Tiny House Blog

Guest Post by Joe Chipman

Since 2009 I have been designing and building two tiny houses for my own use. The Bunkhouse and the Hermit DeLuxe as seen in past posts on tinyhouseblog.com. http://tinyhouseblog.com/tag/the-hermit-deluxe/ and http://tinyhouseblog.com/stick-built/the-little-bunkhouse-in-the-woods-plans/ The Bunkhouse is complete with two twin beds, a 4 ft wide 2 ft deep closet and a 4 ft wide writing desk with a view out a window all in 64 sq ft.

Based on the Bunkhouse design, I am building and very near complete the Hermit DeLuxe a 160 sq ft tiny home on wheels. The Hermit DeLuxe sleeping arrangements has two bunks above the workbench and bathroom with a ladder access to three foot tall loft and a twin bed loft arrangement with a desk below on the other end of the Hermit DeLuxe.

Because I am nearing 50 years old and overweight I can forsee problems with these sleeping arrangements. In light of these problems I am planing to build a 24 ft – 30 ft caravan style tiny house on wheels in the future with readily accessible sleeping compartment based on my past designs.

These drawings are just the last 64 sq ft of a unfinished design called the Captain’s Getaway. I favor designs based on built-in furniture and using every inch of space like in wooden sailboats. Continue Reading »

Nancy Mitchell from Los Angeles writes an interesting article over at Apartment Therapy on how as a child she always wanted to live in an RV. Recently, she discovered a unique caravan built by Caravanolic and decorated by Viceversa and she was inspired to write 5 tips about designing and living in a small space. Here they are:

1. Stick to just one color palette
2. Make your furniture multi-task
3. Use vertical space as well as horizontal space
4. Arrange more public uses closest to the door
5. Don’t be afraid to have fun

To read the full article go over to Apartment Therapy and be inspired by all the great photographs.

The exciting tale of the ClickClackGorilla begins with a daring escape from a cubicle life in the U.S. and ends with a life of traveling with a band, Dumpster diving, and living in a rescued caravan in a wagenplatz in Germany. The Gorilla is Nicolette Stewart, an ex-pat writer, proud gleaner and soon-to-be mother who blogs about her unconventional life while trying to live that life with more freedom and environmental consciousness.

Her home in Germany (which she shares with her partner, “The Beard”, who also has his own trailer) is a caravan which was formerly parked on a farm. The 60-year-old wooden wagon, known as a Bauwagen in German, was on the farm for at least 20 years and the owners of the farm gave it to Nicolette for free if she hauled it out herself.

She proceeded to fix and decorate the wagon over a the course of a year with about 900 Euros and many trips to the Dumpster for furniture, lighting, kitchenware, bedding and even food. Her wagon, affectionately called the trash house, is parked in a wagenplatz, an intentional community in which people live together on a piece of land in a variety of wheeled dwellings. Continue Reading »

by Maarten Bellaard

I have been reading your blog for a few months now and every new post inspires and surprises me. The whole idea of utilizing and experimenting with small spaces is really fascinating. Considering most of your blog posts have an American/Canadian touch to it, I believe that my story could be a fresh view on camping!

My girlfriend used to go camping with her parents in this beautiful classic caravan. Last summer we took it to Switzerland and France and this summer we took 4 weeks to completely restore this 50 year old caravan.

The caravan is a Wa-Wa 180 Sport. The original manufacturer doesn’t exist anymore, but they used to build a lot of wooden caravans and trailers. This Wa-Wa was created for recreational use on campsites but considering its weight of 300 kg’s even people with a small, not so powerful car could take this caravan and travel around with it. Besides the chassis and the rear window, the whole caravan is made of wood. Inside there is room for a small kitchen – with a refrigerator, sink and a gas cooker – and a large twin bed that can be removed and replaced by two small benches and a table. Originally the caravan was designed so it could fit 6 people! The caravan surface is only 2 x 3 meters so in practice nobody used it that way.

The Wa-Wa caravan is even more special because of its roof. The wooden roof is set up when you are camping in it and can be fold down so it is barely higher than a small car. This saves a lot of gas money and creates a stronger structure when you are driving with it.

On the pictures you can see the blue tent that was specially made for this caravan.

This caravan has a big history and is pretty unique; only a few of them are still alive these days.

Maarten Bellaard
The Netherlands

[View with PicLens]

Joseph Crowell has been building buses and vans for many years, but was recently inspired to build his first gypsy wagon by Sunny Baba, an activist and spiritualist who has built dozens of gypsy wagons. Joseph, who is in the Ashland, Ore. area, built this gypsy wagon with about 80 percent recycled materials. He gets a lot of his supplies from Dumpsters or from the side of the road. He uses manzanita tree branches as exquisite details in his design.

“If I see an old piece of furniture laying around, and it looks like it can still be used, I’ll saw it up,” Joseph said. “It makes the whole ‘find is and use it’ process more enjoyable.”

Joseph initially designed and built the stained glass window in the gypsy wagon, but he thinks he might look for a local stained glass artist to do the window in his next wagon. The wagon weighs about 1,500 pounds and can be towed by a small truck. It was recently sold for about $8,500 and Joseph plans on keeping his next design’s price to below $10,000.

If you are interested in one of Joseph’s gypsy wagons, email him at jsph.crowell (at) gmail.com.

Photos courtesy of Joseph Crowell

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Kim Vader and his family have lived in Boise, Idaho since the early 1900′s. His ancestors were sheep farmers, his aunt was Basque, and their lives in the high desert have inspired Kim to design and build classic sheep wagons. This style of wagon was originally used by sheep herders who needed a portable place to live while tending their sheep in the high desert and mountains of the Western U.S.

Kim has been a craftsman for over 35 years and builds the wagons from scratch. You can purchase a finished wagon or have a custom sheep wagon built to your specifications. The wagons can be built on running gear that is freeway worthy or they can have original antique wood spoke wheels.

Typically, each wagon will have a bed with a memory foam mattress, a sitting and eating area with storage underneath, an antique wood stove or an electric stove, and a small kitchen area with custom cabinetry. They can also have several 110 electrical outlets and a storage area on the back of the wagon. The wagons are painted in traditional white and green colors and will have the classic canvas roof that is rated to last up to 10 years. The wagons are built with 2×6 Douglas fir and the cabinets and doors are built with 3/4 inch birch, pine and Douglas fir.

These sheep wagons can be used as a tiny house, on a farm or ranch, as a guest house, or an artist’s studio. Idaho Sheep Wagons also offers delivery. The prices range from about $9,000 for a 12 foot wagon to $13,500 for a wagon with original spoke wheels. Currently the company has a wagon for sale for $8,300. Continue Reading »