Tiny House Blog

This year’s Burning Man was a rite of passage for two of our good friends who decided to come along with my husband and me to this popular event. It was their first time attending, and many of our discussions revolved around how impressed they were with the organization and creativity of the event…especially the building of Black Rock City. I agreed that the ingenuity of the camps and shelters that make up the city grows each year.

The art, the shows, the dancing, the fires and fireworks are all wonderful, but personally, my favorite part of Burning Man is visiting the camps and admiring the multitude of styles and designs of shelters. These shelters (most of them specific to Burning Man) are built to create shade from the blistering sun, as blocks against the wind that sweeps across the desert, and to protect Burners from the ubiquitous dust that gets over everything. Each year I’m in awe with how the artists transport these structures across the country and erect them in this stark desert, only to take them down again a week later.

This year the weather couldn’t have been better. The dust was minimal, the winds were mellow and the temperatures were fairly low. In fact, you needed a shelter warm enough for the very cold nights that affected most Burners this year. Here are a few of my favorite tiny houses of Black Rock City 2011. Continue Reading »

At this year’s Burning Man, I was thrilled to find this modified gypsy caravan right next door to my camp. The builders of this unique rig are Christy Horne and Michel Olson, and they were kind enough to give me more information about their comfortable, tiny house which they named Sir James.

Sir James started his life as an 8×12 dual axel car trailer from California Custom Trailers. The trailer came licensed with brakes and everything for $1,700. The house was made with a welded iron “cage” and then wood, tarpaper and plywood layers were all bolted into the cage. It’s 7 feet wide by 12 feet long and it took 4 months to build. Sir James is Michel’s second of four original designs. Continue Reading »

For only a week out of each year, Black Rock City, the home of Burning Man, is the fourth largest city in the state of Nevada. While the festival participants’ camps are only temporary, a lot of work goes into creating a comfortable, beautiful tiny shelter. These tiny “houses” have to be able to withstand up to 80 mile an hour winds, have to protect their inhabitants from the desert heat and cold, and the notorious dust storms of the Black Rock Desert. It also helps if they are colorful and attract attention. It makes them easier to find in the mass creativity that is Black Rock City.

Our neighborhood of 3:15 and Inherit in Black Rock City, NV

While at Burning Man, you “live” in the city. When someone asks you where you live, you say something like, “On the corner of 7:00 and Chaos, right next to the giant spaceship.” (referring to the horizontal “C” street and vertical number street of the Black Rock City map). This year’s city was 9,460 feet in diameter and included 44 miles of streets. It helps to know exactly where your tiny house is located.

To the un-Burned eye, Black Rock City looks a little beat up and run down, but when you are in one of the most inhospitable places on earth, any little bit of comfort is appreciated. The inhabitants of Black Rock City are an amazing group of people with extremely creative ideas and skills who create little laps of luxury in the desert.

These are some of my favorite tiny houses of Black Rock City:

Hexayurts were quite popular this year

So were tipis

I even found a half-finished gypsy wagon down the street

A very well insulated yurt

This structure has a central living area and a loft for sleeping

A beautiful, handmade truck trailer

This geodome uses solar panels for power

The Oliver trailer owned by Chris and Cherie from Technomadia

These tiny houses were built for storage and sleeping

The trailer of the Hollywood Death Squad

Our neighbor converted a toy hauler into a tiny shelter with French doors

This dome was used as a steam room

A lovely pink setup at the entrance to Kidsville

This mutant vehicle, also a shelter, was towed by a tractor

The inhabitants of the VW Bus Camp travel in groups

You can even have a white picket fence in Black Rock City

And my all-time favorite…

The Neverwas Haul, one of the best known mutant vehicles on the Playa