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Contact Shelter Publications
Shelter Publications, Inc
P.O. Box 279
Bolinas, California USA
(415) 868-0280
Email: TheShelterBlog@shelterpub.com
Website: www.shelterpub.comAbout Us
In 1973 we published Shelter, which turned out to be station central for people interested in creating their own homes. Now, in the 21st century, we continue this dialog here online on shelter, carpentry, homesteading, gardening, and the home arts with this blog. We hope you will join us and contribute.
Carpentry (165)
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Ziggy and April's Timber Frame and Straw Bale Home in Missouri
…After ten days of the Straw Bale Workshop (and yet more punishing heat), we built the walls of our new home, installed all the windows and doors, and began the natural clay and lime plaster finishes on the walls.
Amazingly, we were able to live in the house by winter of that same year. Granted the house was not complete, but we had a dry, warm place to rest in before the next year’s work started. A year or so later the house was completed.
Building our straw bale house challenged us in many unexpected ways. Just as we had taken a bare piece of ground and utterly transformed it, the straw bale house itself changed us in ways we could never imagine…
- From our book Small Homes: The Right Size
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Lodge in Allegany Mountains in New York
Log home built by Bill Castle near Belmont in the Allegany Mountains, New York. Bill, a good friend, who unfortunately left this earth a few years back, was a phenomenal builder. He created a resort he called Pollywog Hollér and was one of the three featured builders in our book Homework.
The resort is still going strong. Here’s what it says on their website:
“Named for the serenade of frogs that fills the evening air, Pollywogg Holler is a great camp-style eco-resort in New York’s Southern Tier. The genius of nature and man are showcased in a setting of spectacular beauty, Adirondack-style craftsmanship, solar electricity, and gravity fed spring water. Explore available lodging and book your stay now.”
Post from www.lloydkahn.com
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30% Discount on Shelter
We are offering a 30% discount on our classic builders’ book until October 1st. Click here.
- From @shelterpub’s Instagram post
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Wheelchair-Accessible Treehouse
This wheelchair-accessible treehouse for students at the Yestermorrow Design-Build School in the Green Mountains, Vermont was designed by John Connell.
- From @shelterpub’s Instagram post
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Surfers Hotel in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
Shelter Publications had a visit from Steve Pezman, the co-creator and recently-retired editor of Surfer’s Journal, and his long-time surfing buddy, photographer Leo Hetzel. Steve interviewed @lloyd.kahn and Leo shot photos for an article in the magazine. This was the cover of a scrapbook Lloyd made of a surfing trip to Costa Rica in 1990. It shows Kurt Van Dyke on the balcony of his hotel for surfers in Puerto Viejo, on the Caribbean coast southeast of Puerto Limón. When he saw Lloyd about to take a picture, Kurt said, “Classic, eh?”
- From @shelterpub’s Instagram post
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Tiny Homes from Sonoma County, California
Ward Hensill builds these unique tiny buildings in Bodega, Calif. He uses 1⅛″ plywood, and it is screwed together — no nails. The pop-out windows give them a much bigger feel than you’d expect with only 120 sq. ft. of floor space.
More info: www.bodegaportablebuildings.com
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Traditional Japanese Woodworking
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Margaret's Cabin Built by Jan Janzen
This little cabin was built almost entirely from a cedar tree that had been lying nearby. Framing, flooring, shakes. Maybe that’s what makes the building so harmonious. Jan had told me this and, as I was climbing around inside and out shooting photos, I had a vision of a tree, a solid chunk of wood, cut up rearranged, and expanded to make this cozy place…
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Crystal River Treehouse
“The treehouse was designed as a collaborative effort between Green Line Architects’ principal, Stephen A. Novy, AIA, and David of David Rasmussen Design.” (p. 150)
- This treehouse is featured in our book: Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter
- From @shelterpub’s Instagram post
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Windbreak Beach Shelter
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Timber Home Along Canada’s Sunshine Coast



This home was built by Marlin Hanson (@hanson_land_and_sea) with Douglas fir logs from adjacent land that were milled onsite. Marlin is a marine construction carpenter and he utilized the strong construction methods used in building piers for framing this home.
This home is featured in our book Small Homes: The Right Size on page 36.
- From @shelterpub’s Instagram post
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Shelter, the Classic




With over 1,000 photographs, Shelter is a classic celebrating the imagination, resourcefulness, and exuberance of human habitat. It includes a history of shelter and the evolution of building types: tents, yurts, timber buildings, barns, small homes, domes, etc.
There is a section on building materials, including heavy timber construction and stud framing, as well as stone, straw bale, adobe, plaster, and bamboo. The spirit of the ’60s counterculture is evident, and the emphasis is on creating your own shelter (or space) with your own hands. A joyful, inspiring book.
To purchase go to www.shelterpub.com/….
By Lloyd Kahn and Bob Easton
- From @shelterpub’s Instagram post
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Foster Huntington's Treehouse in Washington
This is the upper of two treehouses, connected to the lower one by a swaying catwalk. I slept up here one night. Check out @fosterhunting on Instagram.
- Post from Lloyd’s newly formatted blog: www.lloydkahn.com
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Circle Madness

Old guys at work. 153 years of age total here. Billy and I have worked together off and on for 47 years.
I’ve wanted to build a curved roof for a long time. I finally did it, with help from Billy Cummings. For the 6 rafters, we glued together 4 pieces of redwood bender board — 16′ long, 1″ by 4″, ⅜″ thick, using a jig laid out on the floor, with Titebond wood glue, and clamping every foot or so. It was a pretty tedious process, we could only do one a day.
We got the rafters in place, Billy did the blocking on the plates, and we used 1×8 rough redwood fence boards for the sheathing. Yesterday we put down the flooring — used shiplap pine from Heritage Salvage. It looks (and feels) great.
There’s nothing like a curved roof, especially with a tiny home; it gives you a feeling of spaciousness. This is the roof shape in gypsy wagons — vardos.
This is 10′ by 10′. If I did it over, I would make it rectangular, like 8 by 12 or 8 by 14. I’m going to put a bed inside on wheels, that can be rolled out on the deck to sleep out under the stars. I’m still figuring out where to put windows.
- From lloydkahn.com/…
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