Tiny House Blog

This garden shed would make a perfect tiny house. It was recently featured on the Fine Homebuilding website and I thought you would enjoy it too. The downstairs is designed as a working garden shed and the upstairs has a little retreat with two beds. I could see this design easily transferred into a tiny house. David Edrington used Google SketchUp to design the garden shed and than had a contractor build it.

Read the full article and see more photos at the Fine Homebuilding site.

Photo by Kent Peterson

Crater Cove Shacks

Occupancy of Crater Cove started around 60 years ago when weekend fishermen built the first huts. During the depression of the 1930s, some of the huts may have been occupied full time. Nowdays Crater Cove is managed by NPWS and cared for by volunteers since 1987.

Crater Cove looks directly out toward the entrance to Sydney Harbour. I have cunningly included North Head and South Head in the background of this picture. There are no roads into Crater Cove: it can only be reached by walking there along a bush track, or by boat from the harbor.

Since the Depression, there have always been a small collection of huts in the cove, used as weekenders, or occupied by squatters. When the land became part of the Sydney Harbour National Park, the residents were evicted, and the plan was to demolish the huts. This provoked a good deal of public protests. So, the huts have been retained as part of our heritage, and volunteer caretakers look after the places.

LAST century, at least for an inventive few, building your own weekender could be as easy as finding a secluded bay and gathering a few bits of driftwood and local stone for walls and sheets of discarded tin for a roof.

In Sydney the best examples of the art of this pure, makeshift beach retreat are still standing in a hidden enchanted cove near Balgowlah, looking directly out Sydney Heads to the vast Pacific Ocean beyond.

The seven shacks – at Crater Cove – were knocked up between 1923 and 1963 from available materials by fishermen on army land (now part of the Sydney Harbour National Park) and these days are lovingly repaired and maintained by caretakers.

If you press your face against the window of any of the improvised dwellings you’ll see an idyllic vision of a simple unadorned existence. Walls are wood panelled and the sun streams in. In one there’s the simplest of wooden benches, with a wok sitting on a gas burner ready to cook the evening meal.

It’s rustic pared-back living of a kind that speaks to a primal part of the Australian psyche. It’s a pure distillation of our beach-house dream. It’s a romanticised promise of instant escape from our complex urban lives.

More professional photos here…

Okay last Craigslist ad for today. I did not want you to miss these so rushed to get them up before they are pulled down. This one is located in Pennsylvania. Back to normal posting tomorrow.

Gypsy Caravan – Tiny House on Wheels – $9600 (Ligonier, PA)

A weekend get-away home, an artist’s studio, writer’s retreat, private office, a unique guest house, or the coolest child’s playhouse you’ve ever seen . . . its use is only limited by your imagination. The frame, roof, insulation, wiring, hardwood flooring, and windows are all in. It’s up to you to define the interior space and give shape to your dream.

This “tiny house” inspired (See http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com or http://tortoiseshellhome.com/Models.html) gypsy caravan style design was initially conceived in the art community of Eclipse, Ohio, as a project to reduce the owner’s carbon footprint. A demanding work schedule creates a situation such that the project will need to be completed by its next owner.

Built on a standard 8 X 16 foot trailer frame, it generally needs no building permit (but check your local codes to confirm). To complete the caravan in the style of the tiny house movement, add indoor plumbing with a graywater system, or how about a compost toilet and a water holding tank for a small kitchen area? Add solar panels and you could have a self-sufficient mini-house that can be placed wherever you have land to park it. Alternatively, install a built-in desk and office furniture for the most unique detached workspace imaginable.

Wired with a 30 amp panel and 12-2 steel jacketed romex, there are 5 grounded outlets and switched track lighting and front porch light. The electrical service meets or exceeds code for new home construction and requires only a standard heavy duty extension cord for power. Other features include 2 thermal Andersen vinyl windows, cherry hardwood flooring, tongue and groove cedar ceiling, skylight area, unique curved roof design, front porch, solar roof vent, and curved rear custom windows.

If you are creative, handy with tools, serious about reducing your carbon footprint – or are simply looking for a unique detached structure, this tiny house on wheels offers a way to put that creativity to work to complete a comfortable living or working environment in a very small amount of space. Email [email protected]

I’ve posted before about the Pennypincher Barn Company and recently Anne sent me an update on one of there most popular models and I thought you would enjoy it too.

Though not tiny, it fits into the small range. Pennypincher Barns describe their cabin as “A Fairy Tale Dream Come True.”

Once Upon a Time there was a cabin in the woods. While this cabin had all the practical elements of an ordinary cabin it was by no means ordinary. This cabin was not too large. This cabin was not too small. This cabin was just right! Continue Reading »

Jared alerted me to this unique find on Ebay at 5:00 A.M. this morning. Tiny houses and floating homes are a passion of mine and this one a real find.

If you are in the Portland, Oregon area I would run down and check this out right away as I am sure it will go fast. I am in the process of duplicating the Ebay ad as I know it will go away in a few days and I want this available for all to see for a long time. At a Buy Now price of $28,900 it can be yours today.

I am also trying to get in touch with the owner to see if plans are available for those who might want to build one themselves. This is a long post so hit the more link below. Here are the details:

You are bidding on a 28-foot long, steel-hulled, river barge boat. If you are considering a small houseboat or floating home for a retreat on the water, this might be a perfect alternative. It could be the perfect bachelor’s pad, artist’s or writer’s studio, weekend or vacation spot, or whatever you would like it to be! It could be a great liveaboard situation for a single person, who is also handy in finishing up some undone work.

This is NOT a fixer. Just not quite finished yet. Pride of ownership shows!

Unofficially named the “Gypsy Ark”, but the name is nowhere printed on the hull or siding, so you could rename it easily. (It is only painted on one horseshoe lifering) Continue Reading »