home is all about complementing, not replacing, the natural setting (170 gorgeous acres of farmland in Southern MD). As a natural material, granite would be most at home with the stone and wood used throughout the house.  An added bonus was that the granite tops would never have to be replaced, thus saving at least several sets of man-made tops from the landfill.

The big challenge for Granite Grannies was finding a stone that was as unique as Compton and Renee’s home.  After hours of searching by us and them, they fell in love with Magma Gold (Here’s a picture of one our kitchens that shows the usual pattern). Normally, this stone has a very busy, zebra-esque patterm, but the particular set of slabs we found had a singularly unique division of the light and dark parts. It seemed to represent the dual nature of the home: at once both tucked away underground and  flooded with afternoon light.

Oh, and I can’t pass up mentioning the awesome collection of antique kitchen gadgets they have hanging on their kitchen wall! Check out our Picasa Album for more pics of the house and gadgets.