The Mushroom Dome Cabin in Aptos, California is rated as the number one listing on airbnb.com and consists of a semi-rustic cabin under a geodesic dome surrounded by oak, redwood and madrone trees. The cabin has a double bed located in the loft, an LCD screen with DVD player, a small deck, a couch, a small hot plate, refrigerator, toaster oven, blender and other kitchen supplies. The cabin has a tiny bathroom and shower. The owners provide clean linens and soap. Depending on the time of year, length of stay and amount of people, prices for the Mushroom Dome are about $90 per night and about $600 per week.

Photos courtesy of airbnb and Mushroom Dome Cabin

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The vardo was in terrible shape when Gary purchased it for $10,000 and towed it from Barstow to his home in Fallbrook, Calif. The wagon had been sitting in the sun for over 20 years and gallons of desert dust and sand had settled onto the floor. Since the wagon had also been used as a prop in a movie with Pee-Wee Herman and Valeria Golino, none of the drawers opened and the cabinets were facades. Over the course of four years, Gary, his wife and son restored the gypsy wagon (by using a DVD of the movie) to its original colorful state and added a few workable cabinets and a comfortable bed.

Gary has created a website to sell the vardo and hopes that someone with a unique B&B or a penchant for tiny homes will be interested in the whimsical wagon.

Photos courtesy of Gypsy Vardo Wagon. Bottom photo courtesy of North County Times.

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Moving from a 3,000 sq. ft. loft in the city to a 700 sq. ft. house in the mojave desert was no small feat. As you well know, we gave up a lot of frills when we made the transition to tiny house living, including eschewing annual Christmas tree and most holiday decorations. However, each year around this time, our nostalgic sides emerge and so we try to re-invent the holiday traditions for small-space living and in a manner that treads lightly on the earth.

My husband is a sculptor, and several years ago, he made a giant red star as one component of an art installation that he installed in a Sacramento, California art gallery. That star had been collecting dust ever since, but this year, the time seemed ripe to dust it off, add some bulbs, and hang it on the kitchen wall. Of course that got us both in the holiday mood, so I surveyed our living room. We needed something more, I decided, and so I started stringing Christmas lights on our tumbleweed (I’d collected it some time in mid-summer and had given it center stage on top of our curio cabinet). Then, in an inspired moment, I recalled some kanji flash cards that I’d purchased for an art project from a seller on Etsy, I quickly grabbed them, and Geoff and I took turns adding cards to the tumbleweed until there was only one left. That one we added to the very top. But first, we looked at the back to read which word ended up being the “tumbleweed topper.”

The card was ‘Megumi,” which means blessing.

Kerri Tuttle, (owner, Casa Wabi Sabi) https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.309264132434785.90514.286641701363695&type=3

Laurel Nest Yurts is offering a “Complete Yurt Building Experience” and a DIY Yurt Building Workshop.

Laurel Nest Yurt building workshops give you all the skills you need to:

• Build the platform
• Plan, design and build your walls, roof and tono.
• Install framed and mesh windows and skylight
• Sew your yurt cover out of Canvas
• Erect the yurt

The cost for the workshop is $125 to help cover costs incurred by workshop (snacks, materials, instructors, printing of the manual, etc.) We will have a limit of 10 people at our workshop, snacks and camping available.

You can get the complete details here: http://www.laurelnestyurts.com/ blog or use the following contact information:

For more information or registration contact:
Adrian
831-338-8300
adriantepperman@gmail.com

Fiver Brown is a musician and the kind of guy who has worked as a rodeo clown, a sushi photographer and a pirate, so he couldn’t really afford to buy a home in his current hometown of Sausalito with an average home price of 2.2 million dollars. Instead, he bought a boat. Technically, he bought a floating home. It’s a former WWII lifeboat that had been converted into a small home and docked at one of the town’s historic houseboat communities.

It’s only 13 ft by 37 ft (481 sq ft), but the views are unbeatable. He watches stingrays and birds from the galley/kitchen and from his lofted bed he can peer down at his floating neighbors and the hills of Sausalito above.

His home is paid off though he still pays a monthly slip rental as part of the Galilee Harbor Coop and he’s living right where he wants to be, in a town known for its arts scene.

In this video, Fiver shows us his digs, including a walk-in closet and bathroom renovation in-progress, and performs one of his recent songs aboard his gently rocking maritime crib.

The tiny house on a trailer is being built by Juko and Jerry, not only as a new home, but as a way to respond to the Great Recession. Following the foreclosure of their home in Santa Monica, the couple decided to downsize and live more simply. Their first tiny house, the Huling Halfway Hut, was featured in  a Tiny House Blog “Tiny House in a Landscape” post. During this time, Juko and Jerry became stewards of Sarana Park and wanted to make this new land a place for reflection, restoration, and transformation. They think of it as a “re-boot camp” – a place where their friends and guests can take some space to recharge, rest, and be inspired.

Sarana House is being built with as many reclaimed materials as possible. They are using reclaimed white pine from Ohio (Juko’s childhood home) and Pennsylvania; and Juko is building a larger kitchen by re-furbishing an IKEA freestanding kitchen. A long bench will be the focus of the dining room. It will be large enough for several people to sit or for one person to sleep. Bamboo flooring has been installed and  a stock door from Lowes has been cut down to fit the entrance.

The original tiny house, the Huling Hut, will be the couple’s bedroom and that is being run by a 60 watt solar system. Sarana House’s kitchen will have a propane boat stove, a small refrigerator and a six gallon hot water heater. Juko and Jerry are still working on what electrical system would be best for Sarana House.

The ideas for Sarana House came from two different sets of plans and was influenced by Japanese architecture. The approach to the space was less about maximizing and more about placing things to encourage intimacy without feeling crowded. Juko and Jerry will be sharing their home and 23 acres with friends and family, as well as their three dogs.

Photos courtesy of Juko and Sarana Park

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Since 1985, Kurt has owned and operated Fine Line Design, a custom home design firm located north of Redding, California. The recent downturn in home construction allowed him the free time to get back to his woodshop where “MiniTears” began to take shape in 2008. Kurt’s background in home design and construction, along with the fabricating skills his father passed on to him, gave him everything he needs to build these beautiful Teardrop Trailers.

You can see a video of Kurt’s MiniTear here.

Photos courtesy of MiniTears

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

So here is the story behind the Anna Bruce shop on Abbott Kinney in Venice, California… the “smallest shop in LA”

My sister, Anna launched a line of embroidered 100% organic cotton t-shirts, baby clothing, and not-quite-organic hats about two years ago. Her line consists of animal and plant patterns (and even surfer) stitched onto colorful and very soft cotton. She started small, mainly giving her work away as gifts to friends and family – with the occasional sale generated by word of mouth. She soon realized she had something pretty special with more and more people asking to order merchandise. I came on board to help her spread the word and we worked to get her line into shops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Marin County in Northern California.

One day this summer as I was biking along Abbott Kinney Blvd – the main drag in Venice, CA – I happened upon a very small “dollhouse” with a for rent sign in the window. This space was so small I had to bend down to enter and could not stand up inside. The woman renting the little shack has a sculpture garden on the larger property bordering the street complete with grass, mature palm and banana trees and even a small grass-covered amphitheater where people can come and watch bands play and/or aerialists perform during one of the regular shows she puts on.

Being interested in small buildings and the efficient use of space, this structure got me thinking. I realized it would be fairly easy to raise the structure and give it a more recognizable shape as an actual “building.” The shape of the roof-line was a plus that would offer me room to install upper shelves for storage and a place to set up some lighting. The next thing to consider was the actual dimensions of the space – which measure just 5′ x 6′. At the same time, I also looked at this as a fun project that had the potential to be a perfect fit for my sister’s small/emerging line of clothing. It was also a unique opportunity to open a small space on a street in Venice that has become known for expensive boutiques.

I realized it would be a squeeze to make it a fully-functioning shop with a desk for a computer and all that, but I also saw in it the potential for a extremely efficient and fun space. So after a bit of discussion with the property owner, we decided to go ahead and lift the building 3.5 feet and cut a new door on the garden side with a window while enlarging the door opening onto the street. Then it was onto “polishing” up the outside and filling in holes, gaps and spaces in the structure to make it a bit more weather proof and aesthetically pleasing. Then came several coats of paint and a sign I had custom ordered.

[View with PicLens]

For the inside, I hit Home Depot for plywood and everything else. I cut shelves to size, installing four, at differing heights and locations in the structure. The two longest, lowest ones would be used for displaying merchandise; a smaller one in the opposite corner would hold business cards, my iPhone/credit card machine, a mailing list, etc. An upper shelf would be used for storage and lighting. I also cut and installed two wooden poles lengthwise across the building just a bit above eye-level for the hanging/display of Anna’s embroidered shirts and baby clothes. A finishing touch was throwing down some artificial grass to the make the floor a bit more attractive and the hanging of a curtain under one of the lower shelves to hide additional storage space.

As you can see from the pictures, it is a tight squeeze, but it is also a squeeze that seems to delight all who enter it. Passersby are intrigued and, with large smiles, enter the little space and/or stop to take pictures outside. Not all make purchases, but I am getting a kick out of seeing how happy the shop makes them just based on its small size alone.

Visit the Anna Bruce website here.

Calling all tiny house fans!

Would you like the opportunity to stay overnight in a tiny house before plunging into building your own?

My Story

Indulgent Restraint was born of my fascination with tiny houses and a desire to live in one. A few years ago while living in New England, I fell in love with the Lusby design by Jay Shafer of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. I wanted to nestle the tiny house in a Thoreau-like setting, among tall pines near a pond. My kids were grown and I was ready to downsize. So I put our big house on the market, bought land, purchased the tiny house plans and hired a professional home builder to start work on the Lusby. But it was 2008 and the start of the housing crisis. The big house wasn’t selling, so I couldn’t hang on to the lake front land; my plans would have to change.

After some twists and turns, I sold the lot, rented out my big house, and moved myself, two dogs, three cats and tiny house to California. I lived in the tiny house on rented farm land in the delta along the Sacramento River. It was a wonderful adventure!

But I really wanted to be closer to San Francisco and have enough room to host guests. So when my big house in New Hampshire finally found a buyer, I was able to make another move. I bought a 96 year old, two bedroom house in Vallejo and brought the tiny house to its backyard. I’d love to open it up for other tiny house fans!

http://www.indiegogo.com/Worlds-Tiniest-Hotel

To view more photos go here: http://indulgentrestraint.com/