The Shelter Blog has been inactive since May, 2019. Too much to do! From this point on, Lloyd’s Blog will have the buildings, vehicles, and home-related posts such as what has previously appeared here. Go to lloydkahn.com.

Tiny Homes on the Move Book (49)

Casual Turtle Campers

By Lew Lewandowski on April 8, 2015
Casual Turtle Camper

Peter Pavlowich’s company, Casual Turtle Campers, was featured in our book Tiny Homes on the Move. Peter recently wrote to us with his newest creation:

Lloyd, Lew, and folks,

Thought I might pass along a couple photos of a recent build. It’s a simple little non-cabover design for a second generation Toyota Tacoma. Of the four basic designs that I build, this one is probably my favorite — dead simple, you get a huge bed area, and there’s lots of room for storage underneath. The forward section of the bed platform is fixed, and the rear portion is removable. Five windows, excellent thru-visibility, and some really nice roof lines — I’m quite happy with this one, and the gentleman who ordered it seems to be, too. Thanks for having a look — more photos and info at CasualTurtleCampers.com.

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Categories: Nomadic Homes, Pickups with Campers, Vehicles  Tags:
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Top 5 Best Tiny House Books

By Lew Lewandowski on March 25, 2015
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We don’t mean to brag, but according to Heavy.com, Shelter Publications has two of the top 5 best tiny house books:

The Tiny House Movement is growing rapidly in the United States. There are a lot of cultures around the world who have already discovered the greater simplicity, freedom and happiness that comes from minimizing your “stuff” load and living in a small home. In the U.S., though, the trend for years has been toward McMansions and the “more is more” philosophy: more space, more stuff, more debt, more hours at work, the list can go on and on. The Tiny House Movement provides an outlet and an alternative for people looking to have more creative control over their living spaces and, in turn, their lives. These five books are a good starting place if you are interested in tiny homes and want to learn more, are looking for some inspiration and ideas, or if you are an experienced tiny house dweller or builder.
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Categories: Tiny Homes  Tags: ,
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Yogan's Tiny Ship-Shape House

By Lew Lewandowski on January 26, 2015
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In 2007, we got an email from Yogan, a young carpenter in France. He said he’d started out with a Volkswagen van, worked alone, and was following in the footsteps of old carpenters, using “…noble wood.” He had a large Mercedes van that contained his portable tools, as well as a bed and kitchen for working away from his home territory. He’d seen our book Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter, and wanted us to see the treehouse he was living in. We featured Yogan in both Tiny Homes and Tiny Homes on the Move. Here’s a new creation from Yogan, a ship-shape elevated 450 sq. ft. tiny home located in France, with a deck shaped like the prow of a ship.
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Categories: Carpentry, Tiny Homes  Tags: , , , ,
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Jay Nelson's Newest Creation

By Evan Kahn on December 7, 2014

The prolific Jay Nelson has just completed a new vehicle. Jay’s nomadic creations are in both Tiny Homes and Tiny Homes on the Move. Here’s how he describes his latest:

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Golden Gate 2, named after the last electric camper I built, Golden Gate 1. It’s a car camper made with salvaged wood and bike parts. It has a 90″ × 42″ footprint. Sink, water tank, stove, cooler. The entire inside is a bed.

image 16.jpeg image 15.jpeg image 18.jpeg

Categories: Trailers  Tags: , ,
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SunRay Kelley's New Treehouse

By Lloyd Kahn on November 21, 2014

SunRay Kelley is a master natural builder whose work has been featured in Builders of the Pacific Coast, Tiny Homes, and Tiny Homes on the Move. Here’s some recent news.

Hi Lloyd,

SunRay is working on a two-story, one-bedroom tree house. The attached picture will give you an idea but I need to get some updated photos soon it is a lot farther along these days. I hope she’ll be done in time to make this next book. Below are links to photos and text on a few of the small homes SunRay has done.

Sounds like you have another great project to keep you busy and out of trouble this rainy season.

Love and Light,
Bonnie and SunRay

Categories: Carpentry  Tags: , , , ,
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Our Next Book: Small Homes

By Lloyd Kahn on November 8, 2014
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Our book Tiny Homes has sold over 60,000 copies and with a recent surge of interest in the subject, is selling over 1,000 copies per month. We are getting a lot of inquiries from reporters and film makers about the subject; they want to contact people living in (or building) tiny homes.

I’ve taken to telling people I’m not the tiny homes guy, I’m the build-it-yourself guy, and that the important thing about the tiny home “movement” is not that all people should be living in tiny homes, but that the size of new homes should be getting smaller, rather than continuing to grow in size.

To wit: our next book will be Small Homes, and we’re starting to gather information. Size: 400-1200 sq. ft. or thereabouts (the maximum size in the Tiny Homes book was 500 sq. ft.). A small home is a lot more realistic for the majority of people than a tiny home.

We are asking people (you) to send us photos and details of small homes. Or leads to people living in or building small homes. In the near future we’ll do blog posts with this material, and down the line (1-2 years from now), we’ll publish the new book. Read More …

Categories: Small Homes  Tags: ,
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Lloyd Kahn and His Greenhouse

By Lew Lewandowski on November 7, 2014

Art Rogers Family Album, November 6, 2014 | The Point Reyes Light

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Lloyd Kahn and his greenhouse built from recycled windows and handmade bricks made from local clay. Photo by Art Rogers

Lloyd, who was born and raised in San Francisco, began building things in the late 1940s when, at age 12, he helped his father construct their family home in Colusa. After building a large timber home for himself from recycled materials in Big Sur in 1967, he became interested in domes and began his publishing career with a series of publications titled Dome Book 1 and Dome Book 2; he became the “Shelter” editor in 1969 for the Whole Earth Catalogue. He moved to Bolinas in 1971, built a dome, tore it down and replaced it with a stud-framed house and became a pioneer of owner-built simple structures using recycled materials. He has since published over 20 books on the subject, including  Shelter, and The Septic System Owners Manual, Builders of the Pacific Coast, and Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter.

He will be giving a slide presentation and book signing this Friday, November 7, 2014, 7:30 p.m., at the Point Reyes Presbyterian Church for his latest book about living in small structures, titled Tiny Homes on the Move: Wheels and Water.

For more information, visit www.pointreyesbooks.com.

Categories: Gardening, Homesteading, Natural Building  Tags: , , , ,
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Tiny Homes on the Move Review on BoingBoing

By Evan Kahn on September 5, 2014
Tiny Homes on the Move

“As a continuation of Tiny Homes: Simple Shelter, author Lloyd Kahn (former Shelter editor of Whole Earth Catalog) brings us Tiny Homes on the Move, which showcases 90 nomadic homes made from trailers, school buses, vans, trucks, boats, and even a tricycle. Each entry includes an essay by or about the home’s creator, who talks about why and how they converted a vehicle into a house. Each dweller has a unique story…”

The Tiny Homes on the Move book got a pretty nice review over at BoingBoing.

Categories: Nomadic Homes, Tiny Homes  Tags: ,
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