Last night I watched an episode of Tiny House Nation on TV. Or, rather, watched as long as I could stand it, less than five minutes. It had this nice looking young white couple with three kids being surprised by their newly built tiny house. The building was a mess. Crudely attached short pieces of “natural lumber,” slate roof (?), dumb porch (don’t subtract from precious interior space), dangerous loft.

Worse was the amazement and delight of the occupants upon seeing their new digs. It all seemed phony and shallow. Reality TV comes to the tiny house movement. “Could you go out, come back in, and say ‘awesome,’ again, honey?”

I tell people that I’m not the tiny homes guy just because I did a book on the subject. I’m the build-it-yourself-guy. Do what you can for yourself with your hands—shelter, food, clothing, firewood, etc.— with the awareness and understanding that you can’t do it all. Find the balance.

I don’t know about other Tiny House Nation episodes, but this one was a commercialization and dumbing-down version of a concept that is very real in its heart for many people. Too bad.

Here’s just one example of bad design in the TH field, and it’s quite prevalent: Are those round steps with no banister actually the way you climb up into the cramped and dangerous loft? The ladder to loft is a bad design in all these gable roofed tiny houses.  The space is claustrophobic. There should be windows all-around at eye level  to expand your sense of place. And so on. Unfortunately this configuration is the poster girl for the tiny house movement.

What do I think is better? The gypsy wagon, or vardo design, with curved roof and bed at one end with drawers underneath. Lots of eye level windows. Heck, look at our last book.

I’m not one to bemoan the absence of architects, but in this field, good architecture could make a huge difference.

And by the way, a home is more than a house.

Photo: 

Maui’s finest watermen including Kai Lenny, Jesse Richman, Robby Naish, the Porcella brothers, take on Jaws… Windsurf, kite surf, tow in, SUP and all while Dan maneuvers his Hughes 500D (helicopter) like a DJI Phantom to get the shot nobody else dares to get.

From Dick Ryerson via Bob Kahn

“Sometimes small is just too small, even in a city grappling with out-of-control real estate prices and a shortage of affordable rentals.

A couple of years ago, Ches Lam created a tiny, 250-square-foot house in his east side backyard as a guest cottage for visitors, but the Vancouver carpenter didn’t consider city bylaws when he converted his former workshop/garage into a living space.

Now it has to go.

Lam says his neighbours love the little cottage and have even rented it for their own guests, but someone has made a complaint and city inspectors have given him notice to get rid of the place.

‘It’s kind of heartbreaking, said Lam, 39, who has listed the cottage for sale on Craigslist.

‘People love it, except for the one neighbour. I really don’t want to sell it, but the city wants me to take it out.’…”

https://news.nationalpost.com/homes/tiny-vancouver-home-listed-for-20k-but-you-have-to-move-it-out-of-the-city-where-its-illegal?google_editors_picks=true

From Anonymous

Hi Lloyd and friends:

Just thought you might like to see some photos of SunRay’s latest creation — a funky little treehouse nestled in ponderosa pine trees, built during the recent 20th anniversary Natural Building Colloquium in Kingston, New Mexico. I have a bunch of images on my website here: https://www.theyearofmud.com/blog/

It’s a beautiful structure, particularly the roof. Hope you enjoy!

– ziggy

p.s. By the way, I’m greatly looking forward to the next book!

Brian ‘Ziggy’ Liloia

Natural Building Workshops & more

Busted! Compound fracture of my wrist, that is. It happened just when skating was going so good. A great new board, a downhill section in town closed to traffic for a few weeks, my continued obsession with the sheer fun of skating. But in the back of my mind, I promised myself to quit if I ever had a serious crash. It wasn’t at high speed or anything, it was just goofing around on the street in San Francisco and suddenly the board shot out from under me and I fell back and instinctively blocked the fall with my arm. I just about fainted when I  looked at my wrist; it might be the single most worst moment in my life.

I drove to Marin General Hospital in kind of a daze, shifting with my left hand, and they were incredible. I lucked out in getting a wonderful surgeon. I walked into the hospital in such a mess, and walked out about 24 hours later with everything put back together.

I’ve got two plates and pins in my wrist and it will heal up fine, but if I were to continue skating and damaged that arm again, who knows what could happen. I’m fond of my right hand.

Am I mature or what?

(This is being written by me speaking into a microphone with MacSpeech Dictate, which by the way, is a wonderful alternative to keyboarding.)