Tiny House Blog

It’s fun when family and friends get involved with the Tiny House Blog. My sister and her husband are up in Alaska on business and my brother-in-law Geoff saw this sign while traveling and snapped a photo with his iPhone and sent it to me. Here is what he says:

Shelley and I have been in Alaska the last few days. There appears to be lots of “small houses.” I saw this posted on a post office board and thought you might find it interesting. Geoff

Maybe someone up in Alaska will see this and turn it into their own small home.

by Josiah Williams

My wife, Christy, and I took a 1994 Blue Bird school bus and turned it into a home for us and our little boy.

We spent the summer of 2011 doing most of the conversion. I worked days as a carpenter and put in long nights and weekends on the bus and was rewarded with a comfortable, warm, and unique space for our family, free from rent and mortgage.

We spent the winter months traveling from Georgia to Washington state, spending most of the time around the south-west.

Along our journey we found out that we were pregnant with our second child so, though our time in our new home has been short, we are now in the prossess of selling the bus in order to fund a move to Alaska. We hope to get enough money from the sale to be able to start a life there and begin plans for another small, simple yet beautiful and unique home, this time though on a soil foundation! Continue Reading »

My Name is Brian. I have been living in this 12 x 24, 488 square feet house in Nome Alaska for two years. I became aware of the Tiny House Blog about a year ago and love it. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, I took a job as a pilot out here in Bush, Alaska. I never in a million years thought that I would live in a house that is as big as most people’s garages in one of the coldest places in the United States, but less is more up here. I had been kicking around the idea of sharing this little gem with everybody and hope all of you enjoy it.

Now that most of you know where Nome, Alaska is from the Bering Sea Storm 2011 where the little house withstood Category 3 Hurricane force winds in the month of November. Also 5 blocks away from the finish line of the world famous Iditarod Sled Dog Race. And finally the Russian Fuel Tanker Renda and the Ice Breaker Healy were a mere mile and half away, off the cost of Nome to deliver fuel for the first time to a town in the middle of winter where heating fuel here is $8 bucks a gallon. Not to mention Flying Wild Alaska and Bering Sea Gold TV shows.

So with all that being said the house is 12 X 24. The main floor is 8 X 24 and with the upstairs it is 488 square feet. The porch is 8 x 24.

I have a 10 gallon water heater located under the counter next to the washing machine. Heat is provided by a Monitor 422 heater which burns heating oil which costs approx $2000 a year.

My husband and I are big fans of your blog. We fondly rent a tiny home on the edge of Anchorage, Alaska. It is the highest residence in the city. It has no running water, an incinerator toilet, and gas heat. The main living space is approximately 250, and together with the unheated front room we use for storage, it’s just under 400 if you count the loft space in each room. It frequently blows over 100 miles per hour, and is guy-wired to bedrock to hold it down. It’s been on the hill since 1963, which is slightly historic for our town that suffered the giant earthquake in ’64. We are enjoying our 4th winter in what we call the Little Red Cabin, and hope to one day build and own our own debt-free.

Tonight we came home from our family Christmas dinner to a house fire. Our oven is old and according to the fire report it likely malfunctioned. Fortunately there was no serious structural damage or injury, but it won’t be livable for quite some time. We are so sad to have our little paradise destroyed by fire and smoke damage. As I try to unwind and get some sleep at a friend’s house, I find I am revisiting your blog and missing our tiny home. Continue Reading »

Jesse alerted me to this neat article in the New York Times about a couple living in the back country of Alaska in a yurt. It is a very good article “Broadband, Yes. Toilet, No.” and I think you would enjoy reading it.

It has no running water or working toilet, but this Mongolian-style tent, called a yurt, in the remote town of Seldovia, Alaska, is home to Erin McKittrick and Bretwood Higman, and their son, 11-month-old Katmai.

Read the complete New York Times article “Broadband, Yes. Toilet, No.”

©2010 Stuart Isett/www.isett.com

Aaron and Jill Bork have done what many of us dream of, running off to the wilds of Alaska and building a log cabin.

The couple fell in love with each other and the state and decided to build their own home. Armed with only a book and no prior knowledge of log cabin building, they purchased five acres of land with a spectacular view in their favorite area of Alaska and began to build a log cabin by hand with trees from their property. They built the cabin over the course of one summer, and spent the next year finishing up the inside.

Just about everything in the cabin came from the land: the countertops were built with rocks from a local creek, the deck from local saplings, the spiral staircase going to the loft is made of local timber and even the toilet seat is made of a tree trunk.

In order to simplify their lives and live in the area they loved so much, they decided to do without some of the luxuries. They built an outhouse, do their laundry in a Wonderwash, and warm the cabin with a donated woodstove. They don’t have running water and use a cooler and dry ice to keep their food cold. They also cook on a Coleman stove and use a generator for their electricity.

The cabin is furnished with furniture the couple built themselves and decorated with found objects. They own a small company called Alaska Antler Works where they create furniture and home accessories out of antlers.

This beautiful, hand crafted home is an impressive example of what can be done with determination, a few friends and love and knowledge of the outdoors.

By Christina Nellemann

Photos by Aaron and Jill Bork, Alaska Antler Works

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to our feed