Tiny House Blog

This garden shed would make a perfect tiny house. It was recently featured on the Fine Homebuilding website and I thought you would enjoy it too. The downstairs is designed as a working garden shed and the upstairs has a little retreat with two beds. I could see this design easily transferred into a tiny house. David Edrington used Google SketchUp to design the garden shed and than had a contractor build it.

Read the full article and see more photos at the Fine Homebuilding site.

Photo by Kent Peterson

Guest Post by Frank Dobrucki

My Tiny House Dilemma/Challenge. Years ago, as I was watching the Las Vegas housing market crumble, the local TV News was reporting that Las Vegas did not have to worry about the national trend in housing, because Las Vegas was going vertical! Yes, we had well over 100 huge high-rise projects on the horizon! I thought that the newscasters were out of their mind. There is no way that you can insulate one type of housing project, specially when it is an outrageously overpriced concept and believe that this will save us from economic catastrophe. Fast-forward, Las Vegas is truly ground zero when it comes to the national housing market disaster. All of the high-rise projects included, even though most were never built!

Photo Credits: Frank Dobrucki

When I looked at the floor plans of many of the projects, several entry-level models were less than 800 square feet and had starting prices of $600,000 and monthly homeowner fees of approximately $800 to $1,000. I knew that I could do a better job of coming up with the kind of housing that people really need and something that people could afford.

Continue Reading »

Scott Stewart from Slabtown Customs in Arkansas is selling his office as he needs more space. This unit is ready for you to turn into a tiny home or office.

Scott says: It’s built like the tiny houses I build and could easily be set up as a house with addition of a bath and kitchen but was built to be my personal office and has been great but some new business additions require more office space so I would like to sell this one. It’s built on a trailer with two axles and bumper hitch, it is 8′ wide and 20′ long including a 6′ front covered porch.

Insulated and wired it has ext ceiling fan and light on front porch, ceiling fan with light and hanging globe lights inside, rustic pine lap and gap and barn metal interior, also has barn metal porch ceiling.

Vinyl flooring, three 3×3 windows with window in back wall having a plug for a window type heat/ac unit in place.

Scott is asking $6,250 for the office as is. If you would like Scott will add a bathroom for $2,000 which would include shower, toilet, sink/vanity and water heater. With that addition it would make a perfect guest house or dorm room for a college student.

Contact Scott Stewart at 870-213-5310
Slabtown Customs
Mountain View, Arkansas
Email: [email protected]

[View with PicLens]

Photo Credits: Scott Stewart

Guest Post by Ella Jenkins

I’m Ella, a 23 year old musician and artist just out of college and I’m in the process of building my very own Tumbleweed Fencl. I’ve been in love with tiny houses from the moment it came to my attention they existed in 2010, and I’ve been saving my money ever since. Finally, last September, I bought a trailer and my step-dad and I began the grand construction!

I have never built a thing in my life, but with my Dad’s endless tools, know-how, and lectures I’ve taken in so much and the two of us have muddled our way through. It’s amazing what you can learn when you’re passionate!

Photo Credits: Ella Jenkins

We have just gotten the roof on and are now working on putting up cedar siding. I hope to be done around May and find somewhere beautiful to set myself down. This way I can pursue what I love without the worry of financially debilitating rent. Continue Reading »

There is a new company in Texas building tiny houses their name is Texas Cozy Cabins. I have not had any success getting in contact via email, but decided to go ahead and share their work. One of our readers, Felix, has seen them in person and was very impressed.

Here is what the company says about themselves: Texas Cozy Cabins is a Texas manufacturer that specializes in small cabins for your larger than life living. We offer the highest quality construction on finished and unfinshed cabin homes in the Central Texas region. Texas Cozy Cabins offers a wide selection of designs and styles to meet your every need.

Photo Credits: Texas Cozy Cabins

Our designs deliver the highest quality in design aesthetics, solid architectural detail and premium craftsmanship. Texas Cozy Cabins offers many designs and styles, however you also have the ability to design your own cabin to meet your specific needs. We pride ourselves in being available to our clients and working closely with you to provide the highest quality product. All of our structures are built with quality materials and hand-crafted with care and a sense of pride that can only be found in Texas. Continue Reading »

My name is John Warren. I met Andrea Tremols and Cedric Baele at an oyster roast last night in Charleston. They told me about their project and I told them about a series of photos I took of small dwellings out on Block Island, Rhode Island. They are mostly highly efficient summer homes that are are all uniquely designed to withstand sustained winds of over 100 miles per hour.

I photographed about 20 of them, but there are many more. I became interested in small dwellings when I went to Whidbey Island, Washington. Continue Reading »

by Matthew Wolpe

So, I’m designing and building a tiny house. Last year one of my students showed me a picture of the Tumbleweed houses and said she wanted to build one and wanted me to help out. I laughed and thought it was funny and intriguing, but inside I was like “Are you serious, you’re gonna move into one of those?” Okay, so fast forward six months, and the New Yorker article came out and I was reading it in bed. It was a rare moment of epiphany, aided by some lovely company.

It was the ideal next step for me.

There were a few considerations:

1. I loved my housemates to death but don’t love my basement room, particularly in the winter
2. I’d been building chicken coops for the past year, something I’m a little tired of, so it was like a giant chicken coop with new challenges
3. I had been trying to buy a house with friends in oakland for over a year and am convinced this is my only way towards home ownership in the bay area, and
4. After finishing the manuscript and seeing my sweetheart leave the country for a long while I had the compulsion to throw myself into a giant project. Continue Reading »