The far-out fantasy homes of SunRay Kelley

He's not your average barefoot, chain-smoking, nature-obsessed green builder. Take a tour of SunRay Kelley's woodsy compound filled with homes built from natural materials and seemingly imported from another time and place.

Wed, Aug 31 2011 at 10:00 AM EST

Wow. I’m almost at a loss for words with this one.

Meet natural builder/artist/hair farmer SunRay Kelley, a fellow that I can describe as Michael Reynolds meets Isaiah Zagar meets Alan Kimble Fahey meets your cousin Phil who disappeared into the woods 15 years ago. Profiled as part of Portland, Ore.-based indie eyewear outfit Shwood’s “Inspired by …” video series (and also featured on "MTV Extreme Cribs," apparently), Kelley lives and works on a woodsy homestead hidden away somewhere in rural Washington state (Sedro-Woolley?), but his curious and folksy creations might as well be out of a J.R.R. Tolkien novel … and no comment on the entryway of one of his homes shown during the first couple minutes of the video.

Growing up in the wild hills of the Pacific Northwest, it seems like SunRay was always building something. His favorite source of inspiration and materials is the woods around him, ‘God's Hardware Store’ as he calls it. When working on a project it is not uncommon to see him pick up a saw and head off into the woods looking for the right piece of wood to present itself. If he says anything, he'll mumble ‘I'm going shopping.’

Love it. Sure, it’s easy to dismiss Kelley as a rambling, shoeless eccentric living on some kind of bizarre compound in the woods (which he is), but he’s also a visionary of the highest order (and somewhat legendary amongst green builders). In tune with the “magic” of the natural world and excited to share his unique perspective with others, Kelley is no doubt one of a kind. Thanks for sharing him, Shwood.