My Houzz: Meditation Room Made With Reclaimed Windows

Tymmera Whitnah is an artist, a dancer, a traveler and a collector of experiences. Her Oregon home lies at the narrowing north end of Eagle Valley in a tiny town called New Bridge. Here she raises llamas, throws pottery in her studio, hosts belly dancing classes and tends to her country home. Even with all these different activities, what distinguishes her property is a glass house, constructed entirely from recycled materials, that is perched on a hill in the backyard.

Room at a Glance
Who lives here: Tymmera Whitnah
Size: 100 square feet (9 square meters)
Location: New Bridge, Oregon

During her first trip to Bali, Whitnah fell in love with the architectural style of structures elevated on poles. She dreamed of creating her own similar open-air space on stilts with only a roof above it and simple stairs to reach it. “I had this dream of building a spirit house, like the ones I saw in Bali, and I just had to find someone to help me make my dream a reality,” Whitnah says.


In 2006, Whitnah, with the help of her father and a family friend, began planning and gathering materials for construction. They gathered wood from a nearby mountain to fashion four massive hand-hewn poles using a drawknife. The rest of the initial construction involved building the frame and adding the floor and the roof. “I loved the space. It was exactly what I had dreamed,” she says.


The wood for the floorboards and the stairs leading up to the front door came from Whitnah’s grandfather’s farm, which is only a short distance from her property. “There was a huge storm that took down the barn, so I asked to use the wood. After sanding them down, they turned out to be beautiful,” Whitnah says.

The only problem was that eastern Oregon and Bali have very different climates. Whitnah couldn’t use the space year-round due to icy winter weather, strong winds and, at certain times of the year, wild turkeys trying to make their nests. “That’s when phase two began,” Whitnah says. “I had the idea to protect the space with windows.”


Whitnah spent months collecting old windows for her project. She says, “Sometimes I was as bold to show up at remodel sites to say, ‘What are you doing with those old windows?’ And then I found some at antique shops or dump sites or from friends who knew I was looking.”

In 2008, Whitnah tapped a local drummer, who also happened to possess carpentry skills, to help her frame and install the recycled windows. “My drummer friend, who would sometimes play for my belly dancing classes, needed work, and I needed help. Plus, he was the only one insane enough to help me with this crazy idea,” she says.


Framing and fitting each of the 30 windows was the most complicated part of construction. “I wanted to be able to open and close the windows depending on weather and cross breezes,” Whitnah says. Of the 30 windows, only eight are immobile. The other 22 windows are all latched and hinged, making a room that resembles a glass Rubik’s Cube.

“I laid out whole sections on the lawn. My friend did the hard work of making them fit together and deciding how much needed to be filled in,” she says.


Each of the windows is hinged differently. Some face the windy Wallowa-Whitman mountain range to the north, and some are protected by small fruit trees that provide shade and act as a windbreak.


Whitnah found these smaller windows at various secondhand stores. They allow her to create a softer cross breeze during snowy and winter weather. The windows also provide a little passive solar heat in the winter, allowing her to now use the space at any time of year.


The space is used mainly as a meditation room. Whitnah says, “Sometimes I come out here in the morning for coffee, but then I find myself stretching out and the animals come, and next thing you know I’m meditating.”


Whitnah, seen here, enjoys entertaining guests in her backyard and often hosts musical groups, dance classes, bonfires and other outdoor activities. During these gatherings, the spirit house is used as a viewing place. “It’s a great spot to swing open the windows and catch a great vantage point of all the activity below,” she says.


Fruit trees and a grapevine have begun to grow in and around the spirit house. Whitnah says, “I have to go after the foliage with my shears every once in a while, but other than that, the space is really easy to maintain.”


Whitnah sits for a quiet moment in her spirit house, listening to the low hum of pollinators in the field beyond. “This is a place where I sit and remind myself of my foundational beliefs,” she says. “It’s really peaceful here.”

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