Author | Lightnews

Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · 4d

Turning boulders into a unique underground home? 🪨->🛖 Steve Demarest carved his dwelling with the Cascades, not just on it but amid giant boulders. Part cave, part megalith, he built a long-lasting home between rocks. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/bough...) & YT (youtu.be/GSdzhDzAltU?...)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · 6d

A pirate fortress reborn, Count of Monte-Cristo vibes. On Greece’s wild Mani coast, not far from Sparta, an 18th-century customs house (read: medieval corsair den) becomes a timeless home: stone, sea & patience restored. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/they-...) & YT (youtu.be/kc4BIIAFZG8)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · 11d

“Nature does a pretty good job.” 1 man, 1 acre, 1 dream: to live simply, freely. 40 years off-grid in Hawaii, William built a small paradise from recycled scraps. Thriving to him isn't to have more, just deeper roots 🌿 Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/oldti...) & YT (youtu.be/491--9SjgRY?...)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · 12d

In Finland, homelessness has nearly disappeared. How? Instead of forcing people into shelters, they get a safe (small) home; people get back on track & start over. In the US, some idealists are testing a similar model. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/how-f...) & YT (youtu.be/RwZQ8GCHgRg)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · 18d

Jim, a Maine vet, dreamed of creating an enchanting & nurturing world for his family, turning (with his son Dustin's help) 600 acres of wilderness into a unique homestead: bridges, underground 🛖, & 1 mile-long zipline✨Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/veter...) & YT (youtu.be/qGfZFbf36Jg?...)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · 20d

Dave used to build underground homes by burying reinforced Quonset huts. Now he's improved his approach with a prefab Hobbit-house kit for anyone to self-build a cozy, earth-sheltered home (easily, safely, & on a budget). Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/he-cr...) & YT (youtu.be/F1i-qWU1pPY)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · 24d

On an empty Spokane lot, Blockhouse built prefab homes around a walkable community rather than cars, saving old-growth trees for a pocket neighborhood feeling (while leaving parking spaces at the property’s edge). 🌱🏡 Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/wante...) & YT (youtu.be/xuQ7voTJDHI?...)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · 27d

They left the 9-to-5 behind… & found a ghost town ready for a 2nd chance. 🌄 Shaniko, OR, once “Wool Capital of the World,” now has 33 residents building a new kind of rural life. Old homes & people self-organizing. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/start...) & YT (youtu.be/sJu7lacSjVA)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Sep 25

Sometimes it’s about finding a place worth working on. In Italy’s Orco Valley, Enrico spent 5 years turning a neglected stone stable into a warm home—hand-built walls, furniture, cellar—while keeping its soul intact. Video vi *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/spent...) & YT (
youtu.be/wmxMWzHmP7g?...)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Sep 23

At 63°N, winter on a Finnish island means frozen lakes, root cellars & saunas. In part II, Klaus & Johanna show how off-grid life is a slow, grounded process—cold-prepping, ice skating, & growing food in short season. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/young...) & YT (youtu.be/XA8tG3Woaoo?...)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Sep 18

Here's a timeless, nature-friendly project: Julio Garcia built his Savannah studio from two 40-ft containers without cutting a single tree. Tranquil, airy & inspiring, it proves affordable design can be beautiful. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/artis...) & YT (youtu.be/9QNPB9naZQg?...)

Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Sep 16

Klaus & Johanna got an island in Finland (42 years abandoned, one collapsing cabin) 🌲 Now it's a hand-built, thriving homestead 🪵🏡 A life in rhythm with nature. Resilience, patience & vision can turn silence into home. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/coupl...) & YT (youtu.be/is6d5prhcMQ)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Sep 11

An abandoned stone barn in Spain became “Villa Slow”—a home where architect Laura Álvarez & her partner rediscovered life’s rhythms: chopping wood, cooking outdoors, watching clouds over the Cantabrian peaks. 🏚️➝🏡 🌄 Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/forsa...) & YT (youtu.be/i6c0Pvei3F4?...)

Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Sep 9

From tech to fire country… In 2019, John Mills left SF for a 170-acre off-grid homestead. One month later, a wildfire hit next door—so he built Watch Duty, hands down the best fire prevention resource, used in 22 states 🔥💧Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/he-le...) & YT (youtu.be/ANJNdk0Zzx0)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Sep 4

Whole villages under one roof? In Norway, families once lived in log-&-turf farms with barns, saunas & raised storehouses. At Oslo’s Folk Museum, these centuries-old homes show how thriving can come from collaboration. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/how-h...) & YT (youtu.be/isaEQfMsRIY?...)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Sep 3

At 68, Jeannette left the city to build her dream homestead in rural Idaho. With no experience—just YouTube & neighbors—she raised 2 arched cabins, a workshop & a chicken coop. She calls it: “the home YouTube built.” 🌄🐓 Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/left-...) & YT (youtu.be/DTyFkB8URZc)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Aug 28

Kjetil Ingvar Berge bought an old kit home in Norway’s Arctic. Instead of modernizing it, he built a small tower next door, connected by an outdoor bridge, where he walks outside. “It forces you to notice,” he says. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/artis...) & YT (youtu.be/bwFdMqz0w8k?...)

Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Aug 27

Would you live underground in a giant Cold War missile silo? In rural WA, engineer David McIntyre turned a decommissioned Atlas E site into a 2-bedroom underground home—complete with elevator + blast doors. 🚀-->🏠✨! Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/turni...) & YT (youtu.be/Br0Il37t5Uk)

Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Aug 21

Over 7 years, Tim Seggerman transformed a rundown shack in rural NJ into a Japanese/Scandinavian-inspired cabin. Built with wood from an old lumberyard, the untreated home shifts colors with the seasons. A labor of 💚 Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/build...) & YT (youtu.be/H0Y664c4ECo?...)

Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Aug 19

35 years underground: Dan Price lives simply in an OR meadow “hobbit hole.” Saplings he planted are now trees, his home stays 50°F all year, electric bill is $40/month. Walking, drawing, surfing… finding joy in “enough.” Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/35-ye...) & YT (youtu.be/Gb7BQ75E5Fc)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Aug 14

Could you switch from a conventional lifestyle to countryside life, fixing a ruin & finding passive income? Maurizio & Paola rebuilt a ruin in a 3-person ghost village—teaching via workshops. Not easy, but can be done. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/famil...) & YT (youtu.be/NB3e8xwu_Do?...)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Aug 12

6 friends, 1 lot, $10k each → homeowners in a cohousing community around a permaculture garden. In Springfield, OR (The Simpsons' one), they turned a single lot into a legal 6-plex—paying $800/mo instead of $1,400 rent. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/price...) & YT (youtu.be/fQVtRLdmg1k)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Aug 7

For 50 years, David Lee Hoffman built a worm-powered, solar-fed, off-grid Homestead in Marin. Water flows through ponds, moats & a 30ft well; waste is soil & food: “Water is precious, soil is sacred, shit is a resource.” 🪱 Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/vermi...) & YT (youtu.be/7qN9OU9GyWk)

Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Aug 5

Vicente Nadal built a geothermal homestead (Canadian well) with 2 natural homes, a geodesic stone-dome, a stream, 2 natural ponds, plant maze, and thriving permaculture garden & orchard with over 2K plants. Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/build...) & YT (youtu.be/CQnZkuAZEDI)

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Nicolas Boullosa @faircompanies.com · Jul 31

Before visiting Adam Kalkin, we'd never imagined a farmhouse inside a hangar—both shelter & part of the home. As Adam put it: “it’s kind of a ship in a bottle.” Here's a house holding past & future in one breath ⛵🫙= 🏡! Video via *FC (faircompanies.com/videos/farmh...) & YT (youtu.be/KyHYjEoeD2w)