Tiny House Blog

Summer Horton one of our readers pointed me to a cool book review by Kirkuss. I think this book might be a good read for all tiny house lovers. Here is the review:

A restless city poet recounts her experiment with country living.

The idea to swim against the “consumptive current” and move west came to Minato (The Wider Lens, 2004) during a Chicago traffic jam. Increasingly bothered by the global impact her metropolitan existence was having on the environment, the poet packed up and headed to Oregon for graduate school.

But after eight years, even Eugene proved too urban for her, and she moved again, this time to a ten-square-foot cabin that was part of an eight-acre commune on Siesta Lane in the relative wilds of Rainbow Valley, Ore.

Her memoir, a veritable menagerie of thoughts, observations, photos, poems and lovely pen-and-ink drawings by Jan Muir, is the result of Minato’s year or so away, where she discovered as much about herself as the wonders of nature. “

Not so simple—simple living,” she realized early on. Characterizing each of her fellow Siesta Lane residents, the author doesn’t neglect herself, saying she’s a “single woman with ninety-eight part-time jobs trying to figure out how she connects to the greater forces of the universe and to the tiny earwigs that hide in the curled-up seed heads of Queen Anne’s lace.”

Part of this volume’s charm lies in its somewhat fractured composition, which mirrors the author’s state of mind during this transitional period. Short chapters hop from “Incubation” to “Freaks” to “July” to “The Garden,” while loosely conveying the sense of time’s passage as Minato adjusted to her rustic domestic situation.

Living without many modern conveniences—for example, only the commune’s main building had a kitchen and running water—led her to provocative conclusions: “For us it appears to primarily be the mind that evolves, and we then cater our surroundings to our weakening bodies.” She took some radical actions as well, such as getting rid of her cat after he brought home one too many birds.

An evocative record of a year in the woods and an interesting study in enacting one’s beliefs.

You can order now from Amazon here. 

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My friend Michael Janzen who publishes the Tiny House Design blog just changed the look and feel of the his blog. The new design is based on a very simple and usable WordPress theme called QuickPress.  Michael was wanting something that was easier to read, a subdued color palette, faster page loads, and easier navigation. So after some code changes to the out-of-the-box QuickPress he ended up with this look and feel you see here.

Michael is a professional web developer by day and I really appreciate his knowledge when I have issues with my blogs. So take some time and check out Michael’s new look and design today.

Darrell pointed me to these modern Murphy beds that would work really great in a very small space.  These are European designed, functional change furniture. They use a unique “intuitive Lift Mechanism” and are easy and safe to operate. They are made of strong metal and wood frames support a comfort mattress.

These modern Murphy beds are made in Italy and shipped to Denver, Colorado at a company called Flying Beds. These Murphy beds are not cheap but would be a very worthwhile investment for your small space.

The Tama Desk Bed above is made of embossed aluminum metal frame houses wood slat foundation for mattress. Just one simple movement without moving anything from the swinging shelf, lowers the bed. (Even the computer can rest while you sleep.) Wall fastening is mandatory. It comes in Double and Queen size.
 

Mr. Hide Sofa

The most unique Sofa in Europe. Comfortable to sit on or sleep in. The sofa seats three comfortably and transforms into a bunk bed when required. A simple intuitive and safe mechanism permits super imposing the second bed on the sofa.
Cushions come with fully removable fabric covers for easy cleaning. Embossed aluminum color metal structure has slatted base and incorporated ladder. The sofa features a practical storage compartment for bedding.
 

The Twirly Bed

This is an amazing bed that stores into only 22″ depth! That allows for 9″ deep shelves. When the table is lowered, it becomes almost 5 feet in length! The mattress is European in firmness. Shown here in Walnut melamine.
Straight from Hollywood. Queen bed disappears and becomes an extra length work table. Bed is stored away fully made. Inutitive lift system is fingertip ease operation.Wall fastening mandatory. 

The Computer Bed "The Tale"

The Computer Bed “The Tale” is in the popular computer bed format. The advantage of a metal bed frame and wooden slat foundation. Operation is from gas assisted pistons often referred to as intuitive in nature. In reality the gas piston dampens the natural action of weight transfer from bed to desk to bed. We love this transfer of responsibility. It is the Murphy Bed concept to perfection.

To view more Murphy beds go to FlyingBeds.com.

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Will Pedersen from Abbotsford, BC Canada has been working on a Tumbleweed Tarleton, one of my favorite Tumbleweed Tiny House Company designs by Jay Shafer. I probably should have given him a chance to complete the project before doing a post on him, but was too excited about it and wanted to share it with you.

It has taken Will about 3 months so far (mostly working by himself) and he hopes to finish in about another month.

He doesn’t particulary recommend his techniques or materials but this is one way to go. Will has mostly adhered to the Tumbleweed plans and used materials that are mostly available and in stock at local lumber/hardware stores. The windows and door (not installed yet) and countertop are all custom made. Will says that he just loves the feel and design of the house. His cost of materials to this point is around $17,000 Canadian (about $14,000 US).

He has done most of the work himself except for the hookup of the water and drain lines where a plumber friend (a valuable friend to have!). Will has also hired someone to do the electrical work and he will be installing the lights and outlets and hook the house up to the grid.

Will is also keeping track of receipts and have somewhat of a journal of the building process, he is planning on sharing that when the project is completed.

Will lives and works at Glen Valley Organic Farm, it is a cooperatively owned farm in Abbotsford, BC. The co-op wants people to work and live here but only one single family house (already housing 5 people) is permitted on the 50 acre farm. So a small mobile house is a perfect solution to farmer housing. The co-op sells at farmers markets in the greater Vancouver area (carrots, potatoes, beets, strawberries, raspberries and more).

When Will completes his Tarleton I will do an update with pictures and more of his information from his journal and final costs. So stay tuned and thank you Will for sharing and inspiring us with your tiny house project. You can view more pictures of Will’s project on Flickr.

Trailer and Floor Framing

Wall Framing

Roof Framing

Exterior Siding Instalation

Interior Framing

Shower/Bathroom

Kitchen Counter

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Jeremy Levine of Jeremy Levine Design sent me this unique shed conversion which he recently completed in Silver Lake, California.

An existing 250 sq.ft. storage shed was transformed into a guest house with a kitchenette and bath. A large tilted redwood clad wall, made from recycled cuts, slices through the house dividing the main room from the kitchenette and bath spaces. The tilted wall ‘folds’ and becomes the deck, which sweeps out into the adjacent garden to connect the house to the landscape.

Palm trees grow through openings in the deck to further the literal and figural linkage between house and garden. The titled redwood wall functions as a lighting instrument for both day and night, interior and exterior.

During the day, the redwood wall bounces sun from the long narrow skylight and vertical slits into the house.

At night, strips of translucent polycarbonate, stitched into the wood siding, glow from the concealed fluorescents hidden inside the tilted wall. The glowing translucent strips on the exterior part of the tilted wall cast light onto the surrounding gardens.

Here are the Specs:

1. Roofing - composite asphalt,
2. External walls -recycled redwood siding, Polycarbonate, smooth trowel stucco
3. Internal walls -gyp, recycled redwood siding and polycarbonate on the tilted angled wall, corrugated metal in bathroom
4. Structure - 2”x8” Doug Fir tilted wall
5. Doors -aluminum sliding glass
6. Windows -TM Cobb, dual glazed, low e, casement
7. Flooring -24” sq. ‘Chinese Black’ slate tile
8. Lighting -Ikea, Artimide
9. Kitchen -poured in place concrete sink
10. Bathroom -poured in place concrete vanity and shower

To view more of Jeremy’s work visit the Jeremy Levine Design website.

Storage Shed Before Transformation

Special and Unique Wall

Bathroom

Living Area

Floor Plan

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In the stark Texas desert, Patricia Kerns has created a small community of tiny adobe, cob and straw bale houses that snuggle right into the landscape. I first saw Patricia’s tiny houses in the book, Little House on a Small Planet. The dome of the Egyptian style guest house caught my attention because of its interesting shape.

Patricia’s little community in Terlingua, Texas contains six tiny houses: the main straw bale house, a shower house, a bathroom, the guesthouse, a cob studio and a new project which will house a kitchen and a great room.

The cob studio was built with Ianto Evans of the Cob Cottage company. The main straw bale house is a 20-foot circular structure. Her power comes from several solar panels and a small wind turbine. She uses rain catchment systems for all her water needs.

She also has a video tour of her property and its tiny houses on her website.

Her love of natural building and small spaces came along at a time when she wanted to simplify her life and become financial independent. She took a straw bale building workshop, and she realized that with her new skills, she could leave her career as an attorney and build her own house.

A few years later she is living the life of her dreams in the desert. She was kind enough to send me her story of building a life of simplicity:

Journey to a Small Place
By Patricia Kerns

My journey to a small place began with a simple desire for financial independence. Several years ago, having taken an early retirement from my employer, I needed to find a way to live on less than half my previous income. I had to reduce fixed expenses, especially mortgage/rent. The crazy idea that I could find some cheap land and build a house with my own two hands began to work its way into my head.

How crazy? I was a 40-something attorney whose only experience with a hammer was to hang diplomas. Being a woman, I didn’t even have a high school shop class to draw on for experience. I ran through these and other pertinent facts every day, trying to get the goofy idea that I could build my own home out of my head. When the chance to attend a workshop on straw bale building came along, I jumped at it, thinking I could finally prove to myself that I couldn’t do it. But that workshop, and several succeeding ones, made it clear to me that my dream could be realized.

I began planning my home’s design as I sought land and prepared to move to a small desert community in the Big Bend area of southwestern Texas, far from any big cities. As I developed the design, I realized that the house would have to be very small if I wanted to complete it myself. I originally considered this to be a limitation, one I was willing to accept. I imagined that my standard of living in terms of creature comforts would decline, but accepted this as a small price to pay to free myself from the burden of a mortgage. I got some excellent advice at one of the workshops I attended: record the amount of time I spent in every area of my home for a week. I was living in an 1100-sf home when I conducted this experiment. I was amazed to find that there were two rooms in my home where I rarely set foot. I realized with a shock that the primary purpose of those two rooms was to store furniture that I had only purchased so those two rooms wouldn’t be empty. This was a happy realization, since all I had to do to cut my space needs in half was to sell furniture!

I sold every piece of furniture I owned, had multiple garage sales and made a few deposits to thrift shops. After two months of shedding stuff accumulated over twenty years, I packed what was left into a 10 x 6 U-Haul trailer, hitched it to the back of my truck, and headed for Texas. I had never felt so free in my life. It was the first sign that living in a small space wasn’t going to be the dip in standard of living that I had imagined.

I spent the first three months in Texas camping out of my Suburban in the National Park while looking for land. This was a good start to my new commitment to minimalism. In January 1998, I moved onto a piece of unspoiled desert land halfway between the communities of Lajitas and Terlingua, Texas. I erected a 16 x 16 foot army tent, built a composting toilet and solar oven, set up a solar shower and camp stove, hooked up some solar panels for power, and I was living in the lap of luxury.

It took about two months to get my foundation built and the straw bale walls up, just in time to have a place to get out of the severe winds that whipped across my land in February and March. I had no roof, no windows or doors, and no floor, but I had a comfortable place to sit and read or play my guitar while the winds howled by “outside.” I could never before have appreciated such a humble shelter. It seemed like heaven to me.

I spent six months finishing the exterior, roof, door and windows, then moved into the house while I finished the interior. I had designed a space that included a bedroom, a small computer nook, and a larger sitting room. The design was a circular space trisected into three areas. Between the three areas, instead of building walls, I built shelves that pass through so they can be utilized from either side. This gave me a great deal of storage in a small space. The bed is a futon on a plywood board that flips up to reveal storage. I also designed a built-in sofa in the sitting area with storage underneath. I learned a lot about effective use of small spaces for storage by visiting numerous trailer sales lots and observing their use and design of space. All of my interior furniture is built in, using cob (unformed adobe) and scrap wood.

I decided not to have the kitchen and bathroom in the main house, but rather to leave them for a second project. I haven’t regretted this decision, and continue to be happy cooking on a camp stove or in a solar oven, and using a camp shower and composting toilet. The climate here is quite mild, so this might not be feasible in a more northern location. I learned to live with so little during my journey here that every addition now seems like an unaccountable luxury.

The most beneficial consequence of my decision to build small became apparent as I networked with other self-builders. I was able to complete my home in the same amount of time that many people used to build larger structures, but using much less labor. This allowed me to like the home and continue to like it as I worked. I never felt overwhelmed by the process. My little casita and I have remained fast friends, and I have nothing but good memories and good energy invested in my home.

As it turns out, there was no lowering of my standard of living – not in creature comforts, not in any other way. I have learned to be greatly appreciative of every little comfort, and I enjoy what I have now far more than the four times as much that I used to have. My home and possessions serve me and shelter me, and are never a burden that require more than I am willing to give (such as a 30 year mortgage). I am well on my way to becoming sustainable on this land and a small home is part of what allowed me to see my way there. Now, when I am inside large enclosed spaces, I feel lost, disassociated and adrift. I wouldn’t trade my casita or my experience of creating it for a mansion any day.

Note: I wrote the above article five years ago. Since then, I have completed a small bathhouse of adobe and a small office building of cob. In addition, I have a large shade building (one day to be a kitchen/living room – if I ever think I really need it…) by which I catch enough water for my needs. I remain mortgage-free, and have no utility bills. Visitors stop by occasionally and say “gee, isn’t it HARD living like this?” I’m not sure what they mean, but I guess it’s that I have a composting toilet, cook outside and have no television. I think back to when I had all those “luxuries” in my life, and what it was costing me to sustain them. No, it isn’t hard!

By Christina Nellemann

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Nick Hurt of Cambridge, VT has created a cabin he calls the Cai ™ House. This is a portable cabin. Nick is in the process of getting his business off the ground and wanted to share his design here on the Tiny House Blog.

The cabin pictured here is a prototype cabin and is not for sale. Nick will work with you to create your cabin and finish it the way you want it. Nick has his cabin on Ebay and you can contact him at cnhconsulting(at) gmail.com

Nick describes his prototype cabin below:

Definition- a two story 420 square foot portable, energy efficient, low impact, self sufficient structure that can be set up by one person in 6-8 hours.

Where transformer toy meets housing- Everything stores neatly inside during transport and unfolds into a cute little house that can be folded up to be transported again. You find your dream spot and I will bring you your cabin.

The prototype shown in the photos is not insulated and was constructed for personal use. (not for sale)

I would like to custom build you a custom cai ™ house utilizing highest quality sustainable materials assembled by Vermont’s finest Master Carpenters.

Intended uses-
1. A cabin for recreational uses.
2. Permanent Housing.
3. Temporary Housing.
4. Commercial uses.
5. A Backyard studio or office.
6. A Play House for children.
7. A Guest House.
8. A Cabana.
9. A Pool House.

General Information-

1. Requires no oversize load permits to transport.
2. Requires a reasonably level area of 30′x30′ to setup.
3. Requires 4- firmly compacted 3′x3′ gravel jacking pads.
4. Utilizes hinged roof, wall and floor systems.
5. Can be adapted to accommodate full amenities.
6. Has 50 square feet of storage space for furnishings when it is folded up and ready for transport.
7. Can be adapted to a fifth wheel trailer scenario. (provides more space for mechanical equipment).
8. Has a primary living space of 14′x21′.
9. Has an entry space of 6′x4.’
10. Has a bathroom space of 6′x4.’
11. Has two full height loft spaces of 6′x7′.
12. Has one loft area of 6′x7′ (4 to5) feet in height.
13. Has 22 operable windows with screens.
14. $48,000.00 Pricing includes a fully insulated and finished interior.
15. Interior can be left unfinished and uninsulated as an option for less.

Cai (tm) House Folded

Living Area

Loft

Floor Plan

Loft Floor Plan

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I promised an update on the Solargon Structure’s Yurts and Doug Kirk has been kind enough to give me some figures to share with you. I have also added some photos of the larger yurt they produce. The 30 foot yurt, so look it over and enjoy. See the previous post on the Solargon Structure’s Yurt here.

MSRP for the 20′ model is $ 22,500

Included:

All walls R28 and roof panels R42, micro-lam headers, wall to wall connecters, aircraft grade octagon operable skylight, compression ring w/header, screws for assembly and owner’s assembly manual. Walls cam-lock together in seconds and the typical erection time is 4 to 5 hours.

MSRP for the 30′ model is $ 39,900

Included:

All walls R42 and roof panels R42, micro-lam headers, wall to wall connectors, glue-lam super structure and rafters, operable skylight,compression frame w/header and assembly manual. Wall and roof panels cam-lock together and the typical erection time is 2 days.

Some will say that they sound expensive but you save time and money on assembly, very little waste or theft, and no expensive contractor needed. When your home is up you have the walls, roof, insulation, and rough electrical with boxes ready to go for about $55.00 per sq. ft. You then choose the interior and exterior finishing of your choice. An average home will cost about $125 to $150 per sq. ft. to finish so Solargons are very competitive.

Additional value is in the energy savings for the life of the building. You can upgrade your lifestyle with energy savings and lower your carbon footprint and live in a open and light living space.

Your kit can be shipped anywhere and can be put together by customers. We do supply tech support or can assist with your project.

Visit www.solargonsales.com for more pictures. You can also view a virtual interior of a 30′ model to get an idea what the interior would look like. See interior of 30′ Solargon.

30' Solargon Floorplan

20' Solargon Yurt

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Saturday I had the opportunity to go to Jay Shafer’s home of  Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and meet Amanda Abel and her boyfriend Tyson Stottrup. Amanda is working on her thesis on Tiny Houses and had come to interview Jay and photograph his home. Since I live near by she invited me to come on over and get aquainted as well. You can visit Amanda’s blog here.

Amanda is a grad student in Documentary Photography at UC Santa Cruz and has been traveling all over the U.S. visiting, photographing and interviewing tiny house builders. I have also been in touch with her as Tyson has been relocating a tiny house onto his property and will soon be remodeling it so that he and Amanda can move into it sometime in the future. I will get a post up on their progress soon.

While I was there Jay gave me a rough draft of his new book that will be coming out soon called The Small House Book. It really looks neat and I look forward to writing a review on it once it is available and in print.

It is always fun to get together with like minded people and I enjoyed the two hours we spent at Jay’s discussing tiny house issues and communities.

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The Studio Shed by Modern-Shed was recently featured in Dwell magazine and I was impressed that these stylish dwellings with their clean lines and Japanese design do not look like your typical backyard shed.

Modern-Shed is simply about storage, fun, space, architecture in your backyard. It gives you the chance to have an office away from home, a small art studio, guest or rental quarters, or to free up room in the garage.

The Modern Shed buildings are available in five styles: Basic, Studio, Designer, Dwelling and Play. The goal for all Modern-Shed sheds is to be able to be assembled quickly and with few tools. All models are packed flat with all the panels pre-built and finished. The Studio Shed comes with pre-insulated walls and roof panels.

For tiny house lovers who want a little more space, the Dwelling Shed may be what you are looking for. The Dwelling Shed comes in multiple configurations, is shipped with pre-painted parts, insulation in the roof, walls and floor, tongue and groove wood ceiling, and a metal roof. However, the kitchen and bathroom fixtures are not included and the plumbing and electrical will need to be installed on site.

Modern-Shed builds their sheds under one roof, which cuts down on waste and travel time and fuel. The company purchases their supplies from local manufacturers in the Seattle area. They also offer a variety of exterior and interior materials and colors and some eco-friendly options such as:

• Denim wall insulation
• Cork floor tiles
• Linoleum Floor Tiles
• Tex Decking
• Structurally Insulated panels (SIPS)
• Sustainable wood
• Green roofs

The Dwelling Shed starts at $39,900 for the 475 square foot model and $69,900 for the 750 square foot model. Each model comes with exterior french doors and wall-mounted sliding interior doors.

Re-visit their site for upcoming photos and information on the very cool looking Designer Shed.

By Christina Nellemann

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