FIRST PRESS - Ukiah Daily Journal

Mendocino County couple has big plans for their tiny home
Ukiah Daily Journal By RACHEL EBEL | 
PUBLISHED: January 3, 2019 at 7:56 am | UPDATED: January 4, 2019 at 3:45 pm

Local entrepreneurs Eric and Lindsay Wood are going to open up their tiny-home to Ukiah’s First Friday Art Walk on Jan. 4. During the event, they will be showcasing the artworks of woodturner Rob Hassett and digital artist Mary Serphos. Up to 30 headsets will also be provided for visitors to enjoy a “silent disco” experience while local DJ Micheal Godinez performs live.

Eric Wood and Lindsay Wood have been working on their tiny home since mid-2018. After struggling to find affordable housing in Marin County, they decided to relocate to one of their parent’s homes in Mendocino County. They were both inspired by an online world of nomadic living and decided that it was time to downsize and look into getting a tiny home.

After meeting a Utah based builder at the Tiny Home Jamboree in Dallas, Texas in November 2017. They contracted their Tiny Home and during the summer of 2018, they traveled over 6,000 miles around the western US before picking up their tiny home.

Two weeks before they were to pick it up their builder went bankrupt and they had to pick up their unfinished Tiny Home. When they picked up the house, it had only the framed walls, shiplap, roofing, no appliances and one window boarded up.
“Do we walk away? No. Do we get another builder? It would be at least $50,000 to do the materials and the labor. The third option was to build it ourselves with subcontractors and all of that. We did that from July to October,” shares Lindsay Wood.

Eric and Lindsay Wood, designed and selected most everything in the house along with the help of family, friends, two contractors, KMS Plumbing and Love Electric and Solar. The home runs on solar power and has a 6.5kW system with six 230 watt panels.

Their mission upon return to Ukiah with their incomplete home was to finish it for the Bioneers conference in Marin County exactly three months away on October 18th 2018... Eric and Lindsay rolled in at 3am just in time to open up the next day at 9am. 

With "Sierra" their Tiny Home, they want to give people the opportunity to experience a Tiny Home close up. They are excited to soon be providing unique experiences like five course wine, cheese, chocolate pairing dinners,  silent disco dance parties, or even a movie night at the tiny-home (think drive in without the car). An interest of theirs is also to showcase their Tiny Home at local and regional food truck events throughout 2019.

Already the couple has had around 400 people come through the house. They have also They also showcased their home at WCS Talks hosted by Women in CleanTech and Sustainability at the Google campus in Sunnyvale. They have hosted pop-ups in Sausalito and made a presence at the Ukiah Farmers Market. They encourage people to walk through their Tiny Home and ask questions.
We want to create an experience where people can tour a tiny-home vs. see one on the internet or TV. 

Even though Tiny Homes seem to be a trend, the reality is they are not considered legal. The City of Fresno was the first city in California to pass an amendment to the Accessory Dwelling Unit ordinance already legal statewide.  

​Starting February, 2019 San Luis Obispo will begin to accept permit applications for Moveable Tiny Homes (MTH). Cities like Los Angeles, San Diego, Placer County and San Luis Obispo are currently exploring their own MTH ordinance amendments.  Right now in California, to live in a tiny home, you must have a building permit, otherwise it is illegal to reside within one formally.

Currently, Lindsay Wood is the lead for Mendocino County’s American Tiny House Association where she plans to work with the city of Ukiah and Mendocino County to work on also allowing a Movable Tiny Home ordinance similar to that of Fresno and San Luis Obispo.

Tiny homes are ideal for a variety of people regardless of age; larger properties will always be available and sought after, but many people cannot afford traditional housing, would like a slower pace, maybe save for retirement and many millenials don’t want the hassle of living in a bigger space.

“There is also the unhoused population in Mendocino County that could be easily housed with Moveable Tiny Homes. "Take one drive through the City of Oakland or San Francisco and see the unhoused crisis", concludes Lindsay Wood.

The tiny home, silent disco, and featured artwork will be on display at the corner of Seminary Avenue and School Street and will be open to the public during the January First Friday Art Walk in downtown Ukiah from 5 to 8 p.m. More information about the Wood's and their tiny home can be found at www.experiencetinyhomes.org.