homes (170)

SMALL HOMES Now Available

March 14, 2017 at 7:44 pm

Our new book Small Homes: The Right Size is now available at independent bookstores, and Amazon — as well as from us: www.shelterpub.com/building/small-homes

Shameless Commerce Dept. This is, I think, the best building book we’ve ever done. (Yes, I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it keeps reoccurring to me.)  Shelter is everyone’s favorite; it captured the times, it inspired thousands of homes. Builders of the Pacific Coast is in some ways, my best book. It’s an odyssey of discovery where the reader rides shotgun with me over a 2-year period. Cohesive and focused.

BUT Small Homes is so useful to so many people in this era of astronomical home prices and rents, that I think it’s hugely important. It offers alternatives to people looking for rentals on Craigslist or homes on Zillow. Here are 65 very different homes, of different materials, in different parts of the world. The idea, as with all our building books is to use your hands to create your own shelter.

Two things I’ve discovered about this book (after seeing the finished product):

  1. There are a lot of homes out in middle America – Minnesota, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, more so than in any of our other books.
  2. It sparkles. Largely due to Rick’s considerable Photoshop skills, a motley assortment of photos from contributors have been rendered in colorful detail. I was stunned when I saw the first book off the press. The photos draw you in.
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Check Out Our Photos Now on Tumblr

November 18, 2016 at 11:30 am

Above: Caleb and Louise’s hand-built home near West Cornwall, Connecticut, in the early ’70s

Sean Hellfritsch gave us the idea of using Tumblr for good quality photos; he started it and now Brittany Cole Bush is continuing to put up photos, some old, some recent.

Click here: https://shelterpub.tumblr.com/

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Our New BlueStar Stove

November 10, 2016 at 7:48 pm

This has been a life changer. No electronic controls or screen. For oven convection, you turn on the fan. It’s such an upgrade from 25 years of a Jenn-Air. A lot of people prefer it to the Wolf Range these days, it seems.

With this model, when you remove one of the 4 ring grates, there’s a well and about a 2″ space down to the burners; a wok nestles down so you don’t need a ring for it.

Both the burners and oven work better than any stove we’ve ever used.

It’s easy to clean, and a relief not to have to mess with touchscreen controls. Made in America. A wonderful tool.

If you’re a Bay Area person: I got it at CG Appliance Express in Daly City, CA (adjacent to San Francisco), the best place I’ve ever seen for appliances of all kinds.

Note: See Kevin Kelly’s (more complete) review of the BlueStar on Cool Tools at: https://kk.org/cooltools/bluestar-range/

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Which Cover Do You Like Best?

November 4, 2016 at 7:45 pm

Rick and I are in the final stages of preparing Small Homes for the printers. We changed the cover from an earlier version, which showed a small turn-of-the-century home in Santa Cruz (in this revised cover, it’s the middle image in the left hand column), because a single image didn’t seem to represent the diversity of images (120 or so small homes) in the book. Hence the collage.

Below are two alternatives, the same except for the background color. In the one with the red, it’s similar-looking to Home Work, Builders of the Pacific Coast, and Tiny Homes on the Move. Some of our savvy book friends think it’s too similar, and that another color would distinguish it from the other books. Hence the other with the dark green background.

Comments, please. Which do you like? Do you see any problem in this cover being similar to our other books?

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Layout of Pages on Last Home in Our Book SMALL HOMES

September 30, 2016 at 9:14 pm


Just did layout of the last home in our next book, Small Homes: The Right Size. It’s a 2-family home converted to a duplex in San Francisco,. Downstairs is Jay Nelson, his wife Rachel Kaye, and their daughter Romy; upstairs is Dalia Burde — all 3 are artists (probably Romy (above) too).

This is what’s called a “tenants in common” agreement, where 2 parties buy a home together. Listen up, people looking for homes in cities, here’s a way to cut costs in half with the important prerequisite that you’re compatible (and remain so) with each other.

At left: staircase between the 2 units, in the backyard.

We’ve got another month or so to go on the book. I’ve been neglecting a bunch of things, like working out, blogging, traveling—to get it done. Boy, do I want to get it done!

Next we’re working on the “front matter” and “back matter,” as well as the all-important, the big kahuna—the cover. We’re probably changing from a single home on the cover to a collage of 14 photos. I’m going to put up our cover choices here for general feedback pretty soon.

Listening to this song just now: Marty Raybon – There’s A Ghost In This House now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=St1-_JQwido

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Small Homes Book Rolling

June 26, 2016 at 8:15 pm

Workwise, I’m having more fun than in a coon’s age.

This book—Small Homes—was in limbo for the 30 days we were in Scotland. Add to that the several weeks it took to get re-grounded at home, and there was a long lull in production (layout, that is).

WELL! The book is now rolling at a grand pace. This lovely little home just came in a few days ago.  French carpenter Menthé (partner of French carpenter Yogan) wrote, rather poetically:

“I grew up in the forest of Corréze; it’s really wild and green. 

I started building cabins when I was 3 years old, playing in the forest. 

I started this little one when I was 17 in 2000—I wanted my independence. 

It took me 3 years, and I lived there for 2 years.

The frame is made of chestnut from the forest, and all the windows are industrial window seconds.

The roof is insulated with lime and woodchips—a really strong mixture once it’s dry and insects can’t get in.

The walls are made of straw and lime; it’s a really cheap material, important when you’re young without money.

I built the entrance door with chestnut and walnut—my first work of joinerie, and it’s still working good.…”

***

This is gonna be such a good book!

Música del día: Cool Dry Place, Traveling Wilburys: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD8mBMn5F5k

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Notes From Edinburgh

May 9, 2016 at 12:45 pm

We got back yesterday from a week on the (small) Isle of Eigg. So much has happened that I’ve had little time to write and/or post photos about it. Tomorrow night (Tuesday, May 10), I’m doing a presentation at Kircaldy Galleries, titled “50 Years of Natural Building,” chronicling our building books from Shelter in 1973 up to the present. It’s been sold out for a few weeks.

I had a trial run Wednesday night in the community center on Eigg, about 30 people (half the population of the island). A ton of kindred spirits on the island.

I ended up shooting photos of the (very different) homes of 2 builders: Damien Helliwell and Karl Harding, which will go into the Small Homes book.

Eigg is one of a group of 4 islands referred to as The Small Isles, in the Inner Hebrides. It’s off the west coast of Scotland, reachable by a ferry from the fishing port of Mallaig.

We could live here, and I can’t say that for many places in the world.

So much to tell, so little time. Some photos

Isle of Eigg from Ferry

The Sgurr of Eigg

Ancient stone masonry

Stove in Karl’s round house

Shepherd’s bothy (hut)

Note:I’m not going to be so specific about where things are out here. I’ve seen too many small towns wrecked (or forever changed) by getting too much attention.

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