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Friday, May 30, 2014

Tiny Houses contd..



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This 50-Something Woman's Journey‏

28.05.2014

Tiny House Magazine Issue 17

We are introduced to two of the newest members of the tiny house community with the Just Right Bus and its story so carefully told by Kelly Ross.

As always it has been my pleasure to work this month with Kent on what I consider to be the most accurate version of the beautiful community the tiny house world presents.  […] Continue Reading »


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Port-a-Bach Cargo Container Home

Designed to be a holiday home it is built by Atelierworkshop it is portable, secure, has a high-level finish, designed to be environmentaly clean, comparatively inexpensive, and comfortably sleeps two adults and two children.  […] Continue Reading »

Hammerstone School Guest Blog

A few months later, still on that waiting list, I bumped into an acquaintance and local builder, Maria Klemperer-Johnson. As she picked out her vegetables at the winter CSA where I was working, I casually asked her about tiny houses. "I think I want to build one, but I've never built anything before." I said. "Is it possible? Do you know of a good school where I can learn my basic carpentry skills?" Thus Hammerstone School was born. […]  Continue Reading »

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This 50-Something Woman's Journey

There is a lot of hub-bub today about tiny houses. I can only tell one story, about one tiny house, and the one woman who built it, me. Gentlemen I hope you will find it worth the read, but ladies this one is really meant for you. […] Continue Reading »


Port-a-Bach Cargo Container Home

Designed to be a holiday home it is built by Atelierworkshop it is portable, secure, has a high-level finish, designed to be environmentaly clean, comparatively inexpensive, and comfortably sleeps two adults and two children.  […] Continue Reading »

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Shepherd's Hut - Tiny House

Luxury vintage camping in traditional shepherd's huts, tucked away in the heart of the South Downs.

The double doors really let the outside in and make the hut feel incredibly spacious.

Shepherd's hut

Five people can just about squeeze around the table!

table

The hut is fully equipped for up to five peoplecoffee cups

Boundary is named in homage to the local Hambledon Cricket Club, one of the oldest in the country and deserving of it's page in this Ladybird book. Real woodpeckers can be heard in the woods surrounding Wriggly Tin.

cricket

DIY draw handles. On reflection, I should have used cricket bails! 

water
Kitchen and dining area, with two cosy single bunks in the corner.

kitchen
The bedroom. There's a double bed with a pull-out single bunk above. The double bed can be converted to a single, which leaves more floor space.

bedroom
Another view of the kitchen and two single bunks. The wood-burning stove is made by the Windy Smithy. These stoves are brilliant, having a large hot plate for cooking and a little oven for roasting, or even baking bread.

http://www.wrigglytinhuts.co.uk/ and Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WrigglyTin/

bunk beds

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Hermit Springs Desert Stone Cabin

I rehabbed my small cabin just outside Palm Springs, California over the past few years and it's finally finished after all the hard work. It's an old stage coach stop in the San Gorgonio Pass where Native Americans, trappers, and miners used to scour the valley in search of their respective treasures.  […] Continue Reading »

More to read:

SoulSurvivorX2 Tiny Cabin
Tiny House In a Landscape
Tiny Home Update
Tiny House Workshop with Peter King

Tiny House - Windmill Cove Park Model

Home  /  Park Model HomesTiny House Landscape  /  Tiny House In a Landscape
17 May

Tiny House In a Landscape

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This weeks Tiny House in a Landscape is of a Park Model Home located at Windmill Cove in Central California. A park model seems to be ideal as a tiny living space for two people. My wife and I are in the process of downsizing and looking for a new place to live and I wonder if this could be an option.

I love the idea of a park model around 400 square feet with a full size bedroom, a small kitchen and living area. Really all a person needs to live comfortably. Unfortunately as far as I have been able to learn park models are restricted to resorts with full hookups and can't be put on your own land and lived in full time. So to enjoy one you must purchase or rent one in a resort and pay monthly rent for the land. If you know differently please let me know. Popular park model builders are Cavco, Athens, ideabox, and Wheelhaus.

Windmille Cove Park Model with the Bay Window and Loft(1)

large cabin loft interior

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Thoughts about converting detached buildings into Tiny Housing

Reporting about Tiny Housing

20 May

Tiny Houses and Prohibitive Costs

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by Jeremy Fitzgerald

I have been following the tiny house movement for years. The one thing that turns me off is the prohibitive costs involved. Tiny houses would be a great solution for lower income people if the companies that manufactured and promoted them charged less (or used more reclaimed materials). For now, it seems that the tiny home is an option for people with disposable income. (I know this is a broad generalization, but…)

My wife and I own a home in Utah. We have a detached garage (15X22) that sees little use outside of being a storage area. One of our good friends, Dan, lost his apartment in November, and being self-employed, he had neither the credit or money to get a new place. Dan asked us if he could stay in the garage (our home is too small for guests). We agreed.

garage

Dan spent the winter in the garage, heated by only an electric radiator. It was not comfortable for him. Dan is a building contractor. Over the course of the spring months, we began salvaging materials from different restoration projects that Dan was working on.

Dan drew up plans for splitting the garage in half with the intention of turning his half into an apartment. So far, we have spent $10.00 (yep!!) on a window from the Habitat for Humanity store. Over the last few months, we have salvaged enough materials to build the walls, ceiling, and floor. We've salvaged wiring, wallboard, framing timber, a heater, and an air conditioner (Utah is hot!), kitchen sink, cabinets, electric conduit, and doors. All we need now is some insulation and we can finish the project.

The cost of running plumbing to the garage is prohibitive, so Dan's kitchen will feature a gravity fed sink with a gray water bucket underneath. Dan uses our bathroom for showering, etc. When completed, Dan's little apartment will be around 150 square feet and have all the amenities of a home (with the exception of toilet and shower) including a stove and refrigerator, sleeping loft, living room area, and storage for his tools and other items.

We do not have to get permits for this project as there is no plumbing and the apartment is being built into an existing structure. Once finished, Dan will have a brand new home that he will be proud to call his own, we will have converted an unused space into living quarters, and there will be one less homeless person in our community.

When I get the time, I will take pictures and email them to you. I hope our story can inspire other people to share what they have and take an active part in solving the homeless problem. I see so many structures that could be converted to nice little homes for people in need. The tiny house movement seems filled with people who have to much and want to simplify their lives. I think it's more important to use tiny homes as a way to share our good fortune with those who have nowhere to call home. If you have to much, give it to someone who has nothing. Thanks for reading our story. - Jeremy Fitzgerald

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Windmill Cove Park Model‏

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Windmill Cove Park Model

This weeks Tiny House in a Landscape is of a Park Model Home located at Windmill Cove in Central California. A park model seems to be ideal as a tiny living space for two people. My wife and I are in the process of downsizing and looking for a new place to live and I wonder if this could be an option  […]  Continue Reading »

Sunday, May 18, 2014

More about Tiny Houses :




Windmill Cove Park Model

This weeks Tiny House in a Landscape is of a Park Model Home located at Windmill Cove in Central California. A park model seems to be ideal as a tiny living space for two people. My wife and I are in the process of downsizing and looking for a new place to live and I wonder if this could be an option  […]  Continue Reading »

 




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16 May

Tiny Home Update

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tiny home

by Audrey Michelle
www.foodandfoto.com

It's been far too long since I posted an update on my tiny home… like, four months too long! ;)

It really amazes me how much this "movement" has taken off!

I've made quite a few changes around the tiny home, and I'm rather happy with the way things look, now. I feel like it's finally coming together. My next project is working on the upstairs bedroom/loft area. I need to maximize space and upgrade the whole "college dorm room" feel currently happening. ;)

tinyhouseblogapril-1

tinyhouseblogapril-2

Upon entering my tiny home, you first see my personalized dresser from the Target Closetmaid collection. It's actually two pieces stacked on top of each other, and I've managed to fit most of my clothing inside! Just to the left of the dresser, I keep the ladder to my loft propped against the wall. As you may recall, this attaches to that black beam for easy access to the loft, and quick removal when not in use!

On the right is the kitchen table, which is where my desk used to be. I just felt like it opened up the house more with the setup this way.

 

tinyhouseblogapril-4

The tiny house layout is basically a square, so along the same wall as the kitchen table is where my sewing machine and computer now reside. As well as a mirror I swapped from my bathroom. My landlord told me that a mirror makes a space appear larger, so I was all over that! I also love how Callee posed for some of these pics ;)

The "main room" is more open now with the table in a different place, and I like that!

tinyhouseblogapril-9

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So when I'm sitting on the couch, this is what I now see:

tinyhouseblogapril-8

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The view from the other side of the room. It's amazing how that mirror trick really works!

I still need to consider some curtains, but what for, really?!?!! :P

tinyhouseblogapril-14

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The kitchen and my now-complete water heater/table combo which is perfect for housing the Vitamix and this funky little lamp I got at a second-hand store.

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And then there's the viking. The personalized, one-of-a-kind viking oven/microwave/steamer combo. Apparently viking is kind of a big deal. Every one of my foodie friends that sees it is like, "daaaannng, you have a VIKING?!?!" My landlord told me he had to custom-design the structure around this "mini-viking." It is sui generis and I may be the only person in the world with a mini-viking in my mini-house!

So, seriously – thanks again, Jeff! ;)

tinyhouseblogapril-17

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And so I took out the mirror in the bathroom and hung it in the living room. I replaced it with this cute little mirror I also found at the second-hand store. And my landlord installed this sweet medicine cabinet for extra storage space. I love how it fit right into the wall!

And who doesn't love a clawfoot tub?! It could be my favorite part of the house. ;)

PS – A few people commented on the toilet last time I posted. I do have a fully functional and practical commode which only uses 1.3 gallons of water per flush!

tinyhousetoilet-1

Thanks for taking the latest tour with me! Stay tuned for more updates. And please comment below if you are a "tiny home" dweller, as well!
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by Connie McBride

From a three-bedroom Cape Cod in a quiet neighborhood, we moved our family, including three small boys, into a home of less than 300 square feet. With our new home came a new lifestyle: we were now "cruisers," living and traveling on a small sailboat. We had planned and schemed for years and were confident that we could both live in small spaces, and comfortably raise our family while traveling through the Caribbean. When the five of us tried to move what we considered "essentials" onboard, though, the space quickly shrank.

While I was chastising the boys for bringing too many toys and my husband, Dave, for his multiple lockers full of tools, I discovered that I too had overestimated our boat's capacity. I was left with 10 sarongs and skirts that would not fit in my clothes locker. After questioning why I even own 10 sarongs and skirts, Dave jokingly gave me the same solution we had been telling the boys, "Guess you're going to have to sleep with them."

cat and pillow

I glanced at the throw pillows we had inherited with the boat but planned to throw away. The stuffing was mildewed and not worth trying to save, but the shells were salvageable. I smiled, thanked Dave for the suggestion, then got to work.

I cut along one seam of each pillow, removed the stuffing, washed the shell and sewed Velcro on the inside of each cut edge. Next, I folded the clothes to the width of the pillow and rolled them, placing them on top of each other, filling the shell. I Velcroed the edge shut to complete the "pillow."

After a few years we replaced these aged pillow shells with covers designed to go over throw pillows. They have a flap on the back, eliminating the need for Velcro. I have learned not to store anything with zippers or buttons in the pillows because we do still lean and lay on them. These clothes storage pillows are uncharacteristically heavy, but they are comfortable and look good. Best of all, I don't have to sleep with sarongs and skirts.

Connie McBride
pillow cover


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13
May

Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses

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by Greg Parham

Tiny or small houses in America are nothing new. Even before European settlers arrived, small and/or portable architecture could be found among the hundreds of Native American tribes scattered across the continent. Most everyone is familiar with tipis (teepees), but Native Americans also lived in humble structures such as wigwams, longhouses, waddle and daub, chickees, grass houses, and small adobe structures, to name a few. Pioneer settlers usually adopted the tried and true log home with chinking. Apartments in crowded cities during the industrial revolution were often Historic Stanley houses and very small. Tiny Houses in olden days were much more a factor of necessity rather than of choice.

boulder tiny house

Since making the switch to a Tiny House, I have no debt. I have hardly any bills. I have very little house to clean and maintain. I don't own any furniture, and own very little housewares. I have to write one check a month, to rent the land that I park my Tiny House on, and if I really wanted to I could get creative and find a land sitting situation to live on some land for nearly free. If I don't like where I'm out, I can hitch up and move on along.

boulder 2

It is with great pride that I announce the completion of the first model for sale, the long awaited Boulder. I began formulating the concept for this tiny house over the summer, particularly during my trip across the Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming rockies. The desire to build a house with a more modern flair was in my head long before that trip, it just began to manifest itself more completely during that time. So many tiny houses stick with a tried and true gable design with cedar siding, similar interior layouts, tongue and groove pine walls, etc. They're very "formulaic" if you will. I don't think there is anything wrong with this, after all, my personal tiny house more or less fits this bill, but, I feel like a lot more can be done in the realm of tiny house design/construction, and the Boulder was a good opportunity to explore new possibilities.

kitchen

The other HUGE design goal of this house was to see if I could build a quality, desirable tiny house for around $25,000. There a lot of tiny houses on the market in the $45k-60k range. I understand why, but at the same time I have a deep desire to make Tiny Houses more affordable. All those comments you see about RV's being so much cheaper just drive me crazy. It's not my goal to compete with RV's, after all, I am providing a MUCH higher quality product, but, the whole goal of a tiny house is to own it outright, not have a mortgage, and live simply. For a lot of folks, $50k is just not feasible. $25-30k, well, most cars cost more than that these days so something in this price range is much more likely to get someone who is on the fence about going tiny to jump in!

table

I have triple checked my numbers and paperwork, I have cut no corners, left no stone unturned, and it is with abundant joy that I am offering this hand made custom designed Rocky Mountain Tiny House at $27,350. It's a tad bit over what I was aiming for, but, this being the first build of this model, I had some kinks to work out. I also wanted it to be just a little nicer than had I stuck to a strict $25k budget.

Click here to get all the details and learn more about it.

loft and bathroom

bathroom

steps to loft

boulder tiny house behind truck
Your Garden will not green-grow
-if you do not water it properly-