Tiny House Blog

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 »

Tramp, gypsy, vagabond, nomad. Do you want any of these words to describe you? Robert Wells has lived most of his life as a gypsy, vagabond and nomad in various forms of vans and RVs, and documents the tips and tricks he has learned over the years on his website Cheap RV Living. He offers some fun information from people who have taken the plunge and have become full-time nomads on the cheap.

His little “How-To Guide” focuses on how to live a cheaper, lighter existence while still being independent. He discusses van conversions, boondocking, workamping, financial freedom, traveling with pets and children, safety and cleanliness issues, how to choose a vehicle, overcoming your fears, living on a boat, homesteading and working while on the road. He also shows how living a life on a $500 to $1,000 a month budget is possible.

Some of his fellow nomads discuss how they took the leap:

On a fateful day in 2006, I was struck by an idea so powerful that I stood up from my desk, walked to the personnel department and resigned. I would sell my house, the extra cars, all that important “stuff” and live on a boat with my family, and travel the seas as a free man.

Captain Keith of the Kismet

After 22 years of working at the Post Office, I was tired of not being happy with my job or my life and knew I had to do something. I remembered those happy days traveling in the travel trailer and was sure I could be happy again. I already owned my 1983 VW Westphalia, so it was the obvious choice when I decided to downsize. I wasn’t sure exactly how I would do it, or how long I could stand living in a van, but I knew it had to be better than the life I was living. I am delighted to say it has been 2 years now and I have no desire to go back to a more conventional life.

Barb Cotton

Photos courtesy of Cheap RV Living

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Mike Jordan had fallen in love with the idea of a tiny mobile house about five years ago. After a divorce, and becoming the primary caregiver of his young son, he realized that his chance had come to simplify and streamline his life. Mike originally looked at small RVs, vans and Airstreams, but decided to go with a small mobile house built by the Oregon Cottage Company.

Mike, who rides a bicycle instead of owning a car, appreciated the green aspects of the tiny mobile home but was a bit concerned about having to pick it up from Oregon and bring it back to his home in Connecticut. So, he looked at it as an adventure, bought a van sight unseen in Washington and towed the house across the country with his son.

“We had a hell of a good time,” Mike said. “It was the best time of my life”. Continue Reading »

With summer on the way, the tiny house dream of some people might take the form of a boat. Instead of a sailboat or other sleek sailing craft, a trawler has all the amenities in a tough little package – with a loyal following.

A trawler or pilot house is a usually a boat used for fishing or for the military and the police, but pleasure versions of the them are built as well that have comfortable areas for living and cooking. These boats are called cruising trawlers or trawler yachts and they come in many styles and sizes. Since they don’t have a sail, they rely on fuel and have cruising speeds of around 14-20 knots.

Typical designs of trawlers include a raised pilothouse or offset deckhouse and a “portuguese bridge” which consists of a walkway behind the foredeck, in front and to the sides of, the pilothouse windows, separated from the foredeck by a (generally) waist-high bulwark. The purpose of the bridge is to deflect water from the foredeck up over the superstructure top rather than slamming against the forward windows of the pilothouse. It gives a semi-sheltered area outside the pilothouse while underway. A secondary benefit is that it provides a “safe area” or handhold when it is necessary to be on the foredeck in inclement weather. Continue Reading »

Like many other cities, my hometown of Reno, Nev. has seen more and more people leave the suburbs to make their home in a more condensed urban environment to save on housing and gas costs. Several buildings in the downtown Reno corridor have been redeveloped to include housing for city living. Kelly Rae and Pam Haberman of HabeRae Investments Inc. are creating tiny, beautiful urban infill houses while keeping the history of many of these buildings alive.

2 More on Watt Farmhouse

Kelly and Pam have been redeveloping properties since 1998 and are most well known for their 8 on Center project, but their most recent projects are getting some attention for their tiny size, aesthetics and green design. They have won local awards for historic preservation, environmental design and community improvement. Continue Reading »

The FirstDay Cottage company in New Hampshire offers a house kit which they claim a couple, and a handful of friends, can build in approximately fifteen weekends and for under $45,000. These house kits can be customized for each customer and can be built with almost no carpentry experience. What I found very refreshing about FirstDay is that they insist that their kits are so simple to put together, that they encourage all their customers to contact them frequently to get advice and support throughout the project. They even help to get the owner/builder financing.

While these houses are little larger than the average tiny house, the smallest is under 1,000 square feet. The smallest of the plans is the Basic, which is 16 feet by 30 feet or 960 square feet and costs about $26,900 for the kit.

The FirstDay Kit Includes:

• Instructions and plans
• Posts and beams
• Sheathing and decking
• 2″ High-R Foam Insulation
• Roofing and siding
• Windows
• Interior and exterior doors
• Nails
• Building wrap
• Interior partitions
• Kitchen cabinets

I actually found the FirstDay plans through this couple, who are living the simple life in upstate New York with their young son. They built their own FirstDay as a spec house and then built a tiny cabin in the woods from the scraps left over. The entire project cost them about $900.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)