It Was Once a Children’s Playhouse, and Is Not Much Bigger Now

The tiny hand-hewn log cabin not far from Deep Creek Lake looks like it’s always been perched on its windswept ridge above rolling fields and forests. As smoke pours out of the chimney and snowflakes swirl, it’s hard to imagine that the little house came within hours of being bulldozed into oblivion in a county nearly three hours away.

After being salvaged, moved and improved by Kelly and Rick Stieff, the cabin has a new lease on life as a weekend getaway. The Leesburg family, including four offspring ages 16 to 27 — two children are hers, two are his — gather there year-round to hike, kayak and fish. This time of year, the main attractions are skiing and snowboarding, starting right outside the cabin. Spruced up with radiant-heated chestnut floors, fieldstone fireplaces, a spa bath and built-in racks for Uggs and ski boots, the house — bigger now, but still compact — packs a lot in.

The cabin’s odyssey began six years ago when Kelly Stieff, who had long wanted a place in the country, dragged her husband to the Log & Timber Home Show in Chantilly. Wandering among the exhibitors selling newly built log homes and all the building materials and furniture to go in them, they got wind of the sad story of a one-room hand-hewn house of white pine and hemlock about to be demolished to make way for a housing development.

To read the rest of the story and see a neat slide show of the house click HERE.

Article written by Jura Koncius Washington Post Staff Writer

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Pre-fab Architecture in a box! House. Cabin. Office. Addition. Rooftops. Developments. weeHouses are sturdy enough to withstand the extremes of desert or tundra, and they may be placed anywhere that is accessible by truck.

Each weeHouse comes ready made: just add water (and a couple of other things). Base models include: windows and patio doors, Container siding (cement fiberboard with vertical battens), EPDM cold roof, tongue and groove bamboo flooring, white painted gypsum board ceilings and walls, and Ikea kitchens, cabinets, sinks.

weeHouses arrive on site ready to live in. The only things left up to you and contractor are the foundation, fitting & seaming of the modules, utility hookups, and in some cases cabinetry.

Bedroom

Kitchen

Construction

weeHouse Transport

Installing weeHouse

Photos by Alchemy Architects

Post information taken from another great site on small spaces, Little Diggs. To visit the Little Diggs site click here.

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I like the unusual which you may have noticed by some of the tiny houses represented in the tiny house blog. I also would like to spread our wings and include tiny houses from around the world. The DomeSpace originates in France but also has an office in the U.S. This is there smallest dome and they also make much larger sizes.

Domespace produce spruce, pine and oak wooden domes for tiny house living (above is their Transit 4,35 model) with the added bonus that it is largely hurricane resistant. According to the brochure, the whole thing is rotatable (using a remote control from inside, the movement is not noticeable), light, warm, has good humidity, and is spacious with cork insulation. Options include solar panels.

If your French is a bit rusty try the Solaleya site, the US distributor but the best photos are at the French site.

The above article was written by Alex of the ShedWorking site in the UK.

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