Tiny House Blog

Guest Post by Shelley Davis

In England today, narrowboats are floating homes, or holiday cottages, moored on the nation’s inland waterways.

They can range from a small 20ft long day boat to around 80ft long for some liveaboard craft that will never be taken around the whole country, but must always be under 7ft wide to retain the narrowboat name. Inside the boat, this can give up to a luxurious 420 sq ft of space, once you exclude the engine and other ‘service’ areas.

Photo credits - R-P-M

However, historically Narrowboats were working craft, where the majority of the length was dedicated to moving coal to London, chocolate from Birmingham, crockery from the potteries in Staffordshire. This left only up to 10ft of one-room space for living for an entire family with multiple children. Most furnishings were multi functional: Continue Reading »

Benjamin Wheeler brought to my attention Tom Dolby’s blog and his restoration of on ships lifeboat that he has converted into a music studio over in England. Though not used as a tiny house there is absolutely no reason that it couldn’t be converted into one.

I’ll let Tom Dolby tell you a little bit about the boat and you can use your imagination to see where you could take a boat like this.

She was built in the 1930′s as one of a pair of ship’s lifeboats aboard the SS Queen Ann, a British merchant vessel serving in the South Seas. If you look at the red stripe down the side, this was her original gunwale: the deck was added in the 1960′s and we built the wheelhouse this year. In the 30?s she would have had a sail, oars and small paraffin engine. It’s carved on her bowpost that she could hold up to 99 souls. Continue Reading »

I recently got back from a trip to Europe to visit family and kept my eye out for tiny houses across the pond. What caught my attention in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark was a steel and copper bridge tender house. My husband and I actually peaked into the windows and contemplated if we could buy one of these things and spend our days watching the traffic and bicyclers speed past. These particular bridge tending homes are now being used as municipal offices, but I think most of these types of buildings would make great tiny houses along the lines of a lighthouse…utilitarian and beautiful.

Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo by Harry Thomas/Silver Monkey.net

In the past, bridge tenders were needed to run the electronics and machinery that raised and lowered bridges on major rivers, waterways and railroad bridges. The machinery was kept in a small house near or on the bridge and the bridge tender would spend most of their time in the house, or even lived there. Their jobs consisted of controlling and monitoring traffic around the bridges, keeping the bridge and the raising/lowering mechanism in good condition and running telegraph machines and other communications. Most bridge tender houses were usually built by government departments of transportation. Continue Reading »

Jared alerted me to this unique find on Ebay at 5:00 A.M. this morning. Tiny houses and floating homes are a passion of mine and this one a real find.

If you are in the Portland, Oregon area I would run down and check this out right away as I am sure it will go fast. I am in the process of duplicating the Ebay ad as I know it will go away in a few days and I want this available for all to see for a long time. At a Buy Now price of $28,900 it can be yours today.

I am also trying to get in touch with the owner to see if plans are available for those who might want to build one themselves. This is a long post so hit the more link below. Here are the details:

You are bidding on a 28-foot long, steel-hulled, river barge boat. If you are considering a small houseboat or floating home for a retreat on the water, this might be a perfect alternative. It could be the perfect bachelor’s pad, artist’s or writer’s studio, weekend or vacation spot, or whatever you would like it to be! It could be a great liveaboard situation for a single person, who is also handy in finishing up some undone work.

This is NOT a fixer. Just not quite finished yet. Pride of ownership shows!

Unofficially named the “Gypsy Ark”, but the name is nowhere printed on the hull or siding, so you could rename it easily. (It is only painted on one horseshoe lifering) Continue Reading »

In celebration of Canada Day and the 4th of July, I thought I would do a post on the tiny houses of the Thousand Islands, which is the name of an archipelago of islands that straddle the U.S.-Canada border in the Saint Lawrence River as it emerges from the northeast corner of Lake Ontario.

Many of these islands house small castles and large estates, but it seems the most admired of these islands are the tiny islands which have their own tiny houses…and not much else!

The islands, which number 1,793 in all, range in size from over 40 square miles (100 km2) to smaller islands occupied by a single residence, to even smaller uninhabited outcroppings of rocks that are home to migratory waterfowl.  This area is very popular among vacationers, campers, and boaters, and is often referred to as the “fresh water boating capital of the world”.

Photo by Don Beck

Photo by anne4brown - Webshots

The smallest of the inhabited islands is called ”Just Room Enough” and only when the water level is low enough is there room for the outdoor furniture to be put out.

Just Room Enough

Because of the beauty of the area and the romantic aspect of living on your own rock, these cottages are highly coveted and can run into quite a bit of money. However, many of these tiny homes and cottages can be rented for vacations. And most of them can be viewed while sailing the St. Lawrence.

Photo by Ian Coristine

Photo by Ian Coristine

Photo by Don Beck

Photo by Krzysztof Machulewski

Photo by anne4brown - Webshots

Photo by anne4brown - Webshots

Photo by anne4brown - Webshots

Photo by pago2000 - Webshots

By Christina Nellemann

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to our feed

Chris over at Small Footprint Living is selling his houseboat. Here is what he has to say about it:

Here is your chance to own a cute little water getaway and finish it the way you want it. I have $5,000 in it so the price is firm. I was hoping to finish it this summer but time will not allow it. The boat is 70% complete. Hull is glass over wood and fully bottom painted, the sides are partially painted. Interior is framed and ready for paneling and finish work. It would take a flatbed trailer to haul it off. Specs can be found here http://glen-l.com/designs/hankinson/waterlodge.html

Go visit Small Footprint Living if you are interested in this neat little houseboat. You can also contact Chris via email at: woodpuzzles(at)comcast(dot)net.

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to our feed