Category Archive

Homes & Tours

Take a close-up look at real Offbeat Homes of all shapes, sizes and flavors.

My guy works for the circus, so we live in an RV and travel to a new place every week

This is the first time in my adult life that I’m not renting my space, and it’s thrilling to demolish and tinker to my heart’s content. For now, this is home, and I really love it. It’s cozy and frankly, bigger than our shoebox in Toronto. How about that?

How much would you pay for Cincinnati’s Mushroom House?

In 1998, architect Terry Brown set out to build his most artful designs into his new house in Ohio. It’s full of pounded-metal floors, irregular stained glass windows, and weaving, winding, brightly painted paths and handrails…and I think you could get this house for a steal.

Yurts, slugs, and life in a temperate rainforest

We’ve talked about Sacred Groves before — it’s Ariel’s mama’s land in Western Washington that used to be an intentional community. But it’s worth revisiting, since I just got back from the Offbeat Retreat with fresh photos and new stories. Sit back and dream your way through this quickie home tour.

Rick and Annie’s handbuilt treehouse in Australia

What would it be like to inhabit a normal-sized home that’s actually a treehouse? Now we know. We picked up a friend of ours and offered her a ride, and we didn’t know we were in for such a treat when we got to her destination!

Building a tiny house/sleep shed for the backyard of our cooperative

This year I decided I wanted to build my own tiny house after being inspired by many other examples such as Tumbleweed. It’s 150 square feet, uses passive solar heating, has an earthen floor and a green roof, and I built it (almost) entirely by myself as an addition to my cooperative home.

Mama’s garden shed/girlie clubhouse in the backyard

After organizing the shed in my backyard, I took all of my girly fabric scraps, a can of spray paint, and half a can of latex interior white and made this plain old shed my girly getaway.

All I did was rearrange tools and paint the place, but you’ll be surprised at the difference that made!

What would YOU do with this historic brick building?

A friend of mine who’s a grad student in Idaho recently shared this amazing property in downtown Boville, Idaho:

GREAT HISTORIC BRICK BUILDING. STARTED OUT AS A BANK WITH A MASONIC LODGE LOCATED ON THE 2ND FLOOR. MAIN FLOOR IS SET UP AND HAS BEEN RUN AS THE ELK TAVERN FOR MANY YEARS. THERE IS AN APARTMENT IN THE BACK ON MAIN FLOOR. SECOND FLOOR HAS NOT BEEN USED FOR YEARS, MOSTLY ONE BIG ROOM WITH HIGH CEILING, FIR FLOORING, LOTS OF WINDOWS AND 2 FIREPLACES.

What would YOU do with it?

My dream house: Dick Clark’s Flintstone’s-style Malibu retreat

Move over Snow White’s bungalow, because the newest installation of “amazing dream homes that have popped up on the market that Megan could never afford” is here.