Temperature: 19°C high; 13°C low Season: spring Travel time from UK: 2 hours 35 minutes Time difference: GMT +1 Nothing brings a spring to the step quite like the sight of Italy's glorious Amalfi coast. Particularly in March, when its vertiginous twists are bathed in a daily average eight hours of sun. Cliffs plunge into the Tyrrhenian Sea, topped with grand palazzos and smart hotels. Narrow, Roman lanes are stuffed with limoncello stalls flogging the boozy spoils of Sorrento's famous fruit. Its snoozy air and pastel-coloured houses are pure Italian cinema: you might even swear you've seen a young Sophia Loren looking impossibly saucy by the quay. Do as the Italians do and spend the lazy, romantic days enjoying a long aperitivo . Don't miss fresh fritto misto at Marina Grande, the town's old fishing harbour, or Michelin-starred Il Buco in the cellars of an old monastery, where chef Peppe Aversa serves seasonal ingredients under a stone-hewn, vaulted ceiling. Th...
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How Mariah Hoffman Built Her Dream Tiny Home by Hand in Lemon Grove - San Diego Magazine
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Designer, builder and DIY pro Mariah Hoffman outside her 156-square-foot home in Lemon Grove
Stacy Keck
OCCUPATION: Designer, Maker, Tiny House Coach
AGE: 31
NEIGHBORHOOD: Lemon Grove
Mariah Hoffman sees in blueprint. The self-taught designer, builder, and DIY pro has ever since she was a kid, when she sketched out the plans of her home on a whim after discovering a crack in the wall that let her see through to another room. It got her thinking small, about how every square inch of a structure matters, how the "big reveal" is actually thousands of tiny, crucial details.
It also explains where she's living now: a house in Lemon Grove that she put the finishing touches on in late 2020. The average one-car garage is 200 square feet. Her home is 156.
"Without any actual blueprints," Hoffman laughs. "Which I don't recommend."
She started back in 2016 after becoming fascinated with a tiny home she'd come across in Northern California. The owner had built it herself, and allowed Hoffman a look inside. Architecture had piqued Hoffman's interest at that point, but she was stuck in a creative rut and unsure of her next steps. "That's when it all clicked," she says. "I wanted that tangible, hands-on experience to see how it all came together."
Building her home—a grueling, emotional, five-year effort that landed her in Dwell—inspired her current work, coaching others interested in building their own tiny homes or small ADUs (accessory dwelling units). She teaches one-hour mini-sessions and six-week courses, walking aspiring microtects through the whys and hows of shaping inches until they become a functional place to live. She refers to it as a journey back to one's self.
"It's a really liberating, transformative process, uncovering the significance of 'home' and a person's relationship to their space," she says.
Safety, agency, intentional minimalism—they're the grounding forces behind Hoffman's approach to design. Within the tiny house movement, these principles speak to a bigger conversation about representation and accessibility that Hoffman hopes to expand on in her own work, through other builders of color, and makers in general.
Julie Blair
"Creatively, I want to continue to push the boundaries of how we think about housing and sustainability and accessibility," she says. "It starts with understanding those worlds and these materials and how they come together."
Hoffman extends that perspective to the rest of her creative work—making mod-inspired jewelry from acrylic waste, dabbling in watercolor, and building functional furniture. In February, she relaunched her Cubica table, a modular wooden piece that can be used as a portable coffee table at home, for picnics, or on a weekend camping trip.
Back home, the work is never truly finished. She has mental blueprints for a rooftop deck, and wants to build out the front porch beyond the nuts-and-bolts foundation she currently has in place. For now, she's content to explore the unique nooks that have naturally formed in her space, like the multipurpose desk beside her bed where she can read, work, and soak up the mindful solitude in a home made by hand.
@micro.modula
"The last thing I bought myself is this classic gold chain from Gldn for my birthday. I wanted a staple chain that I could wear every day, and that wouldn't break the bank. I like that it's made in the US and from recycled gold and silver." $65–$82
"The color I'm loving most right now is mint/chartreuse. I recently purchased this handmade glass bowl by Cedric Mitchell Design. The pop of color is probably one of the boldest pieces I own, but it brings me joy to look at. Any food I put in it looks good!"
$85, burkemercantile.com
"Absolute staples in my skin care routine are the Ursa Major face wash and tonic. They cleanse and tone without drying out my skin—especially helpful after dusty build days!"
$30 each
"The scent I'm hooked on is Cloud of Protection from By Nieves. The combo of juniper, eucalyptus, and rose smells refreshing and grounding. I love that it's made of natural essential oils and can be used for the body, room, or even
as hand sanitizer if you're in a pinch."
$8–$95
"The best book I've read in the past year: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. It's dark and eerily relevant to our world today and helps me to ground through moments of big change and transformation."
$17, The Book Catapult, South Park
"An item that expresses my style are my own earrings—this may be cheesy, but I wear them nearly every day! I designed them for myself, from remnant acrylic, when I couldn't find functional and bold earrings that fit with my gauges. I sell a variety of styles, all made in small batches from acrylic waste."
$26–$40
"A recent source of inspiration has been the new Air Jordan 14s, "Fortune," by Aleali May. They are sooo fly. I love how she incorporated her family story with jade and her half-Filipina, half-Black identity into this sneaker. As a Filipina American I feel proud and inspired to see different versions of our stories represented."
$190
"My favorite gadget in my home is this electric kettle from Bodum. The aesthetic is simple and pairs well with my house palette."
$40, Target
Tastemaker Mariah Hoffman's Picks
"The last thing I bought myself is this classic gold chain from Gldn for my birthday. I wanted a staple chain that I could wear every day, and that wouldn't break the bank. I like that it's made in the US and from recycled gold and silver." $65–$82
"The color I'm loving most right now is mint/chartreuse. I recently purchased this handmade glass bowl by Cedric Mitchell Design. The pop of color is probably one of the boldest pieces I own, but it brings me joy to look at. Any food I put in it looks good!"
$85, burkemercantile.com
"Absolute staples in my skin care routine are the Ursa Major face wash and tonic. They cleanse and tone without drying out my skin—especially helpful after dusty build days!"
$30 each
"The scent I'm hooked on is Cloud of Protection from By Nieves. The combo of juniper, eucalyptus, and rose smells refreshing and grounding. I love that it's made of natural essential oils and can be used for the body, room, or even
as hand sanitizer if you're in a pinch."
$8–$95
"The best book I've read in the past year: Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. It's dark and eerily relevant to our world today and helps me to ground through moments of big change and transformation."
$17, The Book Catapult, South Park
"An item that expresses my style are my own earrings—this may be cheesy, but I wear them nearly every day! I designed them for myself, from remnant acrylic, when I couldn't find functional and bold earrings that fit with my gauges. I sell a variety of styles, all made in small batches from acrylic waste."
Everything you need to know to have the best woodsy getaway in 2021. This camping cottage, as it's classified, can be found at French Creek State Park, just an hour outside Philadelphia. It's one example of cabins in Pennsylvania state parks. (Photo courtesy of Pennsylvania State Parks, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) With the warm weather upon us, you've probably been looking at your calendar, hoping to plan a getaway. I have a suggestion: Stay in one of many cabins in Pennsylvania. As my family has discovered over the past decade, the Pennsylvania state park system offers affordable cabin and yurt options that are comfortable, nostalgic and wonderfully woodsy. (Yes, you can bring your dog to some.) Plenty are within an easy drive of the Philadelphia area. And with high elevations, swimming lakes and waterfall hikes, there are plenty of options for cooling off. Here, a guide to how to do it best. PLANNING YOUR TRIP Where are these state parks? Pennsylvan...
Susan Law Cain/Shutterstock With their gable roofs and symmetrical windows, colonial houses can make quite a statement. Classic, elegant, and charming, they've become embedded in the white picket fence, American dream imagery. According to Wentworth Studio, the colonial revival began in the 1880s and lasted until around 1945. The simplicity of these homes makes them the perfect candidate for additions, alterations, and renovation. American colonial homes tend to have a symmetrical floor plan, with the front door right in the middle of the front exterior and usually flanked by large columns and tall windows. They are impressive buildings, and flippers and renovators enjoy bringing these houses up to a modern standard. Sometimes it's a s...
American firms NAC Architecture and Bernards have used shipping containers to form private apartments in a Los Angeles facility for people experiencing homelessness. The Hilda L Solis Care First Village – formerly known as the Vignes Street Interim Housing Project – is located on a 4.2-acre (1.7-hectare) site in Downtown Los Angeles. The complex is named after Hilda L Solis, who chairs the LA County Board of Supervisors. The Hilda L Solis Care First Village is located close to Downtown Los Angeles The facility was created by NAC Architecture, which has several offices in the US, and California-based Bernards, a builder and construction management company. The firms worked in collaboration with LA County's Department of Public Works. Owned by the county, the site formerly held a parking lot and was slated to become a staging area for the construction of a new jail. The complex comprises three-storey buildings created by stacking shipping containers In 2019, plans shi...
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