Ella and Little Yellow

Little Yellow with Ella securing the stairs

I really enjoy meeting other "tiny home people" not just because of the obvious shared interests, but also because they are frequently interesting, engaging individuals who build tiny homes at least in part because it enables them to focus on other interests. Ella is no exception. She studied in Scotland, plays the harp, and recently built, with limited carpentry skills, a tiny home she calls Little Yellow. She also maintains a very interesting blog which chronicles the build. Earlier this month she moved Little Yellow from Southern to Northern California and stopped at a couple of spots on route for brief open houses. It was great to see her home in Soquel and to chat with Ella as well as others. The exterior is essentially a Tumbleweed Fencl, but the interior is customized. There were a number of aspects I particularly liked including:

• Use of natural wood. The first thing you notice is the interesting branch that serves as the corner post (purely aesthetic) near the door. The interior also features natural wood in places such as the coat rack and bench legs.
• The kitchen counter, which she had done professionally, is spectacular. The interesting grain patterns and natural, biomorphic edge turn a kitchen counter into an objet d'art. I definitely see the merits of having a professional complete certain focal aspects of a tiny home.
• Custom trim work. Ella cut attractive designs in the trim which seem to automatically draw the eyes.
• The shower is a converted livestock trough: significantly less expensive with more character than a traditional shower. I assume it also can be used as an old-school bathtub.

The loft is a traditional Fencl loft and I remain convinced that such a loft is simply too small for me. At the risk of sounding like some sort of tiny home prima donna, I'll require both a loft skylight as well as an alternative roof design in my tiny home.

In Soquel several people asked Ella what she was selling or which company she represented. She indicated she wasn't selling anything and she scheduled open houses simply because she knew many people were interested in tiny homes. I'm certain I'm not the only one who is both grateful and inspired.

Beautiful kitchen counter

Livestock trough becomes shower

Traditional Fencl loft

Natural wood, custom trim

Tiny mobile home at Fleet Week

Last week San Francisco hosted Fleet Week, an annual event where military ships dock in the Bay and different branches of the military demonstrate their wares. This mobile unit displayed on Marina Green immediately caught my eye. Unfortunately, they weren't permitting tours at the time. Nonetheless, I particularly like the open-air design and integrated jack stands.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass

Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys play the Banjo Stage last Sunday

If you live in the SF Bay Area you are probably familiar with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the 3-day, multi-stage, free music festival in Golden Gate Park. Many locals avoid it because of the enormous crowds, but I'm still a devout fan. The HSB lineup (list of scheduled musicians) is always amazing and there are frequently difficult decisions with six different stages. The musicians themselves generally seem happy to be there and often play together in impromptu, sometimes unusual, combinations. The positive energy extends to the crowds where people generally are unusually polite and friendly given the mass of humanity.

While this year was no different, the festival was also melancholic as Warren Hellman, the founding partron of HSB, died last year and this is the first festival without him. Hellman was a successful private equity financier, as well as a philanthropist and banjo player. Even if you had never heard of him before last weekend, it was clearly evident from the frequency and sincerity of the many heartfelt tributes throughout the weekend that Hellman was the heart and soul of HSB. But his spirit continues, and so does HSB which Hellman funded well into the future so the festival will not require commercial support (which would profoundly alter HSB). Appropriately, the meadow where the HSB stages are built each year has been officially renamed "Hellman Hollow."

There were several tiny mobile homes in attendance

Emmylou Harris, as she does every year, closing show with help from some friends

Hellman Hollow