We've started building the new house and as of March have finished the foundation. It is a humble affair-to say the least. It will be approximately 1000 sq. ft., energy efficient, with natural ventilation and lots of natural light. It will be conventionally framed in a simple vernacular shape using mostly recycled and salvaged materials for details and finishes. We have set a goal to not use a square inch of drywall, carpet, laminate, or paint but instead will use naturally finished wood, metal, glass, stone or concrete. The galvalume metal roof will slope to the east and drain into a rain water harvesting tank to be used for irrigation of native grasses, cacti, wildflowers, etc. A screened porch on the east side will provide ventilation and a place for utilities, a laundry area and maybe an aviary. We plan to use either milled salvaged wood for the floor or sustainable bamboo. Concrete countertops will be poured in place and possibly a concrete tub/shower or vintage cast iron tub will be in the single bathroom. I have thoughts of using recycled beer and wine bottles for a large window over the tub because I have always loved those bottle houses in "outsider art" environments. CFL, custom task, and indirect fixtures - some with rusted barbed wire shades - will provide what little lighting we will need to complement lots of low-e glass and a continuous clerestory window of polygal or similar twin walled extruded plastic panels under a deep eave for natural lighting. I plan to use solar assisted radiant heated floor and hot water tanks, plus a wood stove for heating and high efficiency 14 or better SEER A/C as backup for natural ventilation. Low water usage fixtures with exposed copper plumbing and a grey water system for gardening. The ceiling will be insulated to R30 or better and be finished with recycled cedar fence wood. Wainscots and wall finishes throughout the house will be recycled wood from Birdie's old house or of salvaged corrugated metal. Vintage pressed tin shingles we have found stockpiled on the place and even some vintage asbestos (Gasp!) shingles will be used for an accent walls or possibly extended bay window elements on the exterior. Salvaged bead board ceilings will finish the bathroom and kitchen ceiling, and I have been working on a "parquet" floor idea using end-grain mesquite cordwood grouted like tile for a bathroom floor.
Lots of details still to work out but we plan to keep it fun, low cost, funky and experimental and most of all mortgage free. Lots of Wabi Sabi, man. Stay tuned.
foundation completed awaiting floor framing. 
sketchup view of the interior plan.
sketchup view of the exterior.
Have always admired bottle built walls and windows, a time honored folk art way of laying bottles up as masonry with grout. Poor man's stained glass. The bottle village in California is even on the national register of historic places. I've seen whiskey bottles used, beer bottles, coke bottles, wine bottles, even embalming fluid bottles in an old ghost town in Arizona. A bottle house in nearby Wimberley built entirely of coke bottles laid in patterns is a beautiful example. I had the idea to build a large window into the bathroom out of bottles and jars over the tub; it would form one long side of the shower and can shed water as well as glass block. The tub may actually end up perpendicular to it now because of a plumbing situation with the composting toilet we've selected but it will still serve the same purpose. Started with a healthy frame of full 2x material for weight and adequate depth well anchored to the 2x6 stud exterior wall. The bottles are laid up with a bed of mortar leaving exposed ends inside and out that will then be grouted with tile grout after we get all the bottles in. 
The inherent problem with bottle wall construction is if a full bottle is used then one side or the other is going to have an open neck. I've seen them alternated, with the necks pointing in, or the necks pointing out which makes for the prettiest exposure through the butts from the inside but makes for a great place for bugs, dirt, and moisture to accumulate. If one were able to cut them in half, turn two ends together so that there is a butt inside and out it will solve the open end problem and admit the maximum amount of light in the process but it means using twice as many bottles and lots of cutting. The benefits are worth the trouble though, the resulting "brick" is not argon filled low-e by any means but a 7-1/2" deep dead air space is pretty damn good insulation. Trial and error (and error) gave us an efficient process for making consistent clean cuts. Ronco sold a miracle bottle cutter over the TV when I was a kid, it was a piece of junk and didn't yield us a cabinet full of free drinking glasses, windchimes on the porch or flower vases for Mom but I seem to remember I had fun with it for a day or two. It was basically a jig to hold a glass cutter head a certain distance up from the base of the bottle, spinning the bottle with practice makes a nice even score around the bottle , a bent wire tapper inserted down the neck will finish the break. Sandpaper the sharp edges and Voila! - you just made an ugly drinking glass. I made a plywood jig half the height of the depth of the wall, attached a new glass cutter with screws and with practice it yields a very straight cut. Forget the tapping; the ringing of a bottle is of a deafening frequency and the break lines tended to wander. I have cut bottles before with an alcohol soaked string tied around the jar: light it and let it burn out to heat the glass at a precise line followed by a quick dunk in cold water. 
The temperature shock shatters the glass in a surprisingly clean line. Neat trick but no good for mass production. We tried holding the score over a candle and dunking in water; meh. Mixed results. More heat! More cold! Yin and yang, fire and ice. Spinning the score line over the low flame of a propane torch followed by a spin on an ice cube snaps that sucker right off. Any broken edges can be cleaned up with nippers. The halves are matched up for size, cleaned, left to dry and then taped together using adhesive stainless steel tape used for duct sealing, one of my new favorite essential materials after duct tape, baling wire and queso. The subsequent sealed joint is buried within the depth of the mortar bed. Mixing colors from end to end - half brown, half clear - gives us more of a color range to work with. Old Evian bottles from our stock at the gazebo are a great turquoise blue, the cobalt blue milk of magnesia, square ice blue gin bottles, lime green rolling rock and olive green wine bottles, and oversized brown Clorox bottles mix nicely. The light transmission is better than hoped for. We have no shortage of jars and bottles yet plus my beer selection of late has leaned towards the bottle color over brand in anticipation of this project. The son-in-laws have filled in the gaps with lots of green, clear and brown beer bottles. Road kill provided us with a large wine bottle and a stop at a BBQ joint turned up gallon jalapeno pepper jars that will let in a lot of light. Random sized round bottle ends form an intended visual connection with the mesquite log ends we will be laying the bathroom floor with. Now we have the family gathering bottle caps to grout down as a tiled vanity top for a similar theme at a smaller scale.
