From Tiny House Blog:
“I’m Ella, a 23 year old musician and artist just out of college and I’m in the process of building my very own Tumbleweed Fencl. I’ve been in love with tiny houses from the moment it came to my attention they existed in 2010, and I’ve been saving my money ever since. Finally, last September, I bought a trailer and my step-dad and I began the grand construction!…”
Photo: Ella Jenkins
Thanks to Anonymous
`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
Sunset at Stinson Beach, California
GIMME SHELTER is an email newsletter I send out to about 600 people every few months. It used to be my main form of communication with people in the book trade and friends until I started blogging. We also post them on the Shelter website. Here’s the latest, from mid-January: https://www.shelterpub.com/_gimme/_2012-01-19/gimme_shelter-2012-01-19.html
“‘House Arc’ is a modular, prefab housing system developed by Palo Alto, California-based Bellomo Architects. Designed to be 100% off the grid, the 150-square-foot unit can be flat-packed and shipped in a box that is 4x10x3 feet in size.
Considered a model for compact living, the structure’s curvaceous shape is formed from a lightweight frame made of steel tubes – when complete it weighs only 3000 pounds. The intention of ‘house arc’ is to aid people located in areas devastated by natural disasters and other unforeseen events, as a means of replacing residences that were not built to withstand certain forces of nature. Hence, it has been constructed to withstand tropical winds and weather.
The capsule-like dwelling features a solar energy generating roof. large windows allow natural light to flood through the space, while also funneling air through the interior, creating a cross-breeze, while a shading trellis limits heat infiltration. The raised structure permits air to flow beneath the framework for cooling, while maintaining permeability of the site.
‘We designed it to be a kit of parts that the average person can assemble quickly–like an IKEA house, only easier to put together.’
– Joseph Bellomo, Architect”
https://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/9/view/18856/bellomo-architects-house-arc.html
Phil Miano sent us an email after seeing the post on teardrop trailers: “…I found this builders site…and was knocked out! Solid cedar teardrop trailers built in a style that would fit right in with Builders of the Pacific Coast for $9k. Each one a unique functional piece of art.”
“Queen size mattress, Double doors, Solar panel, Skylight, Tension bar suspension, Sliding windows. A full kitchen which includes, a pullout pantry, a pullout cooler storage, dual lights, and a table that hooks to the side of the trailer for outside dining.”
1153 Spruce St., Junction City, OR 87448 541-729-8763
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!
Photo inside Waterfall House by Camille Nordgren
Other photos of Waterfall House: https://shltr.net/An3mLK
Outside of Hani’s Man Cave.
SunRay’s a master of “natural materials.” He has a sure touch in making structural frameworks from twisted, gnarly trees. The posts and beams and oak cross pieces here all look like they’ve grown together. The joints are tight – competent carpentry.
“I want my buildings to sing and dance. I don’t want them to be static. Life is motion. Live is movement. The life force is always moving through us.” – P. 59, Builders of the Pacific Coast, where there are 26 pp. on SunRay’s work
SunRay Kelley in “Hani’s Man Cave,” which he built last year in the hills near Middleton (Clear Lake Area), Calif. (His friend Hani has a wife and 4 daughters, and SunRay thought he needed some yang space.)
I got there on a misty December morning, just as he was in the finishing stages. It’s a lovely little building. It improves on the nature surrounding it.
He calls this a “kit.” He cut trees and milled lumber for the 12-sided, 14-½’ wooden yurt on his property in Washington and trucked it down to California. SunRay says he can ship kits like this anywhere: https://www.sunraykelley.com
This interior wall is sculpted cob, a SunRay specialty (the secret is clay), but it’s essentially a wooden building. The porch is framed with locally-harvested manzanita, bay, and pine.
More on pp. 100-101, Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter
https://www.faircompanies.com/videos/view/liveaboard-life-minimalism-in-a-tiny-home-on-water/
“When Teresa Carey lost most of her possessions in a house fire years ago, she felt liberated. “I didn’t miss a thing. It was almost like a burden lifted off my shoulders. ”
This was the first step toward a more minimalist lifestyle. The second motivating catalyst was her decision to life aboard her sailboat. Before making the move she began to downsize her stuff keeping only what would fit in her car. When she finally made her move to her 27 foot sloop she had given away or sold the majority of her belongings.
Today, Teresa lives on her sailboat Daphne with no flush toilet or shower, an icebox for a refrigerator, no television and few electronics. She doesn’t see it as a sacrifice, but as an opportunity to live a bigger life unfettered by her possessions.
In this video, Teresa gives us a tour of her boat and shows us a few days in the life of a liveaboard.”
