Easy to assemble panel construction. The kit is ready to assemble with the help of a couple of friends or a local handyman.

The kit includes: a steel door and two 3‘x3’ double pane windows and a steel roof and texture 111 vertical siding and is ready for you to finish off the interior and paint or stain the exterior however you choose.

Henry’s Place is great for a shed, spare room, home office, tiny house or a getaway.

Special introductory pricing of $4,800 which includes Free shipping within 400 miles of Santa Rosa, California. Shipped as a flat pack plus the option of assembly on delivery for an additional fee. Only 4 are available with this introductory option. Get your order in Now!

Call Kent Griswold at the Tiny House Blog at 707-799-6891 today and place your order. A 50% deposit is required to begin construction and full payment due on completion.

*Shipping Extra depending on location
*Shipping further distances is also available.
*Deck in illustration not included

Basic Kit Floor Plan

Suggested Tiny House Floor Plan not included in Basic Kit

Ryo has a very interesting blog and you will enjoy reading it. It is a journal of his experiences in building his hut, so make sure you go and visit it here. I’m going to let Ryo tell his story now.

This past summer, I bought 60 acres of vacant land in northern California, and have been living there part time since August. Sleeping in a tent was fine while it was warm, but as the weather turned colder and wetter, I decided I needed something bigger, warmer, and dryer. I knew I didn’t need or want much; just something big enough for me to relax, cook, and sleep in comfortably.

In keeping with my theme of “minimalist comfort,” I decided to go for something small, just 6 feet by 8 feet, though with some insulation for warmth, and windows for light. Of course, it also had to be sturdy enough to not collapse under the weight of snow. I looked at pre-fab sheds at hardware stores, but even the tiniest, most shoddily made ones cost $500-600, with no windows or insulation. Naively, I figured that I could build a nicer hut for under $300.

With only a rudimentary (and incomplete) design I put together using Google SketchUp, I began construction in late October when a couple of friends came out for a weekend to help with the raising, and then worked on it alone for another 7 or 8 days before it was ready to be moved into. I built a loft for my sleeping pad, which left all the floor open for use, and left enough space for me to put in a small counter table for my propane stove.

The actual cost has since ballooned past $500, but it’s mostly done, and has been more or less comfortable enough to live in through rain, snow, and 20 degree (f) nights. It’s not the prettiest thing, but I’m proud of the fact that I designed and built a nice, cozy and sturdy hut for relatively cheap, despite not having any formal training in carpentry or architecture.

Ryo’s hut is not quite finished as he still needs to finish off the roof, be sure and follow his blog to keep up with his progress. Thanks Ryo for sharing your story.

Lofted Porch

The Lofted Porch comes in 11 sizes from 8X16 to 14X40 and starts at $2,625 up to almost $10,000. This building provides overhead storage space with a covered entry. Windows provide natural lighting, and a traditional style metal door provides security and convenience. There is an abundance of overhead storage, and a covered entryway. The exterior of the Lofted Porch is virtually maintenance free.

Lofted Porch

Portable Casita

The Portable Casita comes in 9 sizes starting at 10×22 which costs $4,465 to 14×40 for $9,650. The Casita offers overhead storage space along with a “cabin” style exterior appearance. The covered “porch” offers a nice added touch, while windows provide natural lighting, and the metal entry door provides security and easy access. Built on sturdy 4×6 pressure treated skids with 2×6 treated floor joists and heavy duty 3/4″ plywood flooring, the Portable Casita is protected with 25 year solid tab shingles. The Casita also comes available with log siding which is available in 8 sizes. With the log siding option, you get real wood log siding over OSB sheathing. The inside of the building is still open with exterior stud walls that can be left unfinished, or you can finish the interior any way you want.

Portable Casita Interior

Mini Cottage

The Mini Cottage is patterned off of Dix’s very successful Portable Playhouse. This unique little cottage provides additional room for both play and storage. The end of the cottage features a larger door for adult access making it a very versatile storage shed. You can also order your mini-cottage with 6′6″ walls in place of the standard 5′3″ walls making it even more functional and providing additional storage room. There are three sizes available: a 10×12, 12×12 and 12×16. They range in price from $2,995 to $3,995.

Each Better Built building will be custom built to your specifications, allowing you to specify such things as overall building size, door and window sizes and locations, and shingle colors that blend with existing structures. Dix also offers a rent-to-own option with each of its buildings. Any plumbing, electrical and interior work will be done by the customer.

Each of the buildings feature pressure treated 2×6 floor joists notched into skids providing a much stiffer and stronger flooring system than the industry standard 2×4 system. They also feature:

• Wall Studs on 2′ centers, doubled on siding joints
• A solid framework for exterior siding
• 5/8″ T1-11 Pressure Treated Premium Grade Siding with sprayed on Cedar Stain/Sealer
• 2×4 Roof Trusses on 2′ center, with 7/16″ OSB decking
• 2×4 Reinforced doors
• Vents for air circulation and temperature control
• Exposed nails that are ring shank and galvanized
• One-year warranty

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)

I’m building this enormous tiny house, more accurately, it’s building me. I began with wood from a barn a friend and I took down in Cotati and a 7′ x 16′ utility/ flatbed/ car hauler/ trailer. With each decision, my approach has been to imagine a million other people making the same choice I’m considering. If it seems like that choice supports the kind of future I want to see, I go for it. If it seems like the choice is a “necessary evil,” I do the best I can to find an alternative. Please excuse/enjoy the following manifesto.

Living in northern California is a privilege. Here especially, luxurious self-indulgence creates waste of all sorts. Now, vernacular architecture* consists of the abundant building materials locally available from incessant remodels across Marin and Sonoma Counties. Though the practice of replacing a perfectly functioning kitchen has certainly lessened with this economic downturn, the Recycle Town located in Petaluma at the Regional Central Disposal Site continues to provide a pile of wonderful reusable materials otherwise headed to the landfill. So does Craigslist.

With this building project, I want to add what I can to the creative commons and to all of you doing fantastic work to beef up open source architecture. This is an international issue. I agree, there is a housing crisis, and I’ve learned from creative builders who address this issue. I especially want to empower and encourage other women builders.

I have yet to see a house on a trailer built without the use of plywood for sheer strength. Plywood is not something I find often in salvage yards nor on Craigslist. So, stubbornly, this has been my goal: to build a solid, long-lasting home on wheels out of salvaged materials, with no plywood, as inexpensively as possible. I’ve used diagonal bracing for sheer strength. I had been planning on welding 2″x2″ angle iron to the base of the trailer coming up each corner and bolted into the rafters, but after taking it on the road, I’ve decided it’s probably unnecessary. I keep track of each find/expense in order to share a detailed budget once I finish.

If I do it again, I wouldn’t use rigid foam. I’m only using this toxic product because of the truckload I found for free in Sebastopol from someone’s remodel. I thought I had enough to insulate the whole structure, but I’m coming up short and questioning how to complete the insulation. Though rigid foam is lightweight and has an undeniably high R-value, the particulates that go to the wind as I work aren’t something I want my family, garden, neighbors, or anyone to really have to live with. There are things about this project I’m not satisfied with, hence the posting on my blog: ALL THE BAD CHOICES I’VE CHOSEN: Killing the Planet, Killing Myself: Why I’d rather be building with straw and mud, period (8 Oct 09).

Please look all through my blog if you are curious to learn more or post comments. I have a wishlist at the top. If you’re a local and have any of those items laying around, please let me know!

- Jenine Alexander
Blog: Forge Ahead Puppet {Building} Productions http://forgeaheadpuppetproductions.blogspot.com/

Photo Credit: Jenine Alexander

*Vernacular Architecture: methods of construction which use locally available resources and traditions to address local needs.

The bunkies face south across the lake. Because of the setting, with open fields, limestone shelves along the shoreline and open water, there is a very east-coast feel to the land.”

Karen is planning on building a bunkie on her property on  Simcoe Island shown in the last picture but she has some concerns. You can read them here and if you have any suggestions use the comment section to give her your take.

I would like to build a bunky next summer (actually, a friend who is a carpenter is going to build it for me.) The provincial building code defines a “building” as a structure that is greater than 10 square meters, equivalent to 108 square feet. That footprint maximum includes a covered deck where supports for the roof of the deck are anchored into the ground (and may also include an porch area that is not covered.) Technically, anything that is not a “building” according to this definition and size is not covered by the building code and so does not require a building permit. However, it’s my understanding that there is a good deal of “discretion” that can be applied by the local building official, so considerations of shoreline set-backs of 50 feet, height restrictions of 14 ft and assumptions that a bunky will be an adjunct building to a “primary structure” (i.e., a building that has been installed according to the building code) may also apply. These two bunkies have been in place for at least 10 years, maybe longer. Since then, other islanders have put up bunkies, some as additions to a main building on their property and some on vacant land similar to mine. I guess my worry is that I would be halfway through putting the bunky up, only to have the building inspector in the area and tell me I have to stop.

In the attached photos, there is one with a small deck which is 11 by 11 on the exterior, plus the deck.  It is the only structure on the property. The other place is probably 10 by 10, away from a main house, but the deck certainly extends out from there and right on the shore line.  My property in between: I think my biggest challenge will be that it is vacant land with no existing primary structure. I have always wanted to build something small on the property, ideally about 250 square feet, but in the 9 years since I bought it, the local rules have changed, and now you cannot get a building permit for a “building” smaller than 950 square feet.  So the only real alternative financially for me is to go small and comfy, which is fine, because besides the two ferry rides, the distance by land to the property is only about 6 miles from home. Perhaps ignorance of the rules would have been a better source of bliss, and most of the folks I have spoken to know about the 108 square foot rule, but not the other considerations.  So much for being curious…

Anyhow, if you do have thoughts or suggestions, that would be great. -Karen

I’ve been living full time in my 12×16 cabin since May of 2008. The cabin was built by myself and my brother-in-law, Greg. He’s the carpenter and I the assistant though after building 4 structures I’ve accumulated a good bit of knowledge and skill. I’m on land left to our family by my grandfather.

The property had been a campground of sorts from the 1970’s to the early 90’s so has the somewhat functional remains of an electrical infrastructure and several wells. The area we are using had a well and an old but structurally sound pole-barn style shed. It’s a mix of woodland and meadow with an 18 acre lake on the west side. We’d often talked of building a couple cabins but we never seemed to get started which proved lucky as a tornado hit the far side of the property in 2006.

In April of 2008 the economy had begun to show the first obvious signs of serious problems and I decided that it was time to build. After a bit of discussion we got started with the first structure, an outhouse with a composting toilet. This was built in a weekend and my cabin was started next. Using a combination of new and re-used materials (mostly from craig’s list) we had the shell built after two very long weekends. I moved in at the end of the second weekend when it was almost enclosed. The only thing left to do were the soffits. By the end of the second weekend I’d also gotten the garden started with tomatoes and peppers I’d started from seed a month earlier.

Over the next few months we finished the inside with insulation, tongue and groove ceiling, and plywood bead board for the walls. Cabinets were donated by a friend and the old style sink, which looks like something from an old farm house, was found on the curb. In the fall of 08 we installed a wood stove and built a loft area above my bed. The loft is for storage or a sleeping space for visitors. In the fall of 08 Greg found a good deal for a 10×20 cabin on craig’s list which has been set-up as a bunk house used primarily by my siblings and their spouses. It has a bathroom, 3 twin bunk-beds and a full bed.

The simple life, Permaculture and a bigger picture
I still carry water from the well 200 feet away for use inside the cabin. Next spring we’ll probably get a water line trenched in but I don’t mind carrying the water as it reminds me to be more aware of what I use. I average about 4 gallons a day. The kitchen sink is plumbed to a basic gray water exit outside the cabin which is heavily mulched and planted with a variety of native plants. I’m working on a six barrel rain collection system and landscaped swales which harvest water for the garden. In addition to the kitchen garden of annual veggies, herbs and flowers I’ve also planted a mix of 30+ fruit trees and bushes as a series of 3 food forests with apples, peaches, plums, pears, pawpaws, blueberries, juneberries, currants, gooseberries, hardy kiwis and a few others. It will be a few years before we see significant produce but everything is in place!

I don’t really use hot water except what I heat outside in the summer or on the wood stove in the winter. Cooking is a combination of solar oven (in the summer), wood stove (winter), and a propane Coleman camp stove all year. I don’t have a fridge. In the summer I cook daily and keep left overs to a minimum. In the winter I have a cool cabinet which is just an area under the sink that is isolated from the rest of the cabin and stays fairly cool in the winter. I can easily keep food such as butter, cheese, left over soup, etc in this area. I do have electricity which is used for lighting, fans, computer and very limited use of the television. I average about 3-4 kWh per day.

In the spring and summer of 09 we built a chicken coop greenhouse which is divided by a solid wall and vented between the two. Much of this structure was made of salvaged lumber. Chickens put off about 40 watts of heat each as well as carbon dioxide. The idea is that there will be a heat and gas exchange between the 15 chickens and the greenhouse. I’m also collecting rainwater from this structure for the chickens, plantings in the greenhouse and for thermal mass to regulate the temperature of the greenhouse in the winter.

Other structures and todos
This past summer we built another cabin which is mostly for the kids to sleep and play when the bunk cabin is full of adults. It is 8×12 with a 8×8 loft area accessed by a ladder. It is gradually starting to look like a little village. Longer term plans might include turning the bunk house into a communal kitchen and building two or three cabins for my siblings, parents or guests. We’ll also be building a wood shed and possibly a root cellar/storm shelter.

In my own cabin I’m still busy with details. I’ve enclosed my wood stove  with 30 concrete blocks to provide thermal mass for holding heat and releasing it slowly. This means I’ll use far less wood because I can burn hotter, shorter fires which are less polluting. The heat is captured and slowly released by the mass of concrete so no more winter mornings at 40 degrees. The concrete is not too nice to look at so once I’ve settled on the arrangement of blocks I’ll be covering them with a thin layer of cob or some sort of rock facade. I’m not decided yet. My only concern about this is that it would make access to the stove for maintenance difficult. I’ve also just built a kitchen table made of weathered wood from a truckload of free pallets to replace the particle board table that had been loaned to me when I first moved in. The old wood and cedar branch legs are a much better fit for the cabin. I had enough wood left over to build a rustic end cabinet between the door and sink as well as a few wall shelves. The last big project for my cabin will be a covered porch which I hope to get to in the spring. I’ve still got a few bits of trim that I never put up and eventually would like to cover the vinyl flooring with some sort of wood flooring but for that I’ll wait till I find something I can salvage and re-use.

Living a simpler life in a small cabin or house may not be for everyone but it fits me perfectly. I’ve never had much stuff so there was no adaption or major transformation needed. I’m easily contented with a bit of reading, cooking or puttering around in the garden. In this homestead setting there are always little projects and chores such as managing the winter wood supply or daily care of the critters. I do think that for many who adopt life in a small house that a beautiful setting and willingness or desire to spend lots of time outside is likely to be a key ingredient and often has the added benefit of increasing healthy activities such as walking. Small house living, because expenses are less, easily leads to more free time which means more freedom and greater opportunity to explore interests and self/community development.

Thank you Denny for sharing your story. I look forward to reading more about it in your blog. Please keep us posted of any new developments.

The Rural Studio is a design-build architecture studio run by Auburn University whose goal is to teach students both social responsibility while also providing safe, fine constructed homes with inspirational design for poor communities in rural west Alabama.

The project known as the 20K project is an ongoing project now into it 6th year. The project is based on trying to design and build and create alternative forms of housing on an extremely tight budget.

The project is based on the 20K limit to design and build a house for $10,000 for materials and with a proposed labor cost of $10,000, therefore not exceeding $20,000.

In the beginning four teams were put together to design four 20K houses. The four houses were completed and they are: the pattern book house ; the loft house; the roundwood house; and the bridge house.

Each team approached the design to fit in this tight budget and had a calendar year to complete the home. Currently four new clients have completed and paid for homes owned with the help of HERO.

Joey Fante a future architect showed his 20K project that with his team: Ryan Stephenson, Kait Caldwell, and Aimee O’Carroll designed and built the Loft House as part of the 2007/2008 thesis class at Rural Studio.

To view more photos visit arch daily and Rural Studio.

Photo Credit: arch daily

Since our post on Tiny House Blog last spring we have had over 150 people tour Camp Coyote and Farmhouse Life. I am often surprised by people’s positive reaction to our little buildings. Most comment that Camp Coyote is the ideal place to “get away.” Proving, I think, that when we aren’t constantly bombarded by external stimuli we have the opportunity to focus on what is important. And while we are going to add small solar and wind for some convenience our plan is to keep things pretty basic.

Taking a cue from our visitors we have added a porch to our bunkhouse. We built two tent platforms that are big enough to house a large tent with room enough to sit and relax up front. A solar experiment was begun by adding a solar heat panel to heat the pool in our grain bin. The water is pushed through the panel with the standard filter pump and on sunny days will raise the water temperature by 20 degrees. There is still some tweaking to do on how to best retain that heat but we are pretty happy with the experience.

Over the summer we transformed our old pole barn to host events for larger groups. This fall we hosted a private screening for the movie FRESH and had lunch for 40+ people from across the U.S., Central America, and Africa who recently attended the Community Food Security Coalition conference in Des Moines. All this interest has encouraged my wife and me to finish a few last projects so we can open in the summer of 2010. I have included a few pictures on these events and you can read more at our website, www.farmhouselife.com.

This first Sonoma Shanty is a simple shed, Phil’s next one will be more detailed. This one was built in Southern California.

For his second shanty, Phil plans to build on the Northern California coast in the Shelter Cove region.

This shed still has trim to install so the shanty appears rough, but he will soon complete it. Phil has documented with photos his build and you can learn a lot about the construction from his photos. Enjoy and thank you Phil for sharing your build with us.

You can view all his pictures at the Sonoma Shanty Website.

Rima is a traveling artist who with Tui her partner have built this unique home to travel around the country selling her artwork.

These pictures will just wet your appetite for what Rima has on her blog.

Rima’s curiosity leads her through the many worlds of words, languages and lettering, books and stories, puppetry, nature and interesting people, music, superstitions, folklore and fairytales, and most of all the otherness that can be found on the periphery of our lives, the strange and grotesque, the absurd and unnerving … that topsy turvy in between place where things are not quite what they seem…

Her days are spent in a house on wheels with Tui, her man, best friend and fellow traveller and he weaves beautiful sounds to make beautiful music.

Rima writes tales of their days and thoughts of her stories and songs of her paintings here on this blog for you to smile at.

Visit The Hermitage Blog.