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 »
More to read:
Tiny House Workshop with Peter KingDual Purpose Pillows
Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses
Inaugural ADU Tour in Portland
Winter RV Living in Alaska
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Tiny Home Update
Written by Kent Griswold
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.
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.
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!
So when I'm sitting on the couch, this is what I now see:
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?!?!!
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.
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!
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!
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Written by Kent Griswold
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."
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.
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13 May
Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses
Written by Kent Griswoldby 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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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