LED

Naughty Or Nice. No Matter. Holiday Gifts For The Tiny Houser.

He’s making a list / and checking it twice. / He’s going to find out who’s naughty or nice. / Santa Claus is comin’ to town. But what does the jolly ‘ol man give the tiny houser? We’ve denounced materialism. We’ve given up on hard copy books and DVD cases. … Read more

X-Permit Cabin

by Kent Griswold

by David Lacey

The X-Permit Cabin is an exercise to create a livable space that will be built on a salvaged travel trailer frame. It will be self sustainable, off grid, and will be built without building permits because it is a “travel trailer” and will be registered as such. The site is beside the ocean in Canada. The actual location will be revealed as time goes on. The point of this is to circumvent onerous permits and inspections that come with “permanent” structures. XPC will be an exercise in civics, construction, and innovation. I hope you follow us as we move forward.

x-permit cabin

Certainly, “tiny homes” have been built before and many are like the one we are building, on a trailer, for various reasons. This one is a personal experiment in building a livable space in a maximum of 135 square feet. There probably won’t be “grand innovation” involved, but the completed cabin on wheels must have the charm and friendly atmosphere of an old seaside cottage distilled into the space allocated.

Scaled Solar for the Tiny House Off Grid on the Cheap

by Kent Griswold

by Joe Zummach Here are some pictures of my system. First, of course, are the Solar panels which consist of two 50 watt panels wired in parallel and then connected by way of charge controller to two deep cycle golf cart batteries. They use a 6 volt wired-in series to … Read more

Acting Green Vs. Buying Green

by Kent Griswold

by Jaclyn Nicholson Have you ever considered the difference between acting green and buying green? A lot of energy is wasted in homes on showering, lighting, cooling, using the bathroom and doing laundry. So, in order to preserve, you can change how you do things or you can purchase energy-efficient … Read more

Laird’s Yukon Modern Tiny Home

by Kent Griswold

by Laird Herbert

Hi my name is Laird Herbert and I thought you might be interested in the tiny house I just completed.

This is my second tiny home that I have built. I lived in one full-time for a year over the winter and sold it last spring. I’m 28 years old and have lived in the Yukon for the past five. I am pretty happy puttering away building things. I’d much rather do this then sit in a cubicle! My passion is actually the design, that’s what I enjoy the most. So I’m diving into it full-time (hopefully) and will be building two more this summer (one for myself and another to sell), under Leaf House, which is my new company named after the famed Leaf House on Hornby Island which is where I spent my summers as a kid.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this northern rendition of a tiny house! It is much more challenging build tiny houses in an extreme winter climate. I’ve learned quite a bit about what you need to do when it’s -40 outside and your space is 160 ft2. I’ve also learned that it is a lot more expensive to build things in the North!

BioLite CampStove

by Kent Griswold

Our power was out all day yesterday and into the night because of a power pole going down. It got me thinking of having a backup source for cooking and power. Though a little off topic I think this little stove is worth a look.

I enjoy backpacking, although I admit I haven’t been doing it as often these days. When backpacking there is nothing like a hot drink in the morning and evening or a hot meal at the end of the day. A good backpacking stove is a must if you wish to enjoy this.

I have been frustrated with the high cost of fuel for these types of stoves, the hassle of hauling it in and out, and so when I saw this little stove it caught my attention for several reasons.

Lightweight. The BioLite CampStove is designed as a lightweight backpackers stove but does not require you to haul in fuel. You can gather it where ever you are.
Charge your phone or LED lights. This you won’t find on most backpacking stoves. If you need to be contacted and need a charged phone or camera you can do it with the charger built into this little stove.
Have a backup system. Where we live the power tends to go out fairly frequently and you can be without power to cook, etc. This little stove could work as a backup system during an emergency or when the power is out. You could still enjoy a hot meal, charge your phone, LED lights, etc.

While you would not want to use this in your tiny home, how about out on your porch? This little stove will soon be available and while it is not cheap at $129 it is very comparable to other stoves of its size. I personally am seriously thinking of purchasing one for myself. If you are interested you can reserve yours at the BioLite website.