Tiny House Blog

Inspired by David Thoreau and energized by the opportunity to live a more sustainable and simple life, Jim Wilkins of St. Paul, Minnesota, has designed and built several tiny green cabins available for sale.

Each of these cabins have been developed to be multi-purpose, eco-friendly, transportable and stylish.

Tiny Green Cabins are earth friendly cabins ranging in size from 48 square feet to 252 square feet.

The Wildflower cabin is 120 square feet and built with green certified materials and reclaimed products as well as recycled materials. The walls and the floor are insulated with Soft Touch Cotton insulation made from recycled blue jeans.

The 8×18 foot Wildflower cabin base price is $19,900. Several options are included such as pine or cedar paneling, a propane fireplace and solar tripod. An upgraded model is for sale for $23,500 which includes Trex decking and wavy edge cedar wainscotting (which I just love!).

Two other green cabins profiled on Jim’s website are the 6×8 foot Mini-Sota which starts at $8,358 or the 8×10 foot Sunflower Starting at $10,499.

Neither price includes cabinetry, appliances or shipping. A $2,000 deposit will reserve a production date for a Tiny Green Cabin. A 50 percent deposit is required two weeks prior to production, with the balance due upon completion and delivery of the home.

Standard Items in the Tiny Green Cabins:

• FSC Cert. Mixed * SW-COC-000669 Lumber
• Ultra Touch Cotton Ins 6X16 – Recycled Denim (cotton) Insulation – (Blue Jeans)
• Finger jointed 2 X 3’s and 2 X 4’s
• Recycled & Reclaimed Lumber
• Anderson Silverline Windows
• Pro-Rib Steel 29 gauge panel – Emerald Green
• Trex Decking (recycled plastic and wood fibers)
• Low VOC paints
• Acrylic caulks
• Energy Star Electrical Boxes
• CDX roof and exterior sheathing
• Tyvek Exterior building wrap
• Vertical OSB substrate “Smart Panel” exterior siding
• Rebond (recycled) carpet padding
• Insulated windows (low e on some models both in recyclable aluminum and vinyl)
• Type 6 nylon carpet from Shaw

Optional Items in the Tiny Green Cabins:

• Recycled tires and axles.
• I-beam manufactured from scrap, recycled steel
• OSB Floor, Wall, and Roof Decking
• “James Hardie” Cemplank exterior siding
• Title 24 interior lighting
• Insulated fiberglass (50 year warranty) exterior entry doors.
• “Rinnai” tankless gas water heater
• PEX water systems (recyclable with no solvent connections)
• DR 24 PVC and ABS drain lines, less materials with recycled contents
• Gypsum panels (recycled paper)
• Energy Star appliances (most standard models and all up grades)
• Programmable thermostat
• 2×6 S4S Cedar Porch Decking
• Spray foam exterior wall insulation
• Electric Fireplace
• Cordwood Simulated Siding/Wainscoat
• Wavy Edge Rough Sawn Cedar Siding
• Water saver toilets, tub and shower diverters
• Quick recovery water heaters
• Aluminum (recyclable) mini-blinds

Jim also offers custom services for those that desire new designs along with products that can be incorporated into the tiny cabins, such as denim/cotton insulation, recycled and reclaimed materials, FSC Certified lumber products, solar panels for power off the grid, homemade soaps, organic products and other earth friendly sustainable products.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

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Crystal recently emailed me about a tiny house they are building in Kansas. I wanted to share their story with so I’ll let Crystal tell you about their project.

We began researching the tiny house movement about four years ago. After also examining how we were living and the way we would prefer to live, we knew it was time to make a change. Some of those changes would be spending more time with family and friends, doing more charity work, and making better use of our resources. Building a tiny house was the natural next step toward having the freedom to live our lives the way we envisioned. We decided to put our house on the market and also began selling all of our possessions on craigslist and in a garage sale. What we couldn’t sell we donated to Goodwill.

Ron is an attorney and I’m a Montessori teacher who decided to stay home with my daughter. We’re still a little (okay I am, at least) nervous that Ron will have room to put all of his suits for work!

After purchasing our trailer, we began considering design concepts in order to maximize the space. Having a nine-month old little girl, we needed create extra room so that later she could have her own sleeping loft. We stumbled upon the design for Darren Macca and Ann Holley’s Protohaus and visited them over a weekend trip to Denver as they were wrapping up their build. Not only did we learn a lot about how to build a tiny house, but we also decided to incorporate dormer windows on both the front and back loft spaces of our tiny house.

With the help of family and friends, we decided to build our home ourselves. Progress has moved rather quickly on the house since construction began. We started with a building party in mid August to kick start our build. Friends and family joined us in building and we were able to raise all of the walls within the first two days and finished all of the framing and sheathing within 10 days. We hope to be moved into our tiny house in the next month!

We have used many reclaimed materials during the course of the project. These items include everything from studs removed from someone’s basement to gently used appliances to furnish our home. We are still considering our options on where to place our tiny house after it is finished.

We are very excited about working toward completion of our tiny house and welcome visitors who may have interest tiny houses. We are also documenting our build at: http://tinyhouseontheprairie.blogspot.com/ and will update as we continue the build.

Crystal with give us an update and more pictures when their house is complete. It is so neat to see more small families moving into the tiny house living style.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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Update: Justin found the location and even though this was not an official contest, I think I will send him a copy of the Sonoma Shanty Plans for his effort. Congratulations Justin. The location was Bøyabreen glacier in Norway or Boa Glacier. Thank you Ashanna for the link.

Another unknown tiny house in a landscape,  but of course, beautiful. Here is my guess: I think this little house is at a glacier in New Zealand. Where do you think it is? Please submit your answer by adding a comment.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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*** Sold ***

Grant McComb emailed me yesterday and told me about his Tumbleweed Tarleton he has for sale at what I think is a bargain basement price. Let me let Grant tell you about it:

I just finished building my tiny house from Jay Shafer’s plans. It turned out wonderful and I’ve been living in it for about 2 weeks now. I enjoyed building it so much that I’m going to
build another one.

I’m selling it for only $18,000. The trailer was built brand new and is box frame (not C channel). I paid around $3800 to have the trailer built.

The humanure toilet is working great. I’m using peat moss instead of sawdust and it seems to be working just fine. There is absolutely no odor at all. I chose peat moss because I can go to Home Depot and buy a big bag of it for $6.00. I don’t know where to get sawdust at.

I have a 10 gallon water heater for the sink and the shower that works beautiful. It acutally works better than the house I just moved out of. I have a garden hose coming from the land owner’s house for my water supply.

It took me less than 3 months to build the tiny house. I started in May of 2009. Feel free to call or email me if you have any questions or know anyone interested.

Thank you,

Grant McComb

I have added all of Grant’s photos of his build to the Tiny House Journal, these photos should give you a good idea of the quality of the build.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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Royal shared with me Zig’s story and pictures. Here is the story of Zig’s Pout House brought to us by Royal. You can view more pictures of the house on Zig’s website.

In 1999 he decided to build a tiny house/shed on the trailer … using the cedar lumber. The inside of his tiny house smells like a cedar chest. Turns out he had 2 or 3 types of cedar wood. He even saved the outside sections that have bark on, when he cut up the lumber, and used them as ceiling cover below the sleeping loft. The walls are insulated with Fiberglas batting.

From the outside, the trailer looks small (it’s a single axle trailer). But it seemed somewhat larger on the inside. His side-walls are 8 ft. tall. Then he came down 1 ft. from the wall tops to install his sleeping loft floor. It looks like a 12×12 pitch roof with asphalt shingles … he doesn’t plan on driving around the countryside with his tiny house in tow.

He has several fluorescent lamps inside, including in the loft. He now has an actual mattress in the sleeping loft. The other half of the loft area is storage … big enough for another mattress.

As you come in the door and turn left, on the end where he works on his family history hobby … he had started to do the inside walls with diagonal slanted cedar … until he figured that it was taking up way too much wood to do that. Then he went with a horizontal boards. If you come in the door and turn right, you see another door that opens to reveal a bathroom … toilet and 32″ shower base. When you come in the door, directly overhead is an open space (2′ x2′ ?) for ventilation to the loft … and one of those fold-up attic ladder units. Pull it down and climb into the loft sleeping & storage areas … push it up and it is out of the way. Ahead to the right is where he planned to put in his kitchen area … but hasn’t done so yet.

The old signs he collected around town … a lot of the license plates were given to him by friends …

To see more pictures view Zig’s website.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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I am really excited, today Ann Holley emailed and sent me updated pictures of the ProtoHaus in its new location and a picture of the finished interior (last picture below).

This is one of my favorite designs for a tiny house on wheels and I will let you in on some news. A plan for this home will be available in the not to distant future. I will let you know here on the Tiny House Blog, the plans will be available in the Plans Page above.

You can see the previous post on the construction of the ProtoHause here.

Okay here is the update from Ann:

Hello Tiny House Blog Readers!

ProtoHaus has arrived in Alfred, New York! We have set up on Alfred University’s campus next to the Environmental House and we are settling in nicely.

ProtoHaus is part of Ann’s graduate studies in the Sculpture and Dimensional Studies program. So far we have had lots of positive response. Neighbors, including permanent town residence as well as students, have been curious and friendly embracing us warmly.

This is all very exciting and encouraging since a big part of the project is about sharing what we are doing with the community. It looks like Ann will be holding a seminar on a Friday in November and we will be in touch to announce the date as it approaches.

Also, we plan to have an open house in the near future (date to be determined). We welcome visitors and questions. Please visit our website www.protohaus.moonfruit.com if you want to know more.

Ann Holley

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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