Steve Blanchard’s Chainsaw Tiny Houses

posted in Tiny House Concept on November 30, 2014 by Christina Nellemann

While walking through the traffic and noise of San Francisco last weekend, I found an oasis of peace inside the International Art Museum of America. In their main lobby, a small stream flowed past a whimsical tiny treehouse. Granted, the house would only be perfect for fantasy creatures like gnomes or fairies, but the design captured my heart. The treehouse, sculpted out of a redwood stump, was made by chainsaw artist Steve Blanchard and is just one of his many fairytale structures.

Blanchard began chainsaw carving about 15 years ago in Monterey, California. He carves large stumps into benches, furniture, large Native American figures and animals. His charming fairy homes contain faces of wood spirits, gnarled porches, curved staircases and even working windows and doors. Blanchard only makes about 10 to 12 unique houses every year for sale and they sell for around $25,000 each. The homes make their way into woodland gardens and yards in the Sierra and Lake Tahoe, as well as museums on Market Street in San Francisco. The proceeds of the sales go to support the development of Itsyville, Ballard’s playhouse sized village in Salinas, California. The village is open to the public and contains the homes of small creatures named “Itsys” who continue to inspire Ballard’s designs.