Tiny House Blog

If you live in a ski town, keep an eye out for a truck towing an elegant tiny house and five ski bums on the lookout for some great powder and free Wi-Fi. For six weeks, Molly Baker, Zack Griffin, Neil Provo and their videographers Sam Griffin and Andy Walbon will be road tripping around North America in a 112 square foot house on wheels and will be posting their videos online. The idea behind the trip is to find grassroots ambassadors for the outdoor gear company, Outdoor Research, ski some of winter’s best deep powder and meet fellow ski enthusiasts. They also wanted to take this trip in a tiny house to show that a passionate and low-impact lifestyle could be had for little cost.

“We are refining the entire process of living as ski bums,” Zack said. “It is really about figuring out what you do and don’t need. For me, I want to ski and there isn’t much else that I need.”

Initially, the group thought they would take the trip in a van with a wood stove – similar to one that Zack lived in in the parking lot of Mt. Baker. But, after seeing some of the Tumbleweed tiny houses, the crew decided a custom built house would meet all their needs. Continue Reading »

Ellen Dawson-Witt was recently featured in her local newspaper because of her tiny house and her downshifted life. Ellen’s 192 square foot house is located on her property in Yellow Springs, Ohio where she grows some of her own food and carries water from a well for washing, uses solar panels for a lamp, CD player and laptop and uses a composting toilet. She does her cooking on a gas range from 1934.

Dawson-Witt, a freelance editor and government contractor, has avoided television and fashion and wanted to live her life like that of Henry David Thoreau.

“I wanted to live deliberately and to not be on automatic pilot,” she said. “I wanted to be connected to the elements.”

However, she is not able to live in her tiny house full-time. The county in which the home is located does not allow full-time living in a home without indoor plumbing. She keeps another house close to her work.

Inside the tiny house, there are three chairs, one table, one desk, a kitchen cabinet from the 1920s, one bookcase, a loft with one bed and one small chest that contains an extra blanket. About 75 percent of all she owns fits in the tiny house. (Ironically, she has a whole shelf of books on voluntary simplicity, she said.) She has her clothes and a file drawer in her other house and her tools and camping gear in a nearby shed.

Dawson-Witt will be leading a seven-week discussion on sustainability at her tiny house. The sessions started on October 4, 2011. Her talks will cover simplicity, ecology, food, money and more for those who want to live more lightly on the earth. Continue Reading »

Marcia Weber lives full-time in a Soo Line train caboose that was built in 1909. She purchased the caboose with her husband at the Tunerville Station in Whippany, New Jersey in 1975 from an ad in the Wall Street Journal that simply said “wooden cabooses for sale.”

For years, the caboose was just a vacation home for Marcia and her husband. After a divorce and a job loss, she decided to move permanently into the caboose. She said the first winter was tough with no indoor plumbing and only space heaters available for heat. Electricity had been installed in the caboose years before, but there was no bathroom. In the following years, Marcia was able to add a bathroom to the back of the caboose (to retain the look), indoor plumbing and electric heat. She also replaced the siding on the cupola and put in some gardens and a lawn. She also had a deck built which added an additional “room” to the caboose.

The caboose sits on a 30 foot train track on Marcia’s 5 acre parcel in Northeast Pennsylvania. Her 337 square foot living space also includes a washer/dryer, refrigerator, stove, microwave and a dishwasher. The cost of the caboose and the track cost about $6,000 (in 1976).

Marcia calls the caboose “a 36-year labor of love”, and is proud that nearly everything on the inside is still in its original 1909 state. She did replace out the floor with a laminate. She will also be replacing the siding on the outside with beadboard to resemble the original wood.

She loves the light that comes in through the windows (including the six in the cupola) and has decorated the caboose with colorful accessories. She thought that going from a 2,500 square foot house to a 337 square foot caboose would be difficult, but she absolutely loves it.

“I sold 95 percent of my belongings and feel very free as a result,” Marcia said. “Plus, I can clean the whole place in fifteen minutes. The area here is absolutely beautiful and I spend a lot of time sitting on the deck reading and just looking at my surroundings. It’s all mountains, ponds, and open space.”

Photos courtesy of Marcia Weber

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Happy Independence Day! With summer fully upon most of the country, let’s celebrate one of the best tiny houses for enjoying the outdoors. We’ve covered numerous yurts in the past, but Becky Kemery a.k.a.”The Yurt Lady” and her book, Yurts: Living in the Round, shows how these structures can be comfortable and elegant while still letting in the outdoors.

Becky has lived in yurts for many years in the mountains of the American Northwest. Her book was completed a few years ago while living in her own portable fabric yurt on a permaculture homestead in Idaho. She has also created an educational website called Yurt Info, a newsletter and a Facebook page for other yurt owners and fans of the wood and fabric buildings. The Yurt Info site offers information on how to buy or build a yurt, and includes a forum and links to numerous yurt videos and photo albums. Continue Reading »

Pat and Ali Schulte have been profiled on the Tiny House Blog before when they lived the nomadic life on their 35-foot catamaran and in their 1958 Volkswagen panel van. Now they are in the process of fixing up a 43-foot Spindrift sailboat and living on it with their two children: 16-month-old Ouest and another one who is on the way.

Their comprehensive and beautiful website profiles their living and working on the boat with a child in tow. They purchased the Spindrift in the San Francisco Bay area, and are living there until they can get the boat ready to sail down to Mexico. They purchased the boat for around $40,000 with money they saved up while working, and are doing much of the boat repairs themselves. For additional income Pat also does some day trading and they have written a book on their around the world sailing adventure. Continue Reading »

I want to start a feature of stories and photos of people living in what I call “small houses.” What I need from you, readers, are your stories and stories of friends or family living in homes or apartments or other structures that range from 250-1000 square feet. (more or less)

It would be nice to have photos of the exterior and interior of the homes as well. It’s always nice to be able to show how space is utilized. What works and what doesn’t work.

I would like to cover all type of homes from modern to the old homes that were built back in the early 1900′s. Also if a floor plan is available of a home it would be very useful!

To share your story please email tinyhouseblog @ gmail.com and attach photos and a writeup about your small home with the subject line “Small House Story.” Thank you for your help in covering this new feature!

Photo Credit Karen Delucas

Last year I wrote about the re-emergence of the Trillium 1300 travel trailer. The brand has recently expanded with the introduction of the Trillium 1500. This trailer is different than the 1300 in that it has two extra feet added to the middle, larger counter space and a larger dinette which converts into a bed. Four floorplans are available for both the 1300 and the 1500 including a corner restroom and a restroom/shower floorplan.

The Trillium is unique to the fiberglass trailer market in that the company bonds all fiberglass components, uses no wood in the structure, uses closed cell foam ceiling and wall insulation, provides upscale, contemporary interiors and builds each unit to the owner’s specifications. The stylish interior of these trailers is what attracted my attention. Continue Reading »