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Sep 11
Love0

How To Make Your Own $35 Straw Mattress

By Resources, Cob Bed and Bench
Handmade Straw Mattress

The finished straw mattress

(This lovely DIY how-to is written by my partner April, who made a straw mattress for our cob bed. Read ahead!)

[UPDATE: Do you have experience making alternative mattresses, including using straw? We were forced to give up this straw mattress due to back pain and an unfortunate uneven sleeping surface. If you have tips about how to make a more comfortable natural mattress, please contact us!]

Living in a hand-built home can often mean making unique and non-conventional furniture choices. I recently transitioned from a tent to a cob house and ran into the dilemma of what to do about a bed. My criteria was something natural and sustainable, economical, readily available, quick and easy to assemble, and comfortable. Is that too much to ask? I decided to do some research first.

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Aug 27
Love0

Continuing cob projects: building a cob oven

By Cob Oven

cob oven

What to do now that the cob house is finished being built? Build a cob oven, of course. April and I have just finished building an outdoor cob oven and we had our first firing on Sunday. Be sure to check back soon again for more details on its construction… and the bread that we’ve baked. There will be plenty more to come, oh yes, there will… pics and bread, that is…

Aug 21
Love6

You Can Build This Cob House For $3000

By Resources, Cob Building

Cob House: Gobcobatron

Curious about how to build
your own natural home?

Check out our Natural Building Workshops outside Berea, KY. We offer courses in cob and straw bale building, timber framing, and more.

When designing my cob house, it was an important goal to keep my building costs very low and to obtain as many building materials as locally as possible. Natural materials were my first priority, and recycled building supplies were preferred over new materials. Few materials were purchased new, and about as few are synthetic.

In this very detailed entry, Recipe for Building a Cob House, you can learn what it took to build my cob house for about $3000 in material costs. You’ll also learn exactly how much cob I made (all by foot!), and specific amounts of material that went into the construction. Read More

Aug 12
Love0

Photos around GOBCOBATRON

By Uncategorized

gobcobatron
ra-1

So I haven’t uploaded any interior photos of Gobcobatron yet… I promise I’m getting to it. I’ve just been delaying until the interior was sufficiently furnished… I suppose I’ll have to get on that now! Expect those photos soon!

Anyway, here are two photos taken by Ramin Rahimian, a photographer who recently visited Dancing Rabbit to take some photodocumentary-style pictures. I like ’em.

Jul 21
Love0

This is GOBCOBATRON, where I live

By Uncategorized

gobcobatron-ws

I have officially moved into my cob house! On July 11, I carted my possessions from my grain bin apartment to my new home. I set my books upon the cob shelves, moved in a set of shelves and a (pretty crappo) desk, threw some temporary air pads and sheets on the bed, and settled in.

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