Jan of CoyoteCottage.com in Eastern Washington agreed to let me showcase his small home here at the tiny house blog.

Jan’s title on his site says it like it is: “Creating a simple shelter-and living with it” or “Building a small, functional cabin for full time living.”

Jan started his cabin using the little house plans which he bought from the CountryPlans website back in 2003. Initially planning to construct a 1000 sq ft home, he changed his mind when they bought the property and decided to go instead with a small 16 x 16 or 250 sq ft cabin. (he later added an addition) He completed all the construction himself, so he wanted to make sure that he was up to the challenge.

Completed floor plan with addition

Jan walks you through the construction of his family’s cabin, discusses issues such as heating, property, waste, solar and answers many FAQ’s on doing this yourself. He has a construction diary and pre-building notes that are very infomative.

Following are some of the pictures of his cabin. He has enlarged it from the original size as he found it just to small for 3 people to live in full time. Thank you Jan for sharing your experience with us. Go to his site a CoyoteCottage.com and get the full story.

Kitchen

Dinner Table

Wood Stove

Bedroom

The Coyote Cottage winter of 2008

Billie McKig homeowner in Berkeley, California, describes her little house as “perfect” and “just ideal.” Not an inch of space is wasted; built-ins provide a TV area and her walk-in closet holds a modern washer/dryer combo. At 540 sq. ft., her home is compact yet comfortable says McKig.

Walk through the house with Billie in the flash movie.

Berkeley Architect, John Hopkins says: “Although zoning requirements restricted the cottage to 540 sq. ft. and the site included a California live oak tree that had to be protected, Hopkins was able to create a home that’s both compact and comfortable. The floor plan eliminates wasted space and consolidates many functions into as few rooms as possible. Maximizing the ceiling height takes the onus off a small space, and the use of ceiling-height windows and doors adds to the expansive feeling. Outside, meanwhile, a large deck nearly doubles the living space.”

Visit Hopkins Studio to see more pictures of his work.

Entry

Kitchen

Living Room

Bedroom

Saturday I had the privilege of visiting Jay Shafer (Tumbleweed Tiny House Company) at one of his free open house days at his home in Sebastopol, California. I wanted to experience first hand his craftsmanship and see the actual house he lives in and meet him in person.

Jay had just completed a “Vardo”, which is a very small space. Which consists mainly of a bed in a very attractive cover. It would be great for camping and weekend excursions.

Jay is very friendly and easy to talk to and I enjoyed a personal tour of his home. It is very small, but for a single person a perfect size if you believe in a simple life and want to live in it full time.

It would also make a great weekend vacation home for a couple, with the ease to move it from place to place.

His work is of the highest quality and I would consider him both an artist and a craftsman.

I live about 15 miles from Jay’s home and have requested to come watch and shoot a few photos of his next project. So stay tuned!

If you would like to visit his house please go to his Upcoming Events Schedule at his website.

Jay is also offering a Building and Design Workshop in several cities across the country. If you are interested in building one of his homes, I would highly recommend that you attend one of these workshops.

Here is a video tour of Jay Shafer’s house: