Tiny House Blog

So, I live and work in a ‘green’, semi sustainable workshop space that was a shell of a buliding in which I built water systems, heat, and toliet/shower…..

The place is a ‘workshop’ basically, a commercial space that I use for my art/music studio and to live in. The place is in rural Colorado, no address (not on the city’s map), it was a shell building, a large garage basically…the house/studio is heated with a west bay door that opens to a homeade acrylic glass window that in the morning let’s the east sun in for heat, there is also 3 large south facing windows for all day passive solar heat, the ‘running water’ is all carried in (usage is around 5 gallons per day or less) and the sink is made from a water container with a spigot attached (properly) with hose clamps and gasket.

I fill the sink with water as needed but it runs on gravity, the toilet is a composting toilet inspired by the humanure compost toilet system, so I use either peat moss or good pine sawdust for cover material, I also have another toilet just for urine (number 1), the shower is a little less luxurious and is a large plastic basin that I use either a hung solar shower or water jugs with holes drilled in them. I have a small copper quartz heater for at night mostly and a wood stove for heat, the studio is about 1000 sq ft (so not exactly tiny), (but not a large ‘house’ either). Continue Reading »

I covered the ProtoHaus a couple of times in the past here on the Tiny House Blog. Ann Holley and Darren Macca have recently been featured in a neat video at 9News.com and I wanted to make sure you saw it.

“It’s like a sailboat on wheels,” Holley said.

A couple of years ago, tiny homes caught the attention of the couple. So, for about $25,000, they set out to build one.

“A lot of people think you couldn’t live this way,” Holley said.

They built the home with the help of family in Colorado. Then, when Holley went to graduate school out East, the couple drove the home out there and lived inside.

Protohaus caught the attention of folks on both commutes.

“They would follow us off the highway and they would be like, ‘How
many bedrooms are in there?’” Holley said.

Inside the home is a composting toilet; a stove; a faucet; outlets; even a sink with water. The home is fueled mostly on solar power and propane.

“Cleaning the house takes 20 minutes,” Holley said, laughing.

Read the complete story at the 9News website.

Guest Post by Ken James

Palmer Lake, Colorado is unique. A spring fed lake, it sits on low spot of Palmer Divide between Metro Denver and bustling Colorado Springs. Its waters uniquely drain both North and South. To the North, into the Platte River, route of the Oregon Trail, to the South into the Arkansas River route of the Sante Fe Trail. This little mountain lake links the two most famous historical trails of U.S. History. In the late 1800s when Civilization caught up with the west. Culture came on its coat tails. One of the cultural things folks did was retreat to Palmer Lake for it’s Chatuaqua Festival, a kind of celebration of Arts, Music, and just a slow down from bustle of both Denver and Colorado Springs. Enterprising craftsmen recognized this as opportunity to provide summer housing vs. canvas camping. In addition to pavilions for all to gather in they built cute efficient tiny houses for folks to enjoy their Mountain retreat. The area to immediate south of Palmer Lake is where these Tiny Houses were perched on ascending hillsides at the very edge of Rocky Mountains. They called the area “The Glen,” probably a tribute to romantic Scotland.

My tiny house was constructed in 1924 late in this Chatauqua phenomena. It is one of four within 50 ft., with identical primary dimensions, 17 1/2 ft. by 20 ft. Each of the four has sprouted unique additions. Mine has rooms added to the narrow side of central core. To the North my Library and craft shop were added, measuring 13 1/2 ft. by 6 1/2 ft. To the South end, my Bedroom was added, measuring 17 ft. by 8 ft. with one end a closet. Ceilings in central core area are 9 ft so there is illusion of spaciousness instead of confinement. This also provides opportunities for vertical storage as in bathroom already. Plan a chair rail type fixture at 8ft. to display my “hat” collection from coat hooks with cross shelves in corners for “sombreros” and other glorys of haberdashery. My herd of buffalos led by Buford and Betty (White of course) are feeling at home on the range. I look forward to fitting myself into this niche of time and space.

A lifelong passion for history has led me to this destination. I’m comfortable making this smaller footprint. Tiny houses offer unique opportunities to interact with our surroundings. The unique surroundings of Palmer Lake,Colorado have hosted that interaction for over a century. Its fitting that my old “Tiny” house is on the cutting edge of this efficiency and quality of life vs. quantity of space.

[View with PicLens]

This weeks Tiny House in a Landscape is of a yurt set in a valley somewhere in Colorado. I am a big fan of yurts as I love there simplicity and ease of setting up. They seem perfect for a wilderness hideaway such as this one. Yurts are also used to live in full time, sometimes built with solid wood walls, and range from small to quite large in diameter.

The one drawback with the yurt for me is the lattice walls and how they affect your view out of the windows. You probably get used to it after a while and I know there are alternatives.

This photo is courtesy of the Colorado Yurt Company.

Sarah one of my readers brought this new yurt to my attention. It is very unique and I think has some real possibilities. A company based in Colorado called circHouse has designed this visionary shelter that could be used for many activities, but I see the potential of a tiny house and a very modern take on the old fashioned yurt.

One of the issues with yurts that sends many people away is the fact that they are made of canvas or wood and usually have a lattice skeleton which blocks your view. A serious concern if you are in a beautiful area. circHouse has taken the age old shape of the yurt and put technology to work creating an innovative new structure. By utilizing polycabonate and acrylic wall structures, a recycled steel frame and natural wood paneling they have created a modern looking structure that is compact for shipping and that can be assembled in a few short hours.
Continue Reading »

Lyle Congdon of Jalopy Cabins sent me an update of their most recent cabin and I thought you would enjoy seeing some pictures of it. I’ll let Lyle tell you more.

A few months ago we were contacted by a gentleman, Pierr, who wanted to view the Ski Hut. After driving up to visit he decided he wanted something a little smaller and the plans for The Santa Fe cabin were put into action. Pierr wanted a tiny house to put on his property south of Santa Fe, NM as he spends a lot of weekends there exploring and hiking. The small cabin would be a place to relax in after a long day of being outside or to escape from less than ideal weather.

Working with Pierr, we built a custom door and cabinet that is about 40 inches tall due to his height (he’s about 6’6?!) – standard vanity height is 32 inches. More importantly we worked with him to ensure that window placement was just right, so he would have great views from the site he had already prepared. Continue Reading »

The “Ski Hut” from Jalopy Cabins

“Makers of unique small cabins, built with reclaimed materials.”

Jalopy Cabins, located in Colorado, is taking a very different approach to building small housing. Our cabins are built from a creative vision by our builder and then assembled with reclaimed materials that we have available. Each cabin will be built using a minimum of 90% reclaimed materials and is truly a one of a kind structure.

In keeping with our mission to use primarily reclaimed, salvaged, or some one else’s mistakes (for example, the windows on this cabin) we were able to build the Ski Hut just the way we envisioned.

The logs came off of the ski resort about 30 minutes from where we live and were from all the clean up they did for the slopes before the season began last year. The hand peeled round logs proved to be a lot more work but really worth the effort it in the end!

All roofing was salvaged from an older house along with the rafters. The door, which was once a bright orange, was salvaged, repainted and given new life with a working door knob.

The windows were someone’s custom order that they didn’t like so we were able to get these nice new windows for a great deal that is also inline with our goal of having energy efficient cabins.

All new insulation was used in the ceiling and floor to also help with energy efficiency. The ceiling has high density foam and the floor has radiant energy insulation.

To see earlier photos of the cabin in progress, check out our website at www.jalopycabins.com or view these two previous posts.

The “Ski Hut” is for sale and we are asking $18,000. Contact Lyle at [email protected] or call Wolf at 970-903-3384 and mention the Tiny House Blog post.

We’ve also decided to offer a special of free set-up within a 200 mile radius for this cabin. Set-up would include helping to arrange transportation (though transportation cost is to be paid by buyer of cabin, but we can do all the coordinating), driving to the location and helping unload the cabin onto a prepped site and making sure cabin is level and everything functions as it should. Valued at $800.00.