Here are some photos of my ‘tiny house’ built from your Sonoma Shanty plans in the summer of 2010 just a quarter mile from Lake Superior in Wisconsin. While my 10 acres do not have a lake, I am near enough to hear the waves on a windy day, and a mile from the local beach.

This summer we had a Jotul 602 woodstove installed, by September it is needed for heat at night! I’m very happy with the house. I bought seven windows made for a house at the local home store and they fill it with light.

My builder was a retired farmer who is 6’5″, so he added 4 inches to the height so the loft is more acceptable to him! I designed a bench that turns into a bed and there is also room to sleep in the loft. The size was adjusted to 10′ x 14 from the original plans.

I’ll get better interior photos next time we are up there. I live six hours away, so that is the only bad part as we can’t get there every weekend. (The first photo, the tiny house in the snow, just won a contest to be the December page in the 2012 calendar by a Wisconsin company named Wausau Supply.) The last photo shows a visiting bear – taken from the north window of the tiny house! He walked all around it and then ambled off. Never noticed us inside gawking at him! Thanks again for your great plans!

Marsha

Photo Credit’s Marsha Siik

The company also offers a pad foundation, Thermowood® siding, cedar roof shingles or insulated metal roofs, French doors, skylights, exterior lighting and decking. Interior options include laminate flooring, electrical and lighting, heating units and blinds.

The Stable Company also offers its customers the use of its in-house, planning permission and building regulations services as well as deposit protection and an insurance backed guarantee.

Photos courtesy of the Stable Company

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Mariah and Ryan Lingard fell in love with the woods and lakes of Joseph, Oregon and purchased some partially burned, partially logged land after seeing an ad in the local paper. The 100×150 foot parcel of land cost them $47,000 and is located smack dab in the middle of hiking, skiing and snowshoe territory. The couple has a full-time home in Portland, but they make the 6-hour trip to the Signal Shed about four times a year.

After two years of planning and extended weekend camping trips to their land, the couple built the 130 square foot cabin over a two week period with friends and family. The materials cost about $10,000 and the cabin features several recycled windows, IKEA cabinets and laminate flooring. They found the barn door hardware and the woodstove on Craigslist. The cabin rests on a floating pier to minimize impact on the land and cedar screens used to lock it up when Mariah and Ryan are not around. The Signal Shed has no running water, no electricity and the couple uses the woodstove for heat and some cooking.

Mariah grew up in an off-grid home in rural Oregon and is not bothered by the lack of running water or the portable toilet. The couple heat up water on the stove or in a solar water heater, and read at night by candlelight or oil lamp.

The structure was awarded a 2011 Residential Architect Magazine design award. As an architect, Ryan is now offering the Signal Shed plans for sale in limited quantities. It is being sold for $18,000 for a prefab modular structure and detailed plans are being sold for $1,000.

Photos courtesy of Sunset and Ryan Lingard

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The Hummingbird has a living and kitchen area with a fire-ribbon fireplace (which requires no venting) and a large, covered deck which LEAP calls a “chill” space. A small bedroom and bathroom suite are also included. Plans for the hummingbird are priced at $995, the building kit is around $55,000 and an on-site built Hummingbird is about $80,000 which does not include the general contractor fee, building or permit fees.

Other green options included in the Hummingbird are:

• Cement board or teak siding
• Trex recycled content-engineered deck planking
• Low-mass Structural Insulated Panels
• Multi-unit sliding glass doors with dual-pane Low-E glass
• Simpson “Strong-Wall” seismic resisting brace-frames
• Low-flow plumbing fixtures
• EnergyStar rated Heat-pump HVAC system, lighting and on-demand water heater

LEAP Adaptive is a home design group in San Diego, California. Design director Brian Darnell has spent the last 22 years designing multi-million-dollar residential estates, but realized that “the lust for size and granduer has given way to the realization that the economics and ecology of our flattening world can no longer support such extravagance.” LEAP seeks to create environmental designs that are easier on the owner’s wallet as well as on the earth.

Image Courtesy of LEAP Adaptive

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Andrew Morrison is an easy to understand instructor and you get a little feel of his teaching ability in this video below. He has produced a number of hot selling videos and I will be reviewing his latest How-To Guide To Building With Straw Bales (Post and Beam) next week.

This charming cottage is perfect for the Tiny House enthusiast! Straw Bale construction lends itself very well to space-conscious builders because the thickness of the bales allows for all types of carved-in wall niches to be created, allowing for storage/shelving right in the walls. Straw bale window sills are also wonderful for creating window seats, eliminating the need for chairs.

The Sunset Cottage has room for a full sized fold-down couch, a large set of wall shelves, a large work desk with file cabinets on the side, a substantial window seat, a small set of shelves, and plenty of floor space to walk around the room in. And with a little modification, you can create space for a tiny bathroom and kitchen as well.

So if you have been thinking of building your first straw bale structure purchase the Sunset Cottage Plans Today by click here.

Your purchase helps support this blog. As an affiliate of StrawBale.com a percentage of the purchase goes to the Tiny House Blog.

In this video, Bill shows us the kitchen, his propane heater, water storage and some of the plumbing that was involved. There are lots of little details that go unnoticed because they are hidden and this helps give you an idea about the work involved.

Again, I am learning and the video is proof of that. I am getting a little faster at pulling them together so in the next post you will probably see 2 or 3 videos. Youtube limits the length so I am trying to give you over an hours worth of video in little sections so you can get the full picture.

To keep updated be sure and subscribe to the Youtube Tiny House Blog Channel.

I am attempting to create some videos and Bill agreed to be my first guinea pig. The video is not perfect (rough in a few places) but Bill does a great job of explaining the process. This is the first of several videos from the visit and I hope you will learn a lot about building a tiny home from Bill who has become an expert in my humble opinion with all that he has learned in the construction of his home. The next video will feature the interior  and I will let you know when it is ready.

To keep updated be sure and subscribe to the Youtube Tiny House Blog Channel.

The Hermit DeLuxe is a 160 square foot complete house on wheels with the basic needs for the new digital age hermit. Private bedroom with loft style single bed above, large computer desk below, storage bin, large window, and clothes closet. Ample kitchen area with deep laundry sink, mini refridgerator, camper style gas stove with oven, range hood, and plenty of storage above and below. Central heating area with both woodstove and 120 vac wall heater.

Private bath with sawdust toilet and splash shower with floor drain. Upper double bun area with storage and book shelves. Work height countertop with storage above and below.

Using standard home construction methods and materials, plenty of elbow grease and the labor of family and friends, I believe this project could be done under $6,000 to $7,000 using every trick to save money but not sacrifice quality or livability.

The plans are available for a small amount of $27. Anyone who purchased the plans previous to this new addition will receive the update shortly via email notification. You can purchase right here or on the “Plans Page.”

The Hermit DeLuxe Plans $27

The Hermit DeLuxe Plans $27

The Popomo is our sleekest model to date, yet it’s one of the easiest tiny houses to build. It features hot-rolled corrosion-resistant steel siding, making it unlike anything else available on the market today. The Popomo takes full advantage of the maximum legal towing limits without requiring any special permits, affording you the luxury of a larger, more inviting living environment without the extra paperwork hassle and expense.

You can buy the Popomo plans for just $9.99! But you have to hurry because this sale ends November 30th.

This set of plans contains 38 pages jam-packed with all the information you need to build your tiny house like a professional, including step-by-step instructions, orthographic illustrations, and suggested resources and suppliers.

Click here to view more details and to purchase.

I’ve finally finished compiling all the information from my tiny house project. It has been quite a few months in the works but it is finally done, and I am very proud of it.

During the course of building my tiny house I took many pictures and wrote many notes (in addition to what I posted on the blog). The idea at the time was that someday I would put it all together into a package so that anyone looking to recreate my tiny house for themselves, would have all the benefits of my experiences. That someday has come!

This package includes:

• A 76 page book consisting of over 120 color pictures and 7100 words detailing all of the steps that I took to build my tiny house. Very little of this information is specific to my tiny house, and would be pertinent to anyone building a tiny house.
• A 66 page printable set of plans organized in the order in which the work should be completed.
• An electrical diagram showing how the outlets and switches are divided between circuits.
• A materials list detailing all of the items that would need to be purchased to build my tiny house. Having this information alone can save you over a thousand dollars, which I explain how in the book.
• The SketchUp model that you can navigate in 3D to take any measurement and see how every board fits together.
• Free updates

I’m selling this package for $250 with the hope that I will raise enough money to design and build my next tiny house.

Click Here to Purchase his plans.

Following are some pictures and a floor plan of Dan’s tiny house.