Natural Materials (313)

Travis Skinner has built this exquisite small (400 sq. ft.) home in the state of Washington.

• pairoducks.blogspot.com

A 20 ft. shipping container can be a challenging space to work with when constructing a home. Thankfully, with years of experience building super-yachts and racing boats, shipwright Evans is no stranger to working in small spaces and when it came to building his own home he has done a truly spectacular job of, quite literally, thinking inside the box.

Shipping containers make a lot of sense as a base for constructing a home. Structurally they are incredibly sound and because they are designed for marine environments, they are well-equipped to handle pretty much anything that nature can throw at them. Most people, when building a shipping container home, will modify the container by cutting holes for doors and windows. In his design however, Evans has left the entire exterior of the container structurally intact, meaning this 20 × 8 ft. home can still be shipped by sea, anywhere in the world…

• www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/…

Bruno Atkey, one of the major builders in Builders of the Pacific Coast, has been splitting cedar shakes for most of his life. He split the shakes for my 6-sided tower roof from driftwood logs (and his girlfriend Mecea drove them down here in a van). He’s split cedar shakes, and even siding, in British Columbia for numerous homes over the years.

Godfrey Stephens sent us this photo of Bruno’s latest mallet. (I use an old bowling pin.) In the background is one of Godfrey’s paintings.
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A local couple is using skills and talents learned “on the job” with the Highland Rim Habitat for Humanity to avoid the high prices, mortgage payments and wait times involved in building a new home. Last December, Terrie Bush Quick, a Tullahoma dental hygienist, and Mike Hill, a location supervisor for Aramark at Nissan in Decherd, purchased several acres in Grundy County together with a plan to build a small cabin. Only six months later, they now live in a stylish mountain hideaway in Altamont for only $12,000 in construction cost…

• www.tullahomanews.com/…

• www.instagram.com/…

…SunRay returned my online inquiry with a brief email and a phone number, so after a short chat we made plans for a visit. When I arrived he gave a brief introduction and skeptical inquiry of my east coast upbringing, then informed me he had to do a dump run and pick up firewood. I tied down piles of garbage to the rack of his Toyota and off we went, only to return with an equally disproportionate load of firewood, Fir and Madrone. We walked around the homestead and delivered tractor bucket-loads of wood to hungry wood stoves and fireplaces. It’s constant work to keep the buildings warm during the downpours and gusty blows of Northwest winters. The guy burns a lot of wood…

• pairoducks.blogspot.com/…

Bryce runs a really cool website Living Big in a Tiny House which we feature on here from time to time. He has been working on a tiny home of his own, here is an update on the progress.

• www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/…