Scott says: It’s built like the tiny houses I build and could easily be set up as a house with addition of a bath and kitchen but was built to be my personal office and has been great but some new business additions require more office space so I would like to sell this one. It’s built on a trailer with two axles and bumper hitch, it is 8′ wide and 20′ long including a 6′ front covered porch.

Insulated and wired it has ext ceiling fan and light on front porch, ceiling fan with light and hanging globe lights inside, rustic pine lap and gap and barn metal interior, also has barn metal porch ceiling.

Vinyl flooring, three 3×3 windows with window in back wall having a plug for a window type heat/ac unit in place.

Scott is asking $6,250 for the office as is. If you would like Scott will add a bathroom for $2,000 which would include shower, toilet, sink/vanity and water heater. With that addition it would make a perfect guest house or dorm room for a college student.

Contact Scott Stewart at 870-213-5310
Slabtown Customs
Mountain View, Arkansas
Email: ozarksbest@yahoo.com

[View with PicLens]

Photo Credits: Scott Stewart

You can subscribe to Kevin’s series of videos on his channel here and follow him on his blog at http://kevinsmicrohomestead.wordpress.com/

Thanks Kevin for sharing your knowledge on the renewable way of buildin g a tiny house.

This tiny house has a 100 square foot footprint. One gentleman, “Wizard” has been living here for over five years and share the space with his friend, so the home includes two sleeping spots.

This whole house is the size of a small bedroom by today’s standards.

What makes this house especially comfortable is the outdoor kitchen. This outdoor kitchen isn’t “the” kitchen, there is another kitchen indoors. The outdoor kitchen is customized space for enjoying the summer.

Total cost of this house is estimated at $3000 and includes a small wood cookstove that helps to keep the house warm in winter.

The home is completely off grid. In fact, this house is nowhere near the grid and evening light comes from Wizard’s old fashioned oil lamps.

Not only does the act of cooking take place regularly throughout the day, day-in and day-out, but also it’s one thing that we assume, “the more space available the better.” Who among us hasn’t crafted a meal in which both sinks and counters were overflowing with dishes? The oven stuffed, the burners full, and the microwave zinging while all remaining counters look slightly like a food fight just went down. If you have not, I applaud you. But, one of my favorite things about bunking down in a small space is the forced transition to very green and eco-friendly cooking which becomes a necessity, whether or not we always like it.

Rather than dread or complain about the fact that your kitchen may now be more of an “idea” than an actual, physical “place,” relish and embrace the new knowledge that you’re about to become one of the greenest cooks on the planet, or in your neighborhood for sure. Here are some of the easiest things to embrace and to look forward to if you’re just in the process right now.

You can’t Waste Much if You Can’t Store Much
Mega fridges and mega pantries are just destined to become sources of waste. We overbuy and overstock. And then things get buried and hidden and eventually expire. Events come up, forcing us to eat out and in turn we eat less of that fresh beautiful produce than we thought we would. And we waste. Small spaces mean small pantries (if you have them) and small fridges. Relish in the fact that you will naturally waste less because you just can’t fit that much in there anymore. You’ll be able to see what you have, and chances are good you won’t possibly be able to buy more until you’ve used what you have. On the other hand, there are perks to buying in bulk. So if you can, consider a small shed or invest in some heavy duty barrels where you can store things like 50 pound bags of flour outside of your home without worrying about damage.

Greener Cooking
Choosing to skip big ovens and big stovetops is loaded with benefits for the environment. A tiny house is the perfect opportunity to take advantage of grilling outside more often (skip the charcoal and wood). Solar powered grills are probably your best eco-safe bet, but can also be the most time consuming. There are hydrogen powered grills as well as plant based grills that work very well. Also, you may cringe at the idea of a microwave, but if you don’t have anything against them, they do use less energy than your stove. And they come in very tiny sizes.

More Fresh, Less Processed
With less room to store processed, packaged “stuff” and less desire to stand in a small kitchen over a hot stove, chances are very good that you’ll naturally find yourself leaning towards more fresh fruits and veggies. You may even find a hidden salad connoisseur buried deep inside you that you didn’t even know about! You’ll have an excuse to take more frequent trips to the Farmer’s market, meaning fresher produce all the time and better meals because of it. Green eating is typically the healthiest, and if that isn’t something to embrace, I’m not sure what is! Look at your new tiny kitchen as an exploration into creativity. How many new no-cook, no-bake creations can you whip up? I’ll tell you: the number is infinite. You’ll never run out.

Less Cleanup!
If you haven’t thought of this yet, then you should be changing your mindset right about now! Less counter space simply means less scrubbing and wiping down 24 hours a day. Less floor space equals less sweeping and mopping, and let’s face it: we all know the kitchen is the worst. It gets dirtiest the fastest and is the hardest to clean.

Less Effort and Cost Heating and Cooling
Nothing is worse than cooking in the freezing cold or the super hot. With a tiny kitchen, you’ll warm it up quickly with some simple cooking, and you can cool it off just as rapidly opening the windows, turning on a fan or may a small AC if you have one in your home. You’ll love being able to regulate the temperature more easily, especially when rising fresh loaves of bread…

A tiny kitchen doesn’t have to mean tiny meals or skimpy meals. You can dazzle any number of people with just the bare minimum. It may be more challenging, perhaps more time consuming, but chances, are, also probably much more rewarding. Enjoy going greener and being more creative and embrace that little kitchen wholeheartedly. It’ll pay off and the environment and your health will thank you.

Freelancer Jocelyn Anne writes to encourage families to be greener and more environmentally friendly in their daily living. At the moment, she’s promoting the summer use of small portable air conditioners as a cost and energy-saving option in lieu of central AC systems.

Travis and Becky and their Pine Top Homestead is our first featured “Small House.”

Travis and Becky spent the last year planning and building their tiny home on 3 acres in the Ozark Mountains. Travis says, “We absolutely love it, best thing we ever did. It’s 12′x18′ with a 6′x12′ sleeping loft for a total of a whopping 288 sqft. It’s just us two and our small dog and we find it very comfortable and useable for us two.”

I’m going to turn it over to Becky and let her tell you a bit about the construction of their home.

The land was the right deal at the right time and we could see the potential it had for our dreams of a tiny homestead. We weren’t sure when we would be able to build our own tiny home, so we purchased a little pre-built cabin to enjoy on our land as we did some clearing.

The media has made most of us believe that in order to be successful we need to live in large houses and be married to our mortgage. I, however, would prefer to be married to Travis the rest of my life.

Countless nights of customizing our own home design resulted in our plan for our 12 ft by 18 ft tiny home. My old high school math teacher was right…I would have to use that stuff again! I bought some graph paper and a ruler and went to work. It’s even drawn to scale! Below is our original design, but a few changes were made along the way.

It was time to start the framing of our cabin. Our dilemma of how fast we could get up the walls kept us guessing if we would make our goal of framed and shelled in before winter. After a little research, we decided to pre-build the walls off site and raise them on site to save time and money.

We were able to get our well done and it’s always nerve racking in this area because you don’t know if you’re going to hit water.

We decided to use hardie cement siding. it’s a mixture of concrete that is insect and mold resistant. It was extremely heavy and hard to cut but so worth it down the road.

The electrical was one very expensive part of our project it’s just ridiculous how much wiring costs these days. Just the wire used to run from our stove to the circuit box was $100.

Around the same time the electric and plumbing were getting wrapped up, Travis found a great door and began framing in our bathroom/utility/closet area underneath our sleeping loft. We did change this from the plan I posted earlier. The other changes from our plan included double windows on the front porch and we added a side door.

Our roof took a great deal of thought and consideration. We didn’t want to skimp so we spent the money on it to make sure it was done really well. We hired a well respected steel roofer in this area to put the roof of the cabin.

We started doing trim work and painting our barn siding a nice neutral antique white color. We used cedar of to continue the trim work theme. It’s not cheap but it’s a beautiful wood with a great aroma.

We debated on the loft ladder we originally planned for and had seen several samples of what people had done in other tiny homes.

After the insulation was complete we used tongue and groove pine for the ceiling and gables. Yeah we did this the hard way having no compressor and nailer.

In our loft Travis laid carpet and built in a cubby hole for extra storage. We are getting so close to being able to live here and it’s starting to feel like a true tiny home that I can’t wait to live in!

Travis put in the shower doors one afternoon and our bathroom was officially done. Since we are trying to pay for everything as we go instead of charging up a storm, we just didn’t have the funds for our stackable washer and dryer yet but will someday down the road.

Travis then set the cedar log posts and built the natural twig railing for our covered front porch. We love the look of natural cedar and it gives you the true rustic feel we were going for.

Travis added a pine shelf for the flat screen tv and we got a couple of glider chairs that were on sale. It’s a really cozy place to hang out and relax now. We absolutely love it and so does Vegas!

Our goal was to move in by March 1st and we got really close! Before the appliances I added the drawer pulls myself using our cordless drill. Some more great deals on our full sized appliances really finished it off! The kitchen really makes it feel like home and now I can display my collections!

The covered porch really makes it look like the cute cabin home it is — we really love the way it turned out. We also added a gutter to the front to keep water from going under the house now that we have it enclosed.

-Travis & Becky

I hope you’ve enjoyed our first Small House feature. Kent and I have really enjoyed reading the submissions and seeing photos of your inspiring homes. Check back on Fridays – we will keep posting until we run out of submissions. -Kasey

*New photos added below of loft, kitchen and bathroom

This is Innermost House, my home in the coastal mountains of Northern California. It is the latest of many very small houses my husband and I have occupied over twenty-five years, all for the same reason–to make possible a simple life of reflection and conversation. I am delighted now to be a part of Kent’s public conversation with others who share my love of tiny houses, and I’m grateful to Michael Janzen of Tiny House Design for introducing us.

Innermost House is about twelve-feet square. It faces directly south beneath an open porch that shelters our front door. A hill rises to the north behind us and the forest lies all around. The house encloses five distinct rooms: to the east is a living room eleven feet deep by seven feet wide by twelve feet high; to the west the house is divided into kitchen, study, and bathroom, each approximately five feet wide by three feet deep, with a sleeping loft above the three of them, accessible by a wooden ladder we store against the wall.

The living room is the heart of the house. It is where my husband and I spend most of our time, and where we receive our guests. On the east wall of the room is a small fireplace set a foot above the floor, with a hearth extension of bricks projecting a foot and a half into the room. On the west side is a wall of books four feet wide and seven feet tall. Between these walls of hearth and books, our two low chairs sit facing each other a couple of feet apart. Everything about the space is conceived to make a harmony of conversation possible.

I know that sounds strange in a world where conversation seems to go on all the time every day. But pause for a moment and try to remember the single most moving and meaningful conversation you ever had. Perhaps it was with your mother or father in days long past, or with your husband or wife when you were first in love. Perhaps it was when you said goodbye to someone for the very last time.

Now, how would you design, build and furnish a place so that those conversations could happen every day? That is the question we asked of every detail of Innermost House, and we are still asking it.

The fireplace is where our conversation begins, just as it began a million years ago when human language and domesticated fire were born together. The fireplace is the original tiny house. After all, what is a cave or a tipi or a wigwam but a big, enclosing fireplace? The fire is our link with the wild. Gazing into the fire seems to release our dream life into words.

The books complete the circle of conversation on the other side. They are our link with the world. All of our books have been carefully chosen over the years as contributing something essential to the Innermost Life. It is strange that it was not until I saw them all together, illuminated by the fire at Innermost House, that I realized nearly every one was first written by firelight. In some way they represent the last light cast from that first fire at the mouth of a cave.

We do not have electricity or power of other kind, so we warm the cabin and cook our food and heat our water for bathing all over the fire. Our firewood comes of local orchard prunings that would otherwise be burned as waste in the field. In the summer we cook over coals and wash with cold water. We light our home with beeswax candles. After examining all the options, we installed a conventional septic system, though we use very little water.

The house is of mixed post and beam and stick construction. Our floor is of yellow pine tongue & grove planks, our ceiling of fir planks and rafters and beams. Our interior walls are of plain white lime plaster applied by hand over blue board. The exterior walls are clad in rough-sawn redwood board and batten. The roof is of cedar shakes. Both the redwood and the cedar are naturally resistant to rot, fire, and insects–all important considerations in the woods. The house is constructed of natural, simple materials, with a lot of care taken to render them neat and plain.

Real wood, real plaster. The real things really do make a difference, at whatever sacrifice they must be had. It’s worth waiting and saving for if you can.

The building project required the better part of a year for two men working part time. A good deal of that time was spent in familiarizing ourselves with the traditional building language of the region. We would have built a rather different house in New Mexico or Massachusetts or Virginia. My husband always limits himself to the vernacular of a region so that, as he says, nature can have a hand in the building.

This kind of life has been made possible for us by living in partnerships of one kind or another over the years, often in guest houses. We have moved many times, and have never owned a home. My husband is a private confidant and friend to people in public positions. Men come to him for the special kind of conversation he makes possible. Innermost House was built for us on the land of such a partner and friend. Many local building ordinances allow for small guesthouses.

I have loved our small houses, and I love Innermost House most of all. There are many reasons for wanting to live in a tiny house. A simple life of high conversation is my reason. I could not live any other way. Visit another post by Diana here.

Diana Lorence is an inspirational speaker on the pleasures of the Simple Life. Innermost House was designed by Diana’s husband, Michael Anthony Lorence. More photographs of Innermost House and stories of Diana’s life in the woods may be seen by visiting her website www.wordsfromthewoods.com.

In this video, Bill shows us the kitchen, his propane heater, water storage and some of the plumbing that was involved. There are lots of little details that go unnoticed because they are hidden and this helps give you an idea about the work involved.

Again, I am learning and the video is proof of that. I am getting a little faster at pulling them together so in the next post you will probably see 2 or 3 videos. Youtube limits the length so I am trying to give you over an hours worth of video in little sections so you can get the full picture.

To keep updated be sure and subscribe to the Youtube Tiny House Blog Channel.

DIMENSION:

• Think of the present and future. Try a one-story building.
• Adjust the height, width and length of a building. An 8′ ceiling may be sufficient.
• Measure and rearrange interior items. It’s easy to edit a floor plan in MS Paint.
• A twin bed is 3′ x 6.25′. A double bed is 4′ x 6.25′.
• Most under-counter appliances are 2′ x 2′.
• Some stoves/fridges are more narrow.
• Some fridges/dishwashers are small enough to fit under a kitchen sink.
• Rather than a porch/deck, store a portable screenhouse and lawn chair in the trunk of your car.

Photo Credits: ProtoHaus

LIGHTING:

• Rather than rely on lighting, provide adequate daylight.
• Try windows east, west, north and south.
• For longer-lasting daylight, try skylights.
• Use windows/skylights where needed, such as over the bathroom, kitchen counter, bed/couch.
• For spaciousness, try recessed lighting and deep window sills.
• Rather than drapes, try a small curtain at the top of a window.
• For curtains, recycle your favorite fabrics – they’re easy to make, clean and change.
• Mini blinds are more versatile than shades.

COMBINATION BEDROOM / LIVING ROOM:

• Try a slightly elevated daybed or futon couch.
• To eliminate closets and shelving, use underbed pull-out storage boxes/baskets.
• Store extra blankets in decorative pillowcases on the bed/couch.
• To limit wardrobe, recombine and layer several two-piece outfits.
• Rather than use a hanger, iron your outfit and wear it.
• Store one pair of boots, shoes and sneakers.
• Acquire a new wardrobe as needed.
• Use a hooded jacket rather than a hat or umbrella.
• Add a coat hook near the entry door.
• Use a computer notebook for all media. Eliminate a tv, stereo, books, etc.

KITCHEN EXAMPLES:

• With under-counter appliances, add windows/skylights across the entire counter area.
• Try a tall fridge on an inside wall, then a carousel cabinet in a lower corner, then an under-counter combination washer/dryer, single-bowl kitchen sink, dishwasher and stove.
• A double-layered, corner carousel cupboard may be all that is needed – to stack a set of dishes, pans and dry goods.
• Store a set of decorative dishes and glasses vertically on narrow wall shelves. Add mug hooks beneath the lowest shelf.
• A portable stovetop can be stored when not in use. Try one-pot recipes.
• One pot, a bowl, mug, spoon, fork and large knife may be all that is needed.
• Use a pot as a mixing bowl, spoon or mug to measure, fork to whisk, mug as a ladle.
• Rather than cupboard doors, try a set of small curtains. Use a small, spring-loaded curtain rod supported by mug hooks.
• To limit food storage, try a simple diet. Plain oatmeal for breakfast. Peanut butter sandwich for lunch. Grains, legumes and vegetables for supper. Drink only water.
• Rather than a dining room set, eat/entertain with your plate in your lap.
• Rather than a dish rack, dry dishes on a towel.
• Dry dish towels on hooks under the kitchen sink.
• Recycle a jar to store utensils, wildflowers or food as needed.

ADDITIONAL COUNTER SPACE:

• Try a pull-out cutting board or a large cutting board over the entire sink/stove.
• Rather than a counter top, try a large cutting board over any under-counter appliance.
• Use a cutting board as a lapdesk, to dine/serve or as an ironing board.

BATHROOM:

• With a wetbath, waterproof the lower half of the walls and use a shower curtain.
• Try a small 12-inch-depth corner sink.
• Rather than a vanity or medicine chest, try open shelving over the toilet – to store towels/cosmetics.
• Store small items in decorative boxes/baskets/jars on the shelving.
• Rather than a towel rack, use towel/clothing hooks.
• Try a full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door – usually, they’re less expensive.

Tara, one of our readers brought this cool kitchen idea to me that I thought could be integrated into a small or tiny house design. Here is what the company has to say about there product.

The revolving concept Original Circle Kitchen® offers intelligent kitchen comfort compressed into the smallest space but with a storage capacity equivalent to 12 cupboards and a bench top length of approx. 3000 mm, equipped with refrigerator, dishwasher, ceramic hob, oven with microwave, range hood, sink and waste bin as a conventional kitchen.

This kitchen creation can be placed anywhere in the room, also space saving centrically in between walls and in angled corners or recesses and it can be harmoniously integrated with other key living spaces.

Equipped with sliding doors the kitchen work area can favourably be hidden in open plan spaces and commercial buildings. Especially for architects and interior designer arise new planning perspectives through the new “room within a room” concept particularly where space is at a premium.

Through open style this kitchen concept is easily accessible and extremely user friendly. Deep cupboards and annoying doors in the way whilst working belong to the past. Appliances and kitchen contents are clearly visible. As this is a rotating kitchen, the complete work area may be reached from a sitting or standing position.

Mobile and without alteration, the circular kitchen can easily be taken with you when relocating. The Original Circle Kitchen® is available in different dimensions and models depending on equipment: Model Apartment, Office/Foyer and Motel.

You can learn more by going to the Original Circle Kitchen® website.

Photo Credit: Original Circle Kitchen

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to our feed

Katie in Berlin, Germany recently wrote me to let me know about their tiny kitchen remodel. I am going to let Katie tell you their story.

We live in a 480 square foot apartment in Berlin.  Our kitchen in Berlin, Germany left a lot to be desired when we first saw it.  It was easy to see why.  At 36 square feet, there were no drawers, counter spaces, or places to store anything.  The last tenants kept a fridge and freezer in the living room with dishes stacked on top of it.  We thought that there just had to be a better solution. We had no idea where to get tools or construction supplies.  

Our apartment also didn’t have any lights except this one dangling hazard.  When people buy or rent in Germany, their homes don’t come with any light fixtures.  People prefer to take their lights with them from home to home.

We were considered lucky, though, most homes also don’t come with kitchens. 

Germans call American homes “cardboard houses”.  I don’t think we truly understood why until we started to tear down our kitchen walls. They were solid drywall, and they weren’t even load-bearing!  Each of those drywall bricks weighed at least 50 pounds.

And slowly, we progressed without breaking the law… What law?  The notorious German law that enforces strict quiet hours every single day.  It makes work for young remodelers nearly impossible; it offers their neighbors a bit of bliss.

• Our cabinets extend all the way to the ceiling, utilizing every inch of vertical space.
• Our oven is too small to cook a turkey, which is fine with us.  (We’re vegetarians)  It also happens to be our microwave, too.
• We picked a two-burner stove.  It turns out we hardly ever use three burners, let alone four.
• Our dishwasher is half-sized.  It really feels like just the right size for a family of two.
• Our fridge is a standard German fridge… which happens to be the same tiny size Americans have in college dorms.  It’s covered by wooden panels, which is traditional in German kitchens.
• Our recycling system is super compact… and still manages to provide us with a way to sort our recycling in TEN ways (required by German law).

We like to think that good living can come in any size.  And so far, so good!

To see more pictures of the project and read more of Katie’s experience go to her blog.

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to our feed