Advance Praise for Housing Reclaimed

Jessica Kellner’s book comes to us in the nick of time. We need a new, more enlightened approach to housing and this book provides the roadmap. Housing Reclaimed could put a whole generation on the path to comfortable, secure sustainability. Jessica has written a beautiful and necessary book that everyone who lives under a roof should read.

— Bryan Welch, Publisher, Mother Earth News,
Natural Home & Garden and the Utne Reader,
Author, Beautiful & Abundant: Creating the World We Want

In an environment of underwater mortgages, home foreclosures, and lack of adequate housing for many Americans, Jessica Kellner’s Housing Reclaimed makes a compelling case that we can more easily realize the dream of homeownership if we utilize our hands, our imaginations, and the high-quality low-cost materials available from building deconstruction. Filled with many creative and innovative examples of warm, livable and affordable homes built from found materials, this book should be in the hands of anyone who wants to build his or her own home without getting trapped by the large debt associated with conventionally marketed and financed houses.

— Bob Falk, President, Building Materials Reuse Association,
Author, Unbuilding: Salvaging the Architectural Treasures
of Unwanted Houses

In a time when so much of the news around housing is negative, Jessica Kellner offers an optimistic but practical approach to building a home — mortgage free! Jessica proves that, with a little creativity and a willingness to step outside the constructs of modern housing, anyone can build a dream house.

— Robyn Griggs Lawrence, Author, Simply Imperfect:
Revisiting the Wabi-Sabi House

This unique book outlines an inspiring perspective on how we can make housing more sustainable and more affordable. Kellner provides compelling examples of how we can build our own elegant, debt-free homes, and she outlines approaches to make housing sustainable by creating salvage businesses, showcasing companies that recycle entire homes and non-profits that produce sustainable low-income housing.

— Cheryl Long, Editor-in-Chief, Mother Earth News

Jessica Kellner has managed to give us a glimpse of who we are as a species — clever, creative and resourceful. Perhaps we can take a hint and return to primal sensibilities and first strategies, and discover who we really are. She even tells us where to go to do that. Magnificent!

— Dan Phillips, Founder and owner, The Phoenix Commotion

In Housing Reclaimed, Jessica Kellner ventures into terrain that remains offlimits to most: the subculture of homes made from trash, reclaimed, discarded and recycled material. In exploring case studies of people who have crafted their homes out of society’s cast-offs, Kellner challenges all of us to think outside the box of residential convention and to embrace new options. Anyone interested in saving a buck, in saving the planet and in creating a magical, healthful and one-of-a-kind home should reach for this beautifully crafted, engaging and timely book.

— Wanda Urbanska, Author, The Heart of Simple Living:

7 Paths to a Better Life, Co-author, Less is More:

Embracing Simplicity for a Healthy Planet,
a Caring Economy and Lasting Happiness