Lloyd House was the featured builder in Builders of the Pacific Coast. His skill and ingenuity and joy in building were stunning, as shown in more than a dozen homes in the book.
Lloyd left his cliffside compound on the west coast of Vancouver Island a few years ago and converted a 1992 Econoline van into a 70 sq. ft. home and now lives on Hornby Island. There are photos of it by Michael McNamara in Tiny Homes.
I dropped in on him as soon as I got to Hornby and on a grey, drizzly afternoon, we got reacquainted. I love the company of Lloyd and my friend Louie, both a few years older than me; we grew up in a different world. Did I want dinner. Well yeah-uh. We had chard soup and a big salad with greens from Barbara’s thriving greenhouse.
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| The band of windows brings the outside in. It’s an exquisite space. 10′ × 7′ = 70 sq. ft. |
I stay in the circular room on the right. Yesterday morning, it was drizzling, mist in the trees, cozy in the radial room with the wood stove. I can get some good writing done here, away from the almighty //www.
Brad has left a new comment on your post “Attention Deficit Not Necessarily a Disorder“:
Lloyd – this link is very appropos although you won’t see why until you watch the vid. This craftsman is incredible and he talks about the focus it takes to do his work. I think often we have to condition ourselves to allow that focus/single mindedness to take place. It used to be the norm, but these days it’s easy to mentally flit between things every few seconds. Love this guy! https://pacingthepanicroom.blogspot.com/2012/03/foot-stools.html
Brad
This came in a few days ago from Yogan, a carpenter in southwest France, whose treehouse is shown in Tiny Homes (pp 154-55).
“Lloyd, i see sometime your blog and i see that you make a new book “wheels and water.” With my collaborator carpintero (his name is Menthé) we made a new shelter, the principle is a base from 15m² so you can connect 2 trucks (my mercedes and the volkwagen of menthé). The base serves as kitchen, office, bathroom …with a wood stove, and the truck serves as bedroom.…
If you come in france you’re welcome
bye
yogan”
See construction photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/108938182056636113134/ConstructionCambane?locked=true&feat=email
You can never tell what it’s going to be like on the beach. A few days ago I rode my bike to a distant beach and walked a mile or so on the rocky shore. Tide just starting to come back in. It had rained ¼” the night before and the air was fresh and loaded with negative ions. Surf big. Water with bluish almost metallic sheen. Sun starting to set, no wind, a reddish Winter-going-into-Spring cast to rocks and driftwood. I was thrilled.
Unexpectedly I came across this little driftwood bench. Sat down, toked up, watched sun dropping down to horizon. Reflecting on the instinct to build. Some people just have it, they put things together, like the person who assembled the driftwood for this beach lovers’ perch. (That’s my right foot there.) Good on ya, mate!
`jonaven moore says this about the photo:”…photo of the treehosue that I got by hanging from a rope, walking out on a branch 30 ft up an adjacent spruce tree. I only just this fall got connected to the power grid, so i built everything there off grid, and the powerstation in the caboose sustained a lot of it.”`
Photo: Jeff Patterson
Things are popping around here. Tiny Homes is selling like mad. It’s been reviewed on about 20 blogs and/or websites. It’s coming up in two of the biggest newspapers in the country (my lips are sealed until articles appear) next week. We’re scheduling a tour for me with slide show and book signings in Feb-Mar-April-May June. Gadzooks! I’ve never had a book get this kind of attention.
The other day, it occurred to me that this book directly addresses the overblown wasteful indulgent home building industry. I’ve been saying to people, “No, you don’t have to live in such a small space, but it’s the direction that counts. How can we do things better? How can we use materials that do the least damage to the planet? How can we heat water and living space most efficiently?” That’s in addition to all the poetry of building in the book.
I took off from the madness yesterday and went up to my brother’s farm in the Napa Valley to split (oak) firewood. A chance to do something physical. Exciting to get on the road with camera (yesterday only the Canon Powershot G-95). Afterwards I went over to Harbin Hot Springs to take a look at SunRay Kelley’s temple (pp. 65-71, Builders of the Pacific Coast), and it looked in great shape, cob and all. It’s a beautiful building, and it should have a little brass plaque on it saying : “Designed and built by SunRay Kelley,” but the Harbin management is a weird bunch, and they give no credit to SR. There were about a dozen people inside doing yoga, and it was a lovely atmosphere, the wood and the cob and the lighting all in a soft glow.
Last month SunRay wanted me to come see his latest creation up near Fort Bragg (Mendocino coast), but I couldn’t get away.
SunRay is not easy to get ahold of. He doesn’t exactly have a smartphone that’s on all the time. But once in a while he’ll call. This call a week ago was fading in and out, but he was describing the “Waterfall House,” just completed, and I caught snatches of what he was saying:
“It’s got a living foundation. It’s grounded into the earth…it ascends to the heavens. The living walls are clay and straw and they breathe. It’s got a living roof…mushrooms and flowers and moss…It’s 6-sided, there’s a timber frame…cut trees in a fairy ring…”
The phone disconnected…
Anyone else saying stuff like and I’d be thinking, yeah, right…But SunRay is the real thing. He’s a true nature spirit. His buildings are poetry. Hey New York Times, do a story on SunRay Kelley!
https://www.sunraykelley.com
Photo inside Waterfall House by Camille Nordgren
Other photos of Waterfall House: https://shltr.net/An3mLK
