Tiny House Blog

Even if you don’t plan on making a back country trip to Norway any time soon, these tiny cabins may give you a few ideas on how to create a tiny house that melds nearly seamlessly with its natural surroundings. Koiene (pronounced koi-eh-n) are a system of tiny, convenient cabins scattered around the countryside of Trøndelag, Norway for use by anyone who’s in the area for hiking, fishing, foraging, hunting, cross country skiing or snowshoeing.

The simple, little structures can be rented through a website that specializes in memberships for these types of vacation cabins. The site and the cabins are run voluntarily by groups of students. The cabins are named after the area they are in and these multi-syllabic locations are distinctive from each other: some are on a river or creek, some on top of a mountains, some by the lake or other larger body of water. Continue Reading »

Christina sent this to me this week and even thought I have used it before I thought it was perfect for this holiday season.

The traditional Norwegian building called “Stabbur” and was used to store food. The two floors made it perfect for hanging meat from the ceiling in good distance from the claws of greedy animals. (Actually one of our readers just told me this photo was taken in Austria so the information above is incorrect, sorry about that!)

I think it would make a perfect little home and I think maybe this one has been converted into just that. What do you think? Happy Holidays!

It is fun to see some of my close friends get involved with the tiny house movement. My college roommate who I had the privilege of going camping with in the High Sierra this last weekend just sent me a great photo from Norway. His mom is from Norway and he and his family have visited relatives over there in the last couple of years.

This photos is of some very cool little cliff houses that are right outside of Jøssingfjord in Norway.
Thanks Fred for sharing this with us. If you have a photo that might work for this feature please send it to tinyhouseblog (at) gmail.com.

Photo prise le 21 août 2010 (© Eivind K. Døvik / Flickr)

This weeks Tiny House in a Landscape is of a mountain farm in Rondane, Norway. I love the stark landscape and the simplicity and sturdiness of the tiny farm home. The tiny farm house has a living roof that is quite common in the area and adds insulation to the house for the harsh winters.

The little boat in the foreground ads an artistic element to the scene. I imagine it gets very windy and cold in this corner of Norway and a sturdy warm shelter makes life bearable.

Hap Mullenneaux sent me a link to this photo and suggested that it should be called “Little House is a Landscape.” This house is located in Norway where green turf roofs are very common.

For hundreds of years houses in Norway have been covered with turf. And they come in different varieties. Some are bright green and almost velvety. Others are golden and look like they’re growing wheat or oats. A number of turf roofs have flowers mixed in with the grass, and a few have small trees.

The advantages of turf roofs (also called sod roofs) are many. They are very heavy, so they help to stabilize the house; they provide good insulation; and they are long-lasting.

Per request, I have started a new page above called the Tiny House Landscape. This page pulls all the Tiny House in a Landscape posts together and you can now easily page back through them and find your favorite one.

This weeks Tiny House in a Landscape, I believe it is Stabbur in Norway (photo sent in by a reader). Someone recently sent me a bunch of links to these Stabbur homes similar to this and although I’ve currently misplaced the email, I plan to find it and do a complete post on this type of structure built in Norway. If you are familiar with the photographer please let me know so that I can give the person full credit.