Tiny House Blog

by Ron Miller

My “trailer on a toon” project came to fruition one evening while sitting in my backyard with my wife discussing some of the more memorable vacations we had. We both agreed that our recently purchased Chalet hard sided folding trailer was a great deal of fun, but that the lack of privacy at camp grounds was always an issue with us. We also agreed that time spent on or near the water was a high priority, and that Lake Powell was one of our favorite spots. We considered a speed boat purchase, but we both felt it would probably only see the water a few days a year. Quite simply, I blurted out, “Why not put the Chalet on top of a pontoon boat?”

The response from her was that I probably had one too many adult beverages and that it was time for bed. The idea lingered in the back of my head for a couple of months until I got the tape measure out, measured the Chalet and started making chalk marks on the driveway. Then it was serious. Continue Reading »

This week’s Tiny House in a Landscape was taken by my friend Steve Reeves who blogs part time about Compact Yachts http://compactyachts.com/. I had the privilege of joining Steve on a San Francisco Bay cruise last year in his boat the Kokomo.

Steve was recently at the Bay again and spotted this cute (tiny) house in the Berkeley Marina. He thought of the Tiny House Blog and this feature when he saw it so he snapped a picture to share.

Thanks Steve for this great picture, maybe next time you can get a personal tour of the home and get some interior photos too!

It was nice having Kirsten Dirksen of faircompanies.com in the area last summer and she picked up quite a few stories of people living small in Northern California. This video is about Fiver Brown.

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.

This is an impromptu post. Deek just sent me his latest Tiny Yellow House video and it is about a floating home, my second passion after tiny houses. He gave me the opportunity to put it up even before he did. I have another post that was supposed to go up but you may have to wait till tomorrow to see that one.

As usual Deek shares his great humor and the quality of this video is way up there, I wish I had his talent for videos! I did not have a chance to run this by Kasey so don’t blame her if there are any spelling or grammar errors.

Enjoy the video and be sure and follow Deek at the Relaxshacks blog.

I am in the mood for showing off some floating homes so I did some research using google images and came across this one floating on a river in Amsterdam. I’ve never been to Amsterdam, but judging by this photograph taken by Victor Sounds, it looks like it would be a fun place to explore. You can view more of Victor’s photos at his flickr account.

This looks like a charming little residence and I would enjoy taking in the city life from this home. How about you?

Several of you have sent me recent craigslist ads that I thought were great and worth highlighting. I am pooling all three into a single post and you can follow each one that you like. Craigslist ads do not stay up long if the items sells so I have put screen prints of the ads in this post. Following are a school bus, a floating home, and a container.

1953 School bus, 1981 cadillac (Albany, Oregon)

1953 chevy school bus house car with old dodge front fenders and hood. mounted on top is a Volkswagon van cut in half. inside is a small antique wood stove and full size stainless kitchen sink and cabinet. queen size bed platform above storage compartments in back and a small deck on back bumper. v8 engine 1965 283 chevy, remanufactured in 1985, balanced. 12 volt system. Needs break work, as is. $3000.00 or Offer.

$7500/1br – Floating home

Floating home is a fixer but has potential. Must be moved. Home is currently owned by our moorage and is being sold for the back rent. A good opportunity for the right person to gain “sweat equity”.

Price slightly raised due to prep work done for a potential buyer, but the deal fell through.
Houseboat is a one bedroom, one bath around 700 sf excluding decks.

40 foot shipping container – $1600 (Morris, IL)

40 foot shipping containers. Several to choose from. Also have a few 20′ containers. $1600 for both 20 and 40 foot containers. Contact me at 312-543-5155