You have to wear a few hats to stay busy in a small town, but I’ve always managed to.

Thank you Dave. I plan to feature this cabin again when it is completed, so, readers stay tuned.

Photo Credits: Dave Stonehouse

When we tire of traveling, our plan is to set up our boutique guitar store in Vancouver BC, with the Boler in the showroom as a private space for people to try out guitars, as the acoustics in the Boler are amazing.

(Photo Credits Jenn and Paul)

Sleeping arrangements require the shuffling of a lot of the contents into our car, as we have modified the bed to become almost king-size with the use of two extra-large coolers, so the process makes it more of a camping lifestyle than your typical RV experience. We also have two rather large dogs, so a bivouac in a Walmart parking lot, in the rain, makes for some strategic planning.

Thanks,
Jenn & Paul

Burns Block is an innovative market rental housing project built by Vancouver companies Reliance Properties and ITC Construction Group. Located at the site of the historic Burns Block in the Gastown neighborhood of the Downtown Eastside, the building dates back 100 years and is on the Vancouver Heritage Register. The building features 30 self-contained affordable furnished market rental suites or “micro-lofts.” Suites range from 226 – 291 sq. ft., making them the smallest in Canada. The spatially-efficient design contains built-in, pull-down wall beds with integrated folding tables, flat screen televisions, compact appliances, ample storage and built-in safes for storing valuables. Typical rental value for each suite is $850 per month, including cable and Internet, and starts as low as $760 per month. The building is 18,000 sq. ft and has five floors. The majority of occupants are between the ages of 25 and 35 and include students and those working in the heart of the downtown area.

While the former use of Burns Block was for a Single Room Occupancy hotel (SRO) with shared facilities, suites in the redeveloped building each contain a “wet” bathroom and full kitchen. The building also features a rooftop garden, basement gym, bicycle storage and several environmentally-friendly elements. The Bitter Tasting Room, owned by Heather Hospitality Group, is conveniently located on the ground floor of the building, which also includes 1,421 sq. ft. of future retail space.

The social entrepreneur partnership between Reliance and ITC is an effort to restore the building and to pay tribute to its history. Reliance purchased the building in 2007 after the former SRO was closed by fire officials in 2006. The unprecedented development model was negotiated with Vancouver City Council to provide heritage incentives and vary the minimum apartment size to enhance affordability. ITC joined the project in 2009 to complete the construction work and find cost savings in the complex heritage reconstruction. The project was completed in late August 2011 and all suites were rented and occupied by September 2011.

For more information visit: http://www.microlofts.ca/

Here are some facts: Designed by myself, built on pressure treated posts, 2″x10″ floors with R-30, 2″x6″ walls with R-20, and roof with R-30, open concept with just a bathroom.

I was originally looking at plans with lofts but with old age creeping up (I’m 45 now) and a bad knee, I thought that a one floor house would be more feasible. I will have an on-demand hot water heater, five small convection heaters and LED lights throughout. I am hoping to have less than a $200 electricity bill even in the winter where we get -40 celsius weather with 7-8 ft of snow.

I have only spent about $10,000 (Canadian) right now for all the building materials which also includes my windows and door, the front entrance set, a one-piece bath/shower combo and my light fixtures.

Thank you Grant for sharing your project with us. We will look forward to an update when you complete the interior.

It has a 450 square foot cabin and is located on 160 acres. It is about 20 minutes to a general store and a gas station, and the person wishing to rent it must be accustom to living off the grid. If you would like to learn more you can visit the kijiji site where it is listed.

Our story about our little 1998 Aliner camper started two years ago when my husband and I brought home a funny camper with a rotted floor and got the evil eye from our neighbors. We salvaged it from its destiny of the dump from a couple camping friends of ours. They were getting older and had given up on most camping and didn’t have the time, energy or desire to fix the rotting floor, a known problem for this model and year. They had offered it to us a couple years prior, but we didn’t really have the means to deal with it. We were very happy camping in tents as we were lifelong campers ourselves and wanted to keep it simple. But this camper was different, it was simple, a basic popup but without the hassle of canvas, a unique triangle profile and a small foot print (6’3”x12’).

We’d bring the subject up to each other every once in a while until we decided to just go get it. It sat in the furthest corner from their house, the tires sat almost half way to the ground from sitting for so long, a branch had pierced a hole in one of the vents from a bad ice storm the year before and the floor was now growing things under the linoleum that was keeping it together. Looking back now I am not sure how it made it through the 30 mile trip back to our house.

We spent all summer working on it. We took everything out and saved what we could. We worked on the floor a bit at a time until it was completely replaced. While working on the floor we scoured the city looking for deals and we found them, we found the flooring as an end piece at a high end flooring store that wasn’t going to be able to sell it as it was so small.

The cabinets were found at a local contractor store, we paid $120 for solid oak and maple cabinets with built in drawers worth over $1400 but were ordered wrong and the store didn’t feel like shipping them back so they sold us them at what it would have cost to ship them back. Penny cabinet handles off the clearance rack at Lowes and so on. We spent a lot more time than money, but it was all worth it. Even after adding an actual mattress, new logos (designed online and ordered from Canada for a fraction of what US sellers quoted us), solar panel, LEDs our cost is around $1,000. Because of the high demand of these campers they can cost well over 14k new.

We also saved a lot because we were able to clean up and reuse a lot of the items in the camper such as the heater, water heater and pump, power convertor and so on. We replaced the wiring, battery (it didn’t have one), faucet ($7 Lowes contractor special bathroom fixture), water lines with PEX and gas lines for safety.

Now we camp in it all the time. We enjoy camping at a local state park
often and took the camper out of state in April from MA to SC. We replaced the tires prior to that trip! Where ever we go people always are amazed how big it is on the inside. We have everything we need to camp happily in there!

http://alinerproject.blogspot.com/

JoAnne and Micheal Leonard

Smallworks takes an active role in the entire process of building a small home including site inspection, custom design, permit applications, in house millwork, pre-fab and flat pack material delivery and on site construction management. The company uses LEED accredited designers and will walk a customer through various sustainability and green building options. Premium upgrades for each project include lifetime warranty metal roofing, upgraded siding, millwork and furniture packages and bamboo flooring.

Their designs range from Arts & Crafts to West Coast to Modern and all the designs, finishes and fixtures can be customized. The base price of the 100 square foot Studio/Bunkie is $10,000 plus extra for site work.

230 sq ft Vacation Cabin

100 sq ft Studio/Bunkie

200 sq ft Studio/Bunkie

220 sq ft Twin Studios

230 sq ft Vacation Home Interior

624 sq ft Laneway Loft House

Photos courtesy of Smallworks

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The 8 foot by 8 foot structure has a built-in sleeping loft, a readily available 5-gallon bucket wash basin, a City of Vancouver rain water barrel and modular furniture, which could be easily configured to create a second sleeping space. Because the individual unit does not provide running water or electricity to reduce cost, it would function best in a community of such dwellings with central kitchen/washroom facilities.

This project is intended to open up a dialogue about a variety of ways in which homelessness in Vancouver could be addressed. Quarters was initially exhibited in Vancouver and Granville Island is is now currently situated on Bowen Island, British Columbia with three others like it.

Photos from Amanda Huynh and Anna Gukov

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Each 800 square foot cottage has 7-foot tall windows that frame the ocean view of the Atlantic. They each contain two bedrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, one bathroom, two decks, a wood stove, dining area, living bay and custom tile and maple floors. They rent for between CAN$1,500-$1,995 a week. The entire site, along with the studio and the historic octagonal barn can also be rented for events and are ideal for art workshops, weddings, equestrian vacations, family reunions or corporate retreats.

Photos courtesy of Boutique Homes and Shobac Cottages

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]