Tiny House Blog

Austin was only 15 when he started building his tiny house. According to Jay Shafer he is the youngest person he is aware of who is proving that anyone can build a tiny home if they choose to. Austin has completed building the Tumbleweed Fencl and he is scheduling an Open House for October 6th in Santa Rosa.

Austin has been very active and has shared his knowledge at several of Tumbleweed’s workshops. He is now 17 and a senior at the local high school.

The event is open to the public and is happening Saturday October 6th from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM in Santa Rosa, California.

You will need to get the address from Tumbleweed at this link as his privacy is important and we do not wish to publish it online.

Watch a video clip of Austin on “Extreme RV” below.

Announcement

If you live in the Boston area be sure and go and visit the original Epu, the first built Tumbleweed that tiny house celebrity Jay Shafer built and lived in. It will be on display for an Open House this Saturday, May 12, 2012 from 1 pm to 4 pm in Boston, 88 Lambert Ave. (Avenue not “Street”)

If you can’t make the open house, fret not, as during the Boston Tiny House Building Workshop, you can also make a field trip to this very site, for a more intimate look at the structure, and with guest speakers galore….

• Tiny House Dweller and Author, John Hanson Mitchell
• Gypsy Wagon Builder and Dweller Sage Radachowsky
• Mariah Coz and her Comet Camper, a classic Avalon she’s renovating in a green and off-grid fashion to serve as a mobile classroom.

And perhaps more….

Also the Boston Workshop (May 19th and 20th) hosted by Derek “Deek” Diedricksen will be on hand to give you a tour, and answer any questions you might have in regards to tiny housing. Derek is also teaching upcoming workshops in DC, Chicago, and NYC. The event will also double as the delayed book release event for Diedricksen’s “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks.” which spent 15 weeks as the #1 ranked Carpentry book on Amazon).

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Dan Louche of Tiny Home Builders and Michael Janzen of Tiny House Design have collaborated on a new website called TinyHouseMap.com. This is a map-based classified listings site in which the goal is to connect the tiny house community and to take it to a local level.

You can list yourself on the website and find others in your area who have the same interest. If you have an open house, workshop, or are a builder you can list that too.

If you do not want to much information about yourself online you can limit it but it is nice to have a way to contact you if possible. If you have a website or blog you can list it as well.

Check it out today!

I just wanted to get a quick note up in case you were not following over at Tumbleweed. Dee Williams is opening her house to share it with you this weekend. If I lived closer and could make it up I would be the first in line to see it. If you can make it, do me a favor and take some pictures and a video so that you can  share it with me next week. I would like to give everyone an update on the Tiny House Blog.

My wife and I will be going south to visit our daughter over the Presidents Day weekend. I hope everyone who is able to make it to this open house enjoys it.

Here are the details:

Photo courtesy of Tumbleweed Tiny Houses

*I’ve added a few pictures from the 2nd Open House. The bungalow was not competed so I will do a post later when Jay has finished it.

Last month I had the privilege to visit Jay Shafer and company at Tumbleweed’s monthly open house. Jay allowed me to take a few pictures of the forthcoming Box Bungalow a new design that he has been working on.

How would you like to be the first to see one in person? In fact you are seeing pictures here on the Tiny House Blog before they are announced on the Tumbleweed Tiny House website.

The Box Bungalow will be coming in five different styles and range from 99 to120 square feet, and can be built in most places without a permit. The exterior of each design is inspired by the American Craftsman style architecture and stems from an era of quality hand-craftsmanship, that is both simple and elegant. Can you imagine a spare bedroom, office, or a yoga studio in your back yard?

This month, on Saturday June 11th from 2:00 to 4:00 P.M. Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is having another open house and for the first time will be showing off the Box Bungalow. They are in the process of completing the interior. The interior may not be complete 100%, but it will probably look great anyway. Please sign up here.
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Kevin Casey from New Avenue Homes contacted me about an open house coming up in Berkeley, California in a couple of weeks. A 430 square foot backyard cottage and I am hoping to get on over and see this little cottage in person and I wanted to let you know about it.

The Story of Karen’s Cottage

When Karen, a planning professor from the College of Environmental Design, met with a team of students from Dr. Ashok Gadgil’s Design for Sustainable Communities course, neither knew what was brewing.

Karen discussed how her two bedroom Berkeley home was too small for her constant stream of guests, her daughter and an aging relative.

The team of students was researching small homes as a means to create affordable and sustainable housing.

The result was a net zero energy backyard cottage, a new model for shared affordable housing, a Clinton Global Initiative grant and a new Berkeley startup.

Please Join Us To Celebrate New Avenue’s First Net Zero Energy Backyard Cottage!

Open House
934 Delaware St., Berkeley
(8 blocks from North Berkeley BART)
Saturday January 8, 2011
1 – 7 PM
Children and dogs welcome

Link to Open House Invitation

Link to builder New Avenue Homes Continue Reading »