Most of my houses are named after people I like. I choose names from my long list of such folks once the design is finished, which means there’s usually no intentional resemblance between a house and its namesake. For anyone interested, I’m including a list of some house names and their (mostly) human counterparts here…

The Fencl- It’s pronounced like pencil, but with an “F”, or, at least, that’s what my friend John Fencl tells me. John spent about a year helping me build my first house for nothing but beer and dinner. Thanks, John.

The Weller-   Francis Weller’s the most socially intelligent friend I have. His new book, “Entering the Healing Ground” is transformative and its form is 100% artful. Thanks, Francis. You are a well-loved man.

The Gifford-    Zeke Gifford helped me to build my most recent house.  I like how he’ simply smiled and broke out the crowbar when I’d told him I’d decided to change the roof pitch by 2 degrees. I heart Z. G. 

The Beavan- Collin Beavan is one of those folks who wrote to ask what significance the house names have. He was, of course, most curious about the “Beavan”. I told him it was named after one of my favorite anti-consumption heroes. That’s you, Collin.

The Stamper-  Norm Stamper resigned from the Seattle Police Department a few years back. As he puts it, "the paramilitary bureaucracy that is American policing", will not change "unless, even as we cull 'bad apples' from our police forces, we recognize that the barrel itself is rotten". I love good cops as much as I despise the petty tyrants they work with. Thank you, Mr. Stamper.

The Anderjack-    Jane Anderjack was the first Tumbleweed customer, ever. Along with her payment for the Small House Book, I received a $20 donation towards the cause. She sent another $20 later that month with some nice stationary and a note encouraging my efforts. Thank you, Jane.

The Zinn- As in “Howard”, of course.

The Epu-    A friend in need would be lucky to know Mark Sours. Despite our, otherwise, hetero-tendencies, I came to calling him “Mark-epu”, which became Mr. Epu, which became, and remains, the saccharine source for the name of my “Epu” design. Thanks, Mr. Epu.

The Weebee- Jenny Thomas (one time lesbian fiancé o’ mine) became known to me by this (also very saccharine) name. As an ex who broke my heart, she may well have become known to me by other terms, but I so appreciate her coming out of the closet before we tied the knot. Thanks, Jenny.

The Tarleton- If it weren’t for the kindness of virtual strangers, Tumbleweed would have sunk before it ever got off the ground. Mr. and Mrs. Tarleton (I think they’d prefer it if I didn’t use their first names) donated an extra $6000 to me when I realized I had bid the building of their house to produce a negative profit. Greg Johnson (see Biensi) did the same thing when I way-underbid his house. My relatively prudent business partner does all the pricing now. Thanks, Tarletons. Thanks, Greg. Thanks, Steve.

The Lusby- Cecile Lusby let me live in her backyard between Sebastopol and Santa Rosa (Sebastarosa) for a while. I paid her a few bucks, but, mostly, she just wanted to see that I had a place from which to work on pushing the tiny-house-thing while she did the same from her home out front. Thank you, Cecile.

The Loring-      Loring was another landlord more interested in promoting the greater good than collecting rent. He’s the least territorial man I’ve ever met. “… come into the big house any time. Use the shower. Use whatever you want. Build a whole village in the orchard. It’s all very good”. I’m paraphrasing, of course. Thank you, Loring. 

Z-Glass-      Same theme, different landlord. I met Zaporah Glass while standing in front of the Sebastopol Whole Foods with my XS-House. I’d been soliciting for a place to live in it for less than an hour when this stranger suggested that I live on her property in the redwoods for free. A sheynem  dank, ya’ hootsbah!

The Walden-    Walden Pond is closely associated with its one-time resident Henry David Thoreau, and that’s who I’m referring to here. Henry (early tiny house adaptor and proponent of grunge apparel before it was even cool) has been an inspiration to me from the start. Other primary influences include Lester Walker (author of “Tiny Houses”), sacred architecture, vernacular design, Francis Weller and LSD. Thanks to Henry, Les, Francis, Albert and all those unnamed folks who understand common sense and good design.

XS House- The remainder of the names listed here are of non-human origin. “XS” means “extra small” or (for those who need more) “excessively small”.

New Vesica-    First there was the Vesica. And it was good. Then there was the New Vesica. And it was good”er”. The term “vesica” is intended as a shout-out to sacred geometry, in which this shape often symbolizes the inherent creativity shared by people and the universe we live in. When it’s done right, our built environment is formed by the same thing that makes trees and flowers and “nature”.

B-53-    I named one of my early designs the B-52, after the big airplane. It was one of my larger houses and I thought it was an “airplane bungalow”. It turns out I’d misinterpreted the term, but that’s of no consequence now. The B-53 is just a slightly larger version of the original, and it’s not an airplane either.

Enesti-    N.S.T. (en-es-tee) As in, “not-so-tiny.

Biensi-   B.N.C. (bee-en-see) As in, Building-of-No-Consequence. This term has sometimes been used to describe buildings that are so small that they don’t require permitting. This design was originally going to be called The Tiny Johnson, which I like, partly because I’m a sucker for phallic connotations, and, mostly, because it refers to one of my favorite people. Greg Johnson was the first man to ever buy a house from me. He also helped Shay Salomon, Nigel Valdez and me to establish The Small House Society, which really got the Small House Movement ball rolling. When I say Greg “helped”, I mean he did, and continues to do all the work, while Nigel, Shay and I have occasionally thrown ideas his way.

On the horizon, I will, most likely, be releasing houses with such names as…

The Marmara- Named after the ship that was hijacked by military forces while attempting to deliver humanitarian aid.

The Colbert-    Named after the artless guy on TV. What I mean by “artless” is that if  [as Picasso said… (kind of)], “art uses lies to expose the truth”, then one who uses truthiness to expose lies” (as I believe Steven Colbert does) must be a complete philistine. I applaud his efforts anyway.

The Schoolcraft- Another good cop amongst some bad apples. Adrian Schoolcraft (formerly) of the NYPD outed his precinct for systemic corruption. They tried to blackmail him and have him locked away before he could get the word out, but (too bad for them) he was recording everything. The tapes and Officer Schoolcrafts’ story can be heard on the radio program This American Life.

The al-Zaidi-    Muntadhar al-Zaidi is the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush during a press conference while screaming, “This is a farewell kiss from the Iraqi people, you dog”. I think we needed someone like him over here to see the President out of office in 2010.