design

“Small is Beautiful” on film: it’s not about the (tiny) house

I was recently treated to an early screening of Small is Beautiful, a documentary film about the makers of tiny houses. The film has its official Portland premiere on May 7 at the Laurelhurst Theater. [photo courtesy smallbeautifulmovie.com] It’s a nice piece of film-making, alive with interesting characters and thought-provoking ironies. But it might not be what you expect. Director Jeremy Beasley hasn’t made a film about a movement, but rather a few specific people. It’s less about houses than the choices people make, and the idea of independence itself. This tack is fixed by the basic premise of the...

How to make a really good homemade salad spinner

One of the more curious effects of my ongoing health kick has been an unhealthy obsession with salad spinners. Since I have been eating a lot of greens, I wash a lot of greens. Greens that come straight from the farmer, like spinach, tend to come with a lot of dirt on them, and really need to be washed. And those boxed salads from the grocery store have already been washed and dried, but the leaves tend to get too dry. You don’t need to eat them that way. Washing and drying the greens again, which is easiest in a...

My tiny house, finally furnished right

When my tiny house was finished six and a half years ago, my mother-in-law needed to move in immediately, and our budget was spent. So we never really furnished it the way in a way that did justice to the architect’s design. No more! After 6 years of wonderful support for my spouse and child, my MIL has moved back East to take care of another grandchild, and we finally have dressed up the place for its new life as a furnished rental. I got help from interior designer Ann Reed at Redu. Here’s a tour. (All photos by ElleMPhotography...

A new web site about ADU’s: AccessoryDwellings.org

This blog gets a lot of visitors curious about the tiny house I made by converting my garage. That place (just a wee bit bigger than the one in the picture above) has three main virtues: 1. it’s smallness makes it very green, given that size is the primary determinant of a dwelling’s environmental footprint; 2. it’s nice, making it possible to live small without feeling like you are living in poverty; and 3. it’s very close to, but still quite separate from, the main house, meaning I can live a few feet from my mother-in-law and still think it’s...

The yogurt crime scene, or, why spending $70 for a lunch box no longer seems insane [Review of the PlanetBox]

Call me a curmudgeon, but I hate it when consumer products are designed to fail. For me there is a certain quiet pleasure in having well-made things in my everyday life. You know, things that work well for their purpose, feel right in my hands, and are worthy and capable of being repaired, rather than just cast into the landfill. And so when I encounter things that don’t have those qualities–are badly made, badly designed for their purpose, and incapable of being repaired, I start to sputter with anger. Is it right that I feel personally insulted by poorly done...