Artist turns tiny home into go-electric gallery
Tal’s compact California home is packed with futuristic art and — heck yeah — electric appliances.
Every inch of Tal’s 1,000 square-foot Santa Barbara home is a futuristic extension of his artistic imagination.
The sculptor — who describes his style as a mix of steampunk and space-age — has spent the past 30 years lovingly renovating and decorating his bungalow located a quick ride from the pristine beaches that earned Santa Barbara the nickname “The American Riviera.” That renovation time frame was partly out of necessity. Buying the home put a serious dent in Tal’s finances, leaving him to get creative on how to supply the materials — and labor — for a DIY fix.
Tal scoured nearby scrapyards to source materials for his fixer-upper. He often wished he had the money to do it right. But Tal’s friend told him, “Nah, it’s more interesting when you make it nice without money. It’s more fun.”
The scrapyard treasure hunts for home renovation supplies also inspired his art making. The industrial castoffs from neighboring aerospace, maritime, and construction facilities left Tal with a shed full of materials begging to be made into art. He drew on his unofficial apprenticeship working for a number of fine artists while studying math in college in Santa Barbara during the 1980s, and gave the discarded items new life as light fixtures, masks, and even toilet paper holders.
“After a few years, I started running out of room in the house for more art, so I began selling them,” Tal said.
Future proofing with electric appliances
Tal continued his home improvements by upgrading to efficient, electric appliances.
He started out by installing solar panels more than a decade ago, followed by his first electric vehicle, a Fiat EV. He did another round of upgrades last summer, using rebates and incentives to install heat pumps, a heat pump water heater, and an induction stove.
Savings + health benefits = big win
“Not having gas, I feel so much healthier,” Tal said of his induction stove. “This is so easy to clean.”
By using those incentives and rebates Tal estimated he saved more than $14,000 on the home appliances and another $18,000 on his next EV — an electric Mini Cooper. He praised a local organization, the Community Environmental Council, for alerting him about where to get the rebates, refunds, and tax incentives he used.
“I saved a lot of money putting this in,” he said, “I’m telling all my friends, ‘do this!’ It's the right thing to do.”
Tal’s top tips for going electric
Be patient
Tal’s upgrades spanned more than a decade, but he kept steady progress on adding them. Need help making your custom plan? Check out the Personal Electrification Planner.
Plug in to savings
Seek out local organizations that can guide you on available discounts or incentives, or check out our Savings Calculator for what’s available in your area.
Have fun with it
Tal’s creativity sparks when he stumbles across abandoned items in the scrapyard that remind him of science fiction art, movies, and books from his childhood. He wonders what today’s high-efficiency machines will inspire. “There are a lot of creative people out there. I’d be interested in seeing what future artists do with the machines of today.”
Photos courtesy of Erin Feinblatt and Tal
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