Here are some great examples of old time tiny house living. Get some new ideas for your own tiny house. From a whisky vat a houseboat and a Horsa glider fuselage, enjoy some neat history.

Dr Roger Doudna outside his home made from a converted whisky vat at the Findhorn Community ear Forres, Morayshire, Scotland - 1989

Eton Rural Council has banned a number of newly built houseboats from the Grand Union Canal at Iver, Buckinghamshire. This one has been occupied temporarily by the owners until the Minister has considered an appeal against the council’s decision made by the houseboat builders - 1964

The fuselage of a Horsa glider - the type used by airborne troops in World War II - is being converted into a home for a London businessman by Mr. Arthur Bedford, a building contractor at Southbourn, Bournemouth, Hampshire. The glider-home will have three rooms - a bedroom measuring 10 ft by 7 ft, a living room 15 ft by 7 ft, and a kitchenette 8 ft by 7 ft. If the experiment is successful, the builder will convert more gliders. People baffled by the housing shortage will be able to have these homes built quite cheaply on their own sites. Photo shows men working on the exterior of the glider-home - 11th June 1947.

There’s a great article in the Oxford Mail about Maud Starkie who lived in a converted Horsa from the 1940s until she died in 2000 at the age of 99. The Mail says: “She built a shed-like structure over it for weather-proofing, but inside it was still like being in a plane.”

Thanks to Alex at Shedworking for pointing these out.

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Cabin

Most of the tiny houses represented on this blog so far have quite a high price tag to get started. Through my research, I have discovered several people who have found cheaper ways to make a tiny house, simply by doing the work themselves and finding a plan that will fit there needs. I want to feature Lamar today from Utah.

Visit his Simple Solar Homesteading site and read how he has built his own tiny cabin which is 14 x 14 for less than $2,000, and later added porch. He used new materials only and bought everything locally. Below is a quote by Lamar from his site:

I built this cabin by myself from new materials for under $2000 (not including windows, doors, and porch). I live in this cabin year round.

The cabin is 14 x 14 and aproximately 400 square feet with a full loft. It includes a kitchen, dining area, bathroom and living area downstairs and a large bedroom and office upstairs.

My electricity comes from the solar panels you see on the roof and a small backup generator. This power runs all my lights, water pump, tv, computer etc. My heat is primarily from direct solar gain through the south facing windows and I use propane for a backup furnace, fridge, stove, and on demand water heater. My propane bill for last year was less than $200. I use a tracfone pay as you go cell phone for emergencies.

My water is from a free flowing artesian well and I also collect rainwater for gardening. My septic system is a solar composting toilet that i designed and is about two thirds more efficient than standard designs. I grow a garden, fruit trees and raise chickens and black dogs.

Because I have no house payments or monthly utility bills I can live very inexpensively. I own a small business and now I can work when I want as I want. I only work 9 months a year and spend winters on other projects.

My goal is to live simply and do as little damage to the earth as possible!

Lamar has also written an ebook with plans and directions to build your own cabin and live simply like he is. This book is a bargain and I would really encourage you to buy it as the information is worth way more than the low price Lamar is selling it for.

To view more pictures and read more about Lamar’s tiny cabin and buy his ebook click here.

Kitchen

Living Room

Sherpa Cabins in Thomson Falls, MT is a tiny house worth looking into. According to Kris Anderson the owner and builder of these fine little cabins quality of construction and customer satisfaction is the number one priority for the company. Here is what the Sherpa site has to say:

Sherpa Cabins™, Inc , founded in 1999, is a small privately held corporation located in Thompson Falls, MT. The first Sherpa cabin we designed was intended to be an answer to an “out-of-state” landowner’s need for a roof overhead until eventual retirement to Montana. Or, the weekend get away spot for the city worker wanting to spend some time at their mountain “property.”

Unlike a trailer or RV, we felt a Sherpa Cabin would appreciate in value while providing a beautifully handcrafted, aesthetically pleasing home for the insightful buyer.

After building the shop located in Thompson Falls, Montana we rolled out our first cabin in the spring of 1999. As only previously dreamed, the first actual buyers were racehorse breeders from Florida who recently purchased land in Montana. Many, many cabins later one of two cabins built for a retiring Intel engineer was photographed by Sunset Magazine’s Norman Plate and featured in the July 2002 issue.

Sherpa Cabinsâ„¢ is owned and operated by Kristin Anderson since co-founder Dennis Roberts’ retirement in 2003. In January 2003 our first cabin was delivered out of state. We now have cabins in Idaho, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, California and Montana. We were granted a Trademark by the U.S. Trademark & Patent Bureau in March of 2004.

Although our horizons are continually expanding we are stubbornly remaining a very small business. Besides Kristin, there are only two other carpenters. We build one cabin at a time, with an average construction time of 7 weeks from start to finish. Our goal continues to be to build and deliver the best small cabins in the industry. As we so often hear, “this cabin is a work of art!” In a world that seems to continually lose its appreciation for quality and craftsmanship we strive to maintain our own in each Sherpa Cabin we build.

To listen to an audio interview with Kristin and to see more pictures of the Sherpa Cabins click here.

Kitchen

Living Room

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