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Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Tiny Yurt Cabin

I love all sorts of small house designs and this one really caught my attention because it's a mixture of a cabin and a yurt.

It's especially unique in that it's a round structure and to me it just defines simplicity.

There's something about it too that makes me feel peaceful. And I don't think it's just me.

I think there's really something special about structures like these.

The company that makes it is called Rotunda and I really love the idea behind their creation which I'll share with you below.

rotunda1 600x396   Tiny Yurt Cabin: Little House in the Round

I encourage you to enjoy the rest of the tour of this tiny yurt cabin below (I think you'll be really impressed with the bathroom):

Bathroom

rotunda bathroom 600x450   Tiny Yurt Cabin: Little House in the Round

Looks pretty incredible, doesn't it?

"Circular buildings naturally promote the flow of positive energy and are beautiful, restful and productive spaces in which to spend your time. There are plenty of Modular Buildings available in the UK but there really isn't anything quite like having your own personal Rotunda. (Of this, we can promise you!)

This is an iconic little building which is designed primarily to promote human well being, eliminate harmful toxins in construction and promote the conservation and protection of our natural environment. Whether you'd use yours as a creative environment, classroom, outdoor retreat or garden studio, we like to think of this as a building with a soul; designed to nourish you and your creativity." (Source)

Tiny Yurt Cabin Interior

rotunda2 600x444   Tiny Yurt Cabin: Little House in the Round

Little Round Cabin: Dream Catcher

rotunda dream catcher 600x400   Tiny Yurt Cabin: Little House in the Round

rotunda top 600x400   Tiny Yurt Cabin: Little House in the Round

More photos of small structures built by Rotunda are available here.

If you also found this tiny yurt cabin inspiring, "Like" and share using the buttons below then tell us how you'd use a tiny house like this one in the comments because we'd all love to read your ideas, too.




Tiny House Hotel in Portland

by Christina Nellemann on July 15th, 2013. 27 Comments

Right in the heart of the Alberta Arts District in Portland, Oregon sits the first tiny house hotel in the U.S. The custom made houses of the Caravan — The Tiny House Hotel all sit on an urban lot with its own central gathering place that contains a fire pit and BBQ, Adirondack chairs and hammock surrounded by funky, recycled art. Each of the houses are available for nightly stays and contain bathrooms with flush toilets and hot showers, electric heat and basic kitchens.

caravan-hotel

Caravan offers three tiny houses on wheels in their hotel: the Tandem, the Rosebud and the Pearl. The Tandem is 160 square feet and can sleep up to four people. It has a loft bed and a day bed. The Rosebud is 120 square feet with wood interior and exterior. It has a sleeping loft and fits 1-2 people. The Pearl is more modern and at 90 square feet is the smallest of the houses. It is energy efficient and has two lofts as well as a wet bath. The houses rent for $125 a night plus tax. In addition, the Caravan owners are also looking for another finished tiny house to add to the hotel.

tiny-house-hotel-exterior

Within three blocks of the tiny homes there are cafes, pubs, an organic food co-op, a bike co-op, shops, galleries, tattoo parlors and the local arts walk. Restaurants like the Radio Room, Bye and Bye and the famous Grilled Cheese Grill are just steps away. If you happen to be in Portland on Saturday July 27, the hotel will be having its Grand Opening from 5:00-10:00 p.m. All the houses will be available for viewing and the party will have a band and a bonfire.

caravan-tinyhouse

caravan-tinyhouse2

caravan-tinyhouse3

caravan-tiny-house-hotel

Photos by Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel

 

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]



Tiny House Hotel in Portland

by Christina Nellemann on July 15th, 2013. 27 Comments

Right in the heart of the Alberta Arts District in Portland, Oregon sits the first tiny house hotel in the U.S. The custom made houses of the Caravan — The Tiny House Hotel all sit on an urban lot with its own central gathering place that contains a fire pit and BBQ, Adirondack chairs and hammock surrounded by funky, recycled art. Each of the houses are available for nightly stays and contain bathrooms with flush toilets and hot showers, electric heat and basic kitchens.

caravan-hotel

Caravan offers three tiny houses on wheels in their hotel: the Tandem, the Rosebud and the Pearl. The Tandem is 160 square feet and can sleep up to four people. It has a loft bed and a day bed. The Rosebud is 120 square feet with wood interior and exterior. It has a sleeping loft and fits 1-2 people. The Pearl is more modern and at 90 square feet is the smallest of the houses. It is energy efficient and has two lofts as well as a wet bath. The houses rent for $125 a night plus tax. In addition, the Caravan owners are also looking for another finished tiny house to add to the hotel.

tiny-house-hotel-exterior

Within three blocks of the tiny homes there are cafes, pubs, an organic food co-op, a bike co-op, shops, galleries, tattoo parlors and the local arts walk. Restaurants like the Radio Room, Bye and Bye and the famous Grilled Cheese Grill are just steps away. If you happen to be in Portland on Saturday July 27, the hotel will be having its Grand Opening from 5:00-10:00 p.m. All the houses will be available for viewing and the party will have a band and a bonfire.

caravan-tinyhouse

caravan-tinyhouse2

caravan-tinyhouse3

caravan-tiny-house-hotel

Photos by Caravan – The Tiny House Hotel



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Mini Vacation at the Tumbleweed Linden

by Kent Griswold on August 29th, 2013. 26 Comments

by Kent Griswold

Last week my wife Janelle and I took a mini vacation across the Healdsburg, California valley at the Tumbleweed Tiny House Linden home. Though less then ten miles from our own home this short one night vacation was a lot of fun and relaxing.

The Linden is a new Tumbleweed Tiny House designed by Meg Stevens an architect for the company. We found it to be perfect for a tiny house getaway. The goal of Tumbleweed is to give those interested in living the tiny life a chance to spend some time in actual tiny home so that they can get the feel of what it might be like to live in something this small.

Tumbleweed Linden Rental

Tumbleweed Linden

We started our evening by eating out at a local Healdsburg restaurant and spending a little time on the square looking at the shops etc. Playing the tourist in our own town. Then we drove the few miles out to the house which is located in a redwood grove with a pond out a windy road. You really feel like you are out in the boondocks.

We arrived and unpacked and toured the home. We had seen it briefly at the Sonoma County fair but it had been crowded with visitors so did not get a true feeling for the home. The house has a nice porch with some chairs overlooking a small pond. Another little home sits across on the other side of the pond.

kitchen and living area

Kent and Janelle in the living area

Inside the door is the great room with an easy chair, a table with a couple of smaller chairs, and entry into the kitchen. The bathroom with toilet and shower are off to the left as you go into the kitchen area.

The sleeping quarters are a loft above the kitchen with a moveable ladder accessing it. We settled in and played some table games and did some reading before climbing into the loft and going to sleep. The most challenging aspect of staying in this tiny home is the loft. Though well designed and with an extremely comfortable bed you do still have to climb up and down a ladder to get into it. The loft is roomy and light with two big windows behind the bed and another facing the pond. We had a full moon so light streamed in through the windows as we went to bed. We slept fairly well, though as most people know the first night is usually an adjustment to any sleeping quarters.

loft

The Sleeping Loft

In the morning we fixed a light breakfast using the supplied cooking utensils and found the kitchen to be a very nice place to work in. We then went on to try out the shower. The Linden is hooked up to a septic system has good water pressure and uses a instant hot water heater so you don't feel like you are roughing it.

We then took a walk on a trail on the property which was about a half mile up a creek bed through the redwoods. When we got back we relaxed in the main living area in the house. I really felt relaxed and like I was on vacation.

I would highly recommend staying here if you have a chance. You really get the idea of what living in a tiny house is all about. To reserve time in the Linden go to the Airbnb site to this link. https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1287779

I hope this type of vacation becomes more available across the country.

view out the front

Entry way and folding table

tiny house and pond

Side View to Pond

tiny house across the pond

Tiny House across the pond

Linden at night

Linden lighted at night

 

 

 

 




A THREE DAY, HANDS-ON Building and Design "TINY HOUSE WORKSHOP"- in MA!

HANDS-ON BUILDING AND DESIGNING- TINY HOUSE WORKSHOP #5 (with an emphasis on budget and recycled-material building) 
WE WILL ALL BUILD A TINY STRUCTURE TOGETHER! 
November 15-16-17 Canton, MA
As featured on NPR, Yahoo.com, The Boston Globe, Make Magazine....
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Derek "Deek" Diedricksen giving a side tutorial on using a framing square....
 We keep getting asked to do another one, so here goes!
30+ contact hours of learning, building, designing, and networking
Each previous workshop has SOLD OUT, as we limit the number of attendees to around 24 or so to keep things intimate and to be able to give individual attention- if interested, secure your spot sooner than later....
Hosted by
The Diedricksen Brothers (Deek and Dustin)
with Paul "Touks" LaCivita
AND a roster of guest speakers!
SEE FIVE of Deek's Micro Cabins (featured on Yahoo.com, The History Channel, and The NY Times)
AND visit THE FIRST-EVER BUILT TUMBLEWEED TINY HOUSE
--------------

 "YOUR chance to build, work, and design alongside an HGTV Host, a Salvage Addict/Pro, an Environmental Engineer and House Designer, and many other tiny house pros (not to mention our guest speakers and tours)! BUILD a tiny cabin that will be showcased in an upcoming book, in a video tour (for "Tiny Yellow House") and Relaxshacks.com, and beyond!" MEET and Network with a tiny house enthusiasts- ones who just may help you with your eventual project, and even CAMP OUT on the premises!


"Tiny House Building Campout #5" is a HANDS-ON/get dirty workshop, a THREE day (and night) event (a fri-sun, but if you can only make the sat and sun, you'll be fine, we'll get you up to speed on what went down Friday). NOVEMBER 15, 16, and 17th are the dates- rain or shine. There will be LOTS of hands-on building, as we work on a small group build together, campfire discussions (making each day FAR more involved than a mere 9-5 workshop), slideshows, live demos, a good deal of focus on building for less, and with recycled materials, AND Dustin Diedricksen will cohost this event again- he's an environmental engineer and designer. Paul "Touks" LaCivita, a scrapper/salvager extraordinaire, will also be part of the team that helps to construct our weekend project. Add in a pizza-by-bonfire mixer, a tour of five of Deek's micro cabins, and in depth look into his salvage techniques and stash, AND a field trip to a tiny house (THE first built (EVER) Tumbleweed Tiny House), and it all makes for one heck of a LOADED weekend of learning, actual contact hours, brainstorming, designing and problem solving on the fly!

GUEST SPEAKERS....
CHRIS HAYNES- A tiny house dweller who has built BOTH a Tumbleweed XS AND a Tumbleweed Bodega! Chris will talk about his super-insulated home, and set-up a small solar array/system for us.

JAN KENNEY (from PA)- Jan lives in one of THE SMALLEST HOUSES on the scene (formerly the home of Gregory Paul Johnson). There's a lot to be learned from her stories of living in a space under 100 square feet in size. She's super fun and spunky- you'll love her!

VERA STRUCK - Vera is the impetus behind an in-the-works, mobile, educational, tiny-house-classroom on wheels that she has dubbed "The Silver Bullet"- she also makes some of the best darn pickles I've ever had. (Hint, hint, Vera....)

AND MORE TBA....

 The Writing Retreat/Greenhouse- this one's within sight of the workshop locale too....

We'll ALSO cover...
    Framing, deck building, alternative materials, pallet dismantling and construction-use, site selection, preparing for a build, a few post setting methods (for the base of your cabin), the dos and don'ts of building, safety, "redneck shortcut" tips, solar off-grid systems, and the overall weekend will give you a chance to pick the brains of several tiny house builders, bloggers, authors, geeks, and media hosts, on a one on one basis. Come with questions! BRING your tiny house plans to have them looked over too!
VISIT THIS CABIN (and many others)- a budget shed-conversion project Deek did for HGTV
Workshop includes Friday's pizza bonfire (we won't light pizzas on fire, we'll eat them...just in case...), snacks and drinks for the three days, course materials/packets, the provision of tools, and more. Camping on the premises is also a possibility.
    There are hotels nearby, and Canton, MA is easily accessible from Boston/Logan airport. Oftentimes, attendees can pool together for rides too.
    
Above: "The All Eights Micro-Cabin" lit up at night during our last workshop. Built and designed by Deek (on a micro budget for The History Channel show "The United STATS of America").

SIGNING UP....

Cost for the three day, intense course is $399.00
If interested, payment can be made to the paypal id: senorsell@hotmail.com
By check (email me for an address if interested).... email via kidcedar at gmail.com
Or by credit card via paypal through this link....


WE MAY also have an opportunity or two for a work trade arrangement for those in need of such a set-up....

 SEE this cabin as well!

"The Light Box" (its front wall lights up at night)- ANOTHER cabin you'll see

Deek's Vermont Cabin- Built by Deek starting at age 22 (with Dustin, when he was 18)
We'll talk about the triumphs, and mistakes made, with many of our builds....

A micro A-frame office- built and designed by Deek for a client
ANY questions, let me know
-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen
Posted by at 9:23 PM
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Tiny House Adventure

by Kent Griswold on August 14th, 2013. 39 Comments

Following is an update from Victoria Whitcher on her adventure to Alaska. This is a reprint from her blog. To keep up with her story please continue to follow Victoria at the Tiny Adventure blog.

We are a family of three. We currently live in Alaska. We built a 200 sq foot house and live in it full time. We live off the grid. We choose to live the life WE wanted. Not the life everyone thought was right. My husband is such an amazing man to make this dream I had come true!

New home in Alaska

We have arrived in Alaska after a 4,200 mile journey. What an adventure it was. My husband drove the tiny house towed by a U-Haul. I drove the truck towing the solar system and the plow. It was suppose to take a total of 4 days. It ended up taking a total of over a week. All due to an accident we got into right after we crossed the border into Canada. Upon entering the border, we went over a snow drift that turned out to be 4 inches of ice. I did a 360 and landed almost sideways in the snow. The house the same. The accident involved 6 other cars. Thank God no one was hurt. I have to credit the tow company. Removing the U-Haul and the truck from the waist deep snow should have cost thousands. Instead it cost $800. We did rest that night and continued on the journey. The tiny house received some damage due to the accident. The frame was damaged. After strapping it together several times in the Yukon we carried on. Driving the Alaska highway was an experience of a lifetime. Really crappy roads carved onto the side of a mountain is the best way to describe it. I am terrified of heights. So it's something I will avoid for the future. We probably changed a tire every 45 miles. Plus it was zero degrees out and a snow storm in APRIL! So on top of driving the tiny house damaged, towing on the side of the mountain, the ground was cover with slippery slushy snow. The positive side of the trail, it was so beautiful. I saw every type of animal I can imagine. Wild horses were the highlight for me. We stayed in the house the entire way. I highly recommend that everyone take a large trip across the country. It really shows you that you're so small in such a large world.

Starting the Alaska adventure

We have been in Alaska for several months now. We are 100% off the grid. We have put the 250 water gallon in the tree. It is gravity feed into the house. With hours and hours of sunlight we have constant power. The vegetables in the garden grew at a very fast rate. Everyone is adjusting to the wonderful weather. We see moose every week. This is the happiest my family has ever been. I highly suggest everyone take their family at some point and move away. We love Alaska. It is a place where so many people think outside the box and do as they please. No one has given us crazy eyes because of the house we live in. As a matter of fact, most people live like this up here!

Some things I have learned in the couple months I'd like to list.

  • Do not put your tiny house in the backyard of someone you don't particularly get along with. They won't respect your privacy and space.
  • Write your list of daily needs you're not willing to part with prior to the build.
  • People will have nothing but negative things to say about everything.
  • Don't let others idea of your life define your decision.
  • Canada needs better plow standards.
  • Living off the grid has its challenges, but it's awesome.
  • You know your family, live life for them.
  • God is great have faith in him.

Here are some pictures.

Through the city

Welcome to the Alaska Highway

Snow and cold

Entering Alaska

Majestic mountains

Putting up the roof

Jacking the roof up

Installing the roof

Another angle





Your Garden will not green-grow
-if you do not water it properly-