Tiny House Blog

We were just featured on our ABC news affiliate here in Portland, Oregon for our vision and involvement in tiny houses. We thought that it might be a nice link for you to share on a slow news day.

We have launched a new 2013 initiative offering three eclectic new and we are offering them in three affordable ways:

1. We manufacture and ship a complete kit , ready to assemble $7,500-$9,000.
2. We manufacture and assemble the kit at our warehouse or at buyers location. Exterior 100% finished, interior 60% finished. $12,500 – $14,500
3. We assemble the kit and then have an affiliate contractor finish the interior to the buyers specification. $15,900 – $18,900

We like these approaches because it allows every person interested in a tiny house or cottage to participate in their own project to whatever extent they are comfortable and it brings the final cost of a cottage down to 50-60% of what people are paying. Continue Reading »

By Alyse Nelson

Jon and Ryah Dietzen’s 3-year plan entailed getting out of credit card debt, establishing an emergency fund, finding work closer to home, and having more family time. Sitting in their 1,700 square foot house, they realized it would not be easy to tackle their plan. So they made a move most people would consider extreme – they converted a garage into a 400 square foot cottage.

Jon and Ryah Dietzen look into their renovated cottage – their home for 3 years. Photo by Royce Tillotson, used with permission. Continue Reading »

Barbara Techel is a writer who recently finished her first adult nonfiction book in memorial to her wheelchair-bound dog, Frankie. Frankie’s story and other stories about animals who have changed Barbara’s life were envisioned and brought to life in Barbara’s 10×12 foot writing studio which sits just behind her 1,100 square foot house in Wisconsin. Even though Barbara still lives in the larger house, she has been actively thinking about tiny spaces ever since reading Tammy Stroble’s new book You Can Buy Happiness (and It’s Cheap).

“I’ve begun smart-sizing the stuff in my home, donating many things to second-hand shops as we begin to think about moving to a tiny, or least a tinier home, in the future,” Barbara said. “When I started telling my husband about tiny home living and subscribing online to tiny house communities and blogs, he really embraced the idea also.”

Her tiny studio was built over the course of 3-4 weeks by her husband, who’s a contractor, and has been decorated in a cottage style by Barbara. Her husband, seeing that his wife spent a lot of time reading and relaxing in her little space, named the studio MySpace.calm. Continue Reading »

Kent, here is a photo of the cottage that I lived in during college. Later, my family of four lived here for a summer. The house sits in the backyard of my parents home, and they currently use it for morning prayer, coffee, and breakfast on the porch, and as a guest room when family comes to visit.

The majority of it was built in 1998 out of two dilapidated tool sheds. It is on a pillar foundation and is about 25 x 12 with two main rooms and a storage loft. The loft is easily large enough for a queen sized bed, but not quite tall enough to stand up in. It is the maximum size allowed for a backyard “shed” without having to apply for a building permit. It also is without running water, but it does have electricity. It is a very comfy, cozy cottage with a beautiful porch area. This picture was taken the morning after Christmas, after a blizzard.

Jesse – Searcy, AR

This week’s Tiny House in a Landscape is a series of photographs taken by Jennifer Borek who publishes her own blog at www.kannallc.com. Jennifer took a tour of the Kansas prairie today where she is temporarily living (long-term contract).

The photos are of the Kaw House a reconstructed model built in 1961. The government built these on the Kaw Reservation. However, the Kaws preferred living in their own tipis and bark-and-mat lodges and they ended up being used as shelters for their animals.

Thank you Jennifer for sharing your photos and this interesting bit of history.

Continue Reading »

by Zinta Aistars

I’ve long enjoyed Tiny House Blog, admiring the philosophy and the tiny houses. In March 2012, I moved to a 100+ year old farmhouse in southwest Michigan on 10 acres, my dream come true, sweeter still because it had a tiny cottage on a wooded hill.

This fall, I weatherized the cottage, added a small deck, an outhouse, painted it inside, furnished it, creating a writer’s retreat. With its quirky angles and mismatched windows, it’s been likened to a place from a Tim Burton movie, or from Dr. Seuss. No two windows match, each are at a different height. It’s approximately 120 sq. feet on the main floor, 80 on the upper floor.

Cottage on the Hill, or COTH as I have come to call it, reminds me a little of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, that tiny cabin in which the writer lived for several years. Actually, it is more expansive than Thoreau’s, as it has approximately 120 square feet on the main floor, and a stepladder up to a second floor of about 80 square feet. And, in cooler weather, a space heater adds warmth.

Being a writer, I found it irresistible, conducive to meditations in solitude, connecting to one’s Muse while being completely “unplugged” from the busy world seemingly so far, far away … although, admittedly, the Cottage does have electricity! Continue Reading »