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

Photo by Kent Peterson

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.

Whenever I looked at what “truly” affordable housing means, I kept finding these little tiny storage sheds with ladders and lofts. Nothing about these units made me feel than anybody could ever be comfortable living there. My challenge was to design a small footprint housing unit that was 1) affordable, 2) efficient, 3) practical, and most important, to me 4) comfortable and fun to live in.

I knew that I would be designing a one-story unit. The idea of climbing up and down a ladder did not appeal to me. The ladder concept excludes a lot of people and I can just imagine how dangerous a fall could be in the middle of the night when you had to use the bathroom. Not to knock the green movement, but I wasn’t really all that excited about the woodsy look either. I think that color and texture play a very important role in the design process and well insulated drywall that can be painted or wallpapered is much more adaptable to a greater variety of people. I also knew that I wanted a great kitchen. I love to cook and I wasn’t interested in a little electric burner and a microwave that is nestled under the counter somewhere. Finally, I wanted a real bathroom. The standard bathroom is designed as a 5’X 8’ room. This is mostly specified because a standard tub/shower enclosure comes in a 5’ length. Interestingly, just because it really fit, I came up with a 6’X 9’ bathroom.

In the end, I came up with a 24’X 24’ cube that intersects the needs of many things. As there are no walls separating the living room, dining, kitchen or bedroom areas, the space seems much bigger than it actually is. The ceilings are 9’ high, which also contributes to the feeling of a much larger space. There is plenty of storage. I call this project the “Domain-Studio” and the total living space is 576 sq. ft. You can see the “Domain-Studio” at: www.dropitanywhere.com

When I finished this design, I actually built the first unit. It was so incredibly exciting to see my drawing come to life. I am absolutely crazy about the “Domain-Studio” and believe that this housing unit could revolutionize the concept of affordable housing in cities across the country. The main difference with the “Domain-Studio” is that it is meant to be a stackable unit. The primary design calls for a building-block technology that can be fitted on top of commercial buildings. Most commercial buildings have flat roofs. Look at most supermarket shopping centers; strip malls, even downtown commercial buildings. Most all of these buildings have flat roofs. Why not take advantage of these flat roofs and make affordable housing available where people want to live, in areas where driving would not always be needed. Look at all of the mall properties across the country. Many of these malls are dying a slow economic death! Imagine what kind of life-support could be achieved by placing several hundred living units “on-property.” Many of these malls could be reinvented to include late night dining, coffee shops and other business that could serve as social gathering places because of the new resident population. As a real estate developer, nothing excited me more than being able to build a housing project without have to buy any land!

Back in the 1980’s, I ventured in the mobile home park area. I actually owned a park in New England for a couple of years. I learned a lot about manufactured housing and saw the pros and cons of cheap inexpensive housing. Today, I am playing with a totally new concept and that is with the idea of a vertical rental tower. The idea would be to build a steel cage structure where you could simply slide in Domain units and the owner of the Domain unit would rent the tower space much like a mobile home owner rents the ground in a mobile home park.

The “Domain-Studio” is a $69,900 priced home. This unit would cost approximately $500 per month to “own.” While I never thought that I would or could design anything smaller than the “Domain-Studio, — I did! I went back to my drawing board and actually came up with two smaller units. The first is the “Domain-360” — which is exactly as its name suggests, a 360’ square foot unit. The motivation for the “Domain-360” was to accomplish one thing that the “Domain-Studio” could not. The “Domain-360” is built on one single all-steel super floor platform, which means that this unit leaves the factory 100% finished. There is no onsite work needed to button up or connect anything other than exterior connections for water, sewer and electricity. Both Domain units are 24’ long, which means that they can be stacked side by side in the same building configurations. The “Domain-360” uses the same basic layout of the larger unit, with virtually the same Living Room, Kitchen and Dining area. The difference is in the bathroom, closet and bedroom areas. The “Domain-360” does not have a dedicated bedroom area, but instead uses a MurphyBed wall system, which also doubles as an office/study area.

The “Domain-360” is priced at $59,900 and the monthly cost would be approximately $400 per month to “own.” Both Domain units come completely finished with cabinets, appliances, mini-split electric heat-pump HVAC and Kohler bathrooms. With 9’ ceilings, there is plenty of space to extend cabinets in the closets for additional storage.

My final design was for a very small unit, which I see for people that truly want the most minimal experience. I call this unit, the “Domain-Shelter.” The Domain Shelter is a 10’X 14’ cube that has 140 sq. ft. Everything is minimized, but I tried very hard to keep to my practicalities and not compromise on quality and comfort. The “Domain-Shelter” has factory-built kitchenette unit that has a small two burner stove, with an oven, under counter refrigerator, and built-in microwave. There is also a 4’ Kohler bathroom with a 4-piece fiberglass shower unit. One really neat feature of the steel super floor is that you can include outdoor space for a deck that will have incredible support and strength. One idea that I have is to include an 8’ deck on the back of this tiny unit, which would you an extra 80 square feet of outdoor living area for dining, outdoor grilling, and entertaining. Like the other Domain units, even the “Domain-Shelter” is able to be stacked.

Theses are my three Domain units. My challenge now is to get my first development project off the ground.

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: ozarksbest@yahoo.com

[View with PicLens]

Photo Credits: Scott Stewart

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.

Yellow is my happy colour, so I have named my wee house Little Yellow, or Buidhe Bheag in Scottish Gaelic (I studied traditional harp music and the Gaelic language in Scotland for 4 years). Feel free to stop by my blog where I am tracking my progress: http://littleyellowdoor.wordpress.com/

Photo Credits: Ella Jenkins

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.

I have attached a few pictures that show their work. Let me know what you think. You can also visit there website here: http://texascozycabins.com/ to learn more.

Photo Credits: Texas Cozy Cabins

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

I didn’t take photos of them, but there are also numerous bungalow style houses in New York City down in Far Rockaway, Queens. These are interesting because they are basically very old low income housing and you get to see the stark contrast between the nearby project buildings and these small free standing structures with compact yards. I wish I’d gotten some some photos of these because many are in bad shape and I could imagine them getting demolished at any time.

Block Island is a fascinating place, think Martha’s Vineyard or Nantucket 50 years ago. There are large houses on the island, but the modest scale of much of the architecture stems from a number of factors beginning with its remote location, a 12 mile ferry ride from the mainland. The wind is extreme and larger structures would be less wind resistant.

Everything tends to decay faster on the island, as a result of the salt spray and harsh winters, so renovation and upkeep are a constant battle as well.

Electricity costs on the island produced through burning coal are the highest in the nation, having a smaller structure with a wood stove is a no brainer.

One other interesting thing. The South Lighthouse also is rather small and stout for a lighthouse. This is because it is high up on a 200 ft bluff and doesn’t need to be especially tall. They actually moved the whole structure in a famous engineering/construction project away from the eroding bluff it was dangerously close to. The whole coastline is eroding quickly just like everything else on the island. Here is a link about that. http://www.nps.gov/maritime/nhl/blockisl.htm

Thank you John for taking all of these great photos and sharing them with us -Kent

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.

Some people do drugs, some people drink, I do really ambitious projects I suppose: an attribute and sometimes a flaw. So, I designed it in August and started building on August 30th. I am using our advance from the book to finance construction, but being as thrifty as possible. I bought the trailer used, most of the lumber is salvaged, along with all of the doors and windows, and the siding is all reclaimed redwood fencing I am re-milling that were only $1 a piece!

The final design will have a full kitchen, composting toilet, outdoor shower, sleeping loft, living room, fireplace and eventually a porch swing.

The next phase is doing the interior finish work and custom furniture, that part I’ve been looking forward to most.

“It’s like a sailboat on wheels,” Holley said.

A couple of years ago, tiny homes caught the attention of the couple. So, for about $25,000, they set out to build one.

“A lot of people think you couldn’t live this way,” Holley said.

They built the home with the help of family in Colorado. Then, when Holley went to graduate school out East, the couple drove the home out there and lived inside.

Protohaus caught the attention of folks on both commutes.

“They would follow us off the highway and they would be like, ‘How
many bedrooms are in there?’” Holley said.

Inside the home is a composting toilet; a stove; a faucet; outlets; even a sink with water. The home is fueled mostly on solar power and propane.

“Cleaning the house takes 20 minutes,” Holley said, laughing.

Read the complete story at the 9News website.

There’s a new tiny house company in town, and our name is Bungalow to Go (www.bungalowtogo.com).

Hi, my name is Paprika Clark, but a lot of folks call me Pepper. Although I only named it a few months ago, I started my house design company in spirit when I noticed an ad for a new subdivision in the newspaper at the age of six. Next to an elevation sketch was a floor plan. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The rooms were named. I could recognize an overhead view of a toilet, and the distinct round burners on the stove in the kitchen. I created a three dimensional projection in my mind and walked around “my new house” picking out my room and figuring out where we would put our couch. It was magical and I was hooked.

I started drawing my dream house then and I’ve never stopped. In the beginning they were huge and often strange, with lavish impossible features. Ponds with lily pads, indoor pools, waterfalls, tree houses, cave complexes, three story libraries with enormous rolling ladders, fireman’s poles, secret tunnels, maze gardens, green roofs, greenhouses, orchards, fire pits, dance floors… my houses had it all.

They’ve been a shifting collage of everything I love; alternative architecture, living close to nature, living an energetic movement filled life, making things from scratch, using local and natural materials, and enjoying life to its fullest.

Stumbling on Tumbleweed

While doing marketing research about five years ago I ran across Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. I had seen plenty of alternative architecture by then, but designs that took dramatic steps toward sustainability seemed too difficult and expensive to approach because of bureaucratic barriers and the cost of real estate, permitting, and construction. They were just too big to fit in my life. Furthermore, while I’d like to say looks don’t matter, in truth they make a huge difference as to whether a house will ever get permitted and built. An earthship home, for example, can be aesthetic and amazingly green, but the idea and the look is very different from the typical house, and scary or unappealing to a lot of people (although I like it). The Tumbleweed idea struck me as an amazing solution that had real potential to be both truly green and accessible to more people financially and aesthetically than anything I had seen before.

Later I came back to the Tumbleweed site and pored over every floor plan and imagined how I would live in one, where I would keep things, what I would own and what I would get rid of. All pure fantasy for a busy working mom with a big family. Eventually, I signed up for the workshop in Sebastopol. There were about 20 of us that day under a soaring tree next to the orchard where Jay had his tiny house parked at the time. We sat in the shade taking notes (I still have mine!) and talking about how to build a tiny house. I could never have imagined that years later I would speak at a Tumbleweed workshop to a group of 80!

Quite some time passed after the workshop before I was able to take some tiny house action. My seven person family is multi-generational and complex. We have two kids, several pets, and a lot of hobbies and trades amongst us – we take up a lot of space. I had very specific ideas about how to interpret the tiny house experience and I desperately wanted to design and build one, but I knew we couldn’t afford to do it just for ourselves. We didn’t have a true need for it, we couldn’t fit in one, and it wasn’t something I could justify – unless I made a business of it. I knew in the long term what I really wanted was to develop a whole community for tiny houses, so when I had the opportunity to invest, I decided to start by building just one.

Developing the Bungalow to Go Style

One thing Jay and Tumbleweed have done is create a unified image of the ideal tiny house exterior; it’s the essence of house-ness in its shape and proportions. It looks like the classic drawings of houses made by children across the world to represent home – regardless of the shapes of the houses they live in. His exterior forms have become the icon of the tiny house movement, so at some level every tiny house exterior is judged by how it compares with Jay’s designs. The interior, on the other hand, is where the world of tiny house building holds potential for a million interesting variations – with parameters so personal there’s almost no wrong way to go. I went with my instincts and made every choice as if I were going to live with it forever.

In touring Jay’s tiny house and looking at endless photos online of his interiors and others, I had developed my interior design parameters; I wanted a bigger stove with an oven, I couldn’t live with metal walls in my bathroom, and I wanted something other than tongue and groove on the walls. I love natural wood, but the horizontal bands on every surface seemed like it would be too much visually, and I wanted to see something more smooth and restful. I also wanted certain built-in “real house” conveniences; more electrical outlets, lighting with wall switches, ethernet/phone jacks, a triple mirrored medicine chest, the ability to take a ten minute shower, and cabinetry with a solid feel, smooth action and adjustable shelving. For each of us the priorities are different; every individual has their own unique preferences and values. For me, over the long haul these interior comforts were a more important investment for my dollar than upgrading the windows to aluminum clad wood.

A Bountiful Beginning

I was blessed in my journey with several important gifts; great neighbors, a bigger than average yard, a circle of friends in various building trades, a supportive spouse who could both help the construction process and back me up by caring for us domestically while I devoted my time to building my company, and my meticulous next door neighbor with 30 years building experience who was looking for work. My small business and marketing classes grounded me in start up fundamentals, while my background in landscaping prepared me with some important tools as well; drafting, plan reading, some general construction knowledge and experience of how complex projects get done. In August of 2010 I took a deep breath, shook hands with the neighbor on a deal for his labor, and bought a trailer.

Over the following months we worked together at least a little bit every weekday (and some weekends). I researched every purchase exhaustively and still the house came together with amazing speed at first. We framed it up, got the exterior finished, put the roof on, and then in early October I ran out of money for several months. I worked on other projects and used the down time to spin my mental wheels doing ridiculous amounts of research on everything I still had to buy. In late January we started back up again, and the last items on our punch list were finished this week. The project has been visually complete since around June, but there was a long list of subtle tweaks and additions right at the end, and by then we were starting on our second house so our attention was on that for a while.

Where We Are Now

The journey has been thrilling and I’m very happy with our progress so far. Now that we’ve been in business for about 15 months, we’re ready to sell our first completed house, a variation on the Tumbleweed Lusby plan. We’ve hosted a couple very well attended open houses at the Windsor Farmer’s Market to satisfy local curiosity and to generate a little awareness of the tiny house concept in our neighborhood.

Our second tiny structure is a more budget conscious interpretation and the exterior is almost finished. A buyer could have some influence on what goes into the interior if they wanted to commit to it at this stage, and it will be priced more affordably, depending on options possibly as low as $30,000.

Hide Tiny House at Windsor Pumpkin Festival

This fall I was invited to speak briefly about my company and my house to the audience at the Tumbleweed workshop in Santa Rosa. It was an honor to talk to such a great group of people, and a delight to be able to surprise the audience by saying I had my tiny house in the parking lot for everyone to tour. Excited people rushed out to see it, and I had a wonderful time talking to different folks from all over as they waited in line to get inside.

Since then, I’ve been talking with Steve Weissmann of Tumbleweed and have agreed to present workshops for them. My first one is scheduled for March 24-25 in Asheville North Carolina (http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/workshops/asheville/). The next will be in Phoenix the 21st and 22nd of April, and after that I will head to Santa Fe for workshops on May 5th and 6th. I feel privileged at the opportunity to meet and support the tiny house community through these workshops and honored to be joining some of the most creative and influential members of the tiny house revolution, Jay Shafer, Dee Williams, and Deek Diedrickson.

Guitar Duet on the Porch at Sonoma Academy

At the Santa Rosa Tumbleweed workshop I also met Erin Axelrod of Daily Acts (http://www.dailyacts.org/), who invited me to teach a session on alternative housing and bring my house to show to students at Sonoma Academy (www.sonomaacademy.org), a local college prep high school. That was a wonderful time, and the students could not get enough of the tiny house. At one point, there were about 12 sophomores sitting in the sleeping loft chatting with each other at close quarters! When it came time to give them an overview of sustainable housing choices we had a lively discussion, and the kids asked challenging and intelligent questions that gave us all inspiration and food for thought.

Students Gathered Around at Sonoma Academy

I look forward so much to meeting more people in the tiny house community and seeing what the year ahead brings. The need for feasible solutions to our housing challenges is undeniable, and the voices for alternatives grow more numerous and insistent all the time. Someone, somewhere will be the first to achieve a legal, sustainable, itty bitty house community. A tiny house trailer park, if you will. Perhaps 2012 will be our year!

View some new interior photos at a recent Tumbleweed blog post. http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/see-a-tiny-house/see-peppers-house/

Pepper Talking to Students at Sonoma Academy

“We are refining the entire process of living as ski bums,” Zack said. “It is really about figuring out what you do and don’t need. For me, I want to ski and there isn’t much else that I need.”

Initially, the group thought they would take the trip in a van with a wood stove – similar to one that Zack lived in in the parking lot of Mt. Baker. But, after seeing some of the Tumbleweed tiny houses, the crew decided a custom built house would meet all their needs.

“Zack (who works as a carpenter in the summer) built the tiny house over the course of seven weeks,” Molly told me as the group made their way up to Big Sky, Montana. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone work that hard every day with no breaks. It was a labor of love.”

While building the tiny house, Zack and his crew had to deal with snow piling up on their open frame, a freak cold snap and a tree falling on the tiny house. Zack utilized some reclaimed pieces of wood, doors and windows and re-used some cherry trim from an old job site.

The tiny house has a loft that sleeps two people, plus a “drawbridge” bunk bed that comes down from the loft and a pullout sofa bed. A storage area above the door hold ski and camera gear. There is no bathroom or shower, but there is a kitchen sink and a hot water heater as well as a small refrigerator. The group relies on hostels and the kindness of friends and strangers for their bathing needs. The tiny house has electricity, a battery and generator, and the skiers cook with a toaster oven and a two burner propane stove. The handsome, French wood stove came from a mill in the old mining town of Gold Hill, Colorado.

“The only meals we’ve really cooked are breakfast and maybe some bagels,” Molly said. “We’ve yet to do a full-blown dinner. We are usually too tired from skiing all day.”

The ski bums and their tiny house have had extremely warm receptions from the places they’ve visited. Firewood has been gifted to them when they are out during the day and they have even received some Secret Santa gifts. Molly also said that her parents, who are in their 60′s, also want a tiny house.

As the group makes their way around to various mountains, Molly is also impressed with how easy the living is in a tiny house – even as the only woman living with four men.

“They are really tidy,” she said of her fellow ski bums.

Photos and videos courtesy of Outdoor Research

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]