Tiny House Blog

This beautiful gypsy wagon, which was used as a prop in the 1988 movie “Big Top Pee-Wee” has been available for sale since the middle of last year. The wagon, restored by Gary Votapka, was originally purchased for his land in Montana, but it is still sitting in a California neighborhood waiting for its next owner.

The vardo was in terrible shape when Gary purchased it for $10,000 and towed it from Barstow to his home in Fallbrook, Calif. The wagon had been sitting in the sun for over 20 years and gallons of desert dust and sand had settled onto the floor. Since the wagon had also been used as a prop in a movie with Pee-Wee Herman and Valeria Golino, none of the drawers opened and the cabinets were facades. Over the course of four years, Gary, his wife and son restored the gypsy wagon (by using a DVD of the movie) to its original colorful state and added a few workable cabinets and a comfortable bed. Continue Reading »

Joseph Crowell has been building buses and vans for many years, but was recently inspired to build his first gypsy wagon by Sunny Baba, an activist and spiritualist who has built dozens of gypsy wagons. Joseph, who is in the Ashland, Ore. area, built this gypsy wagon with about 80 percent recycled materials. He gets a lot of his supplies from Dumpsters or from the side of the road. He uses manzanita tree branches as exquisite details in his design.

“If I see an old piece of furniture laying around, and it looks like it can still be used, I’ll saw it up,” Joseph said. “It makes the whole ‘find is and use it’ process more enjoyable.”

Joseph initially designed and built the stained glass window in the gypsy wagon, but he thinks he might look for a local stained glass artist to do the window in his next wagon. The wagon weighs about 1,500 pounds and can be towed by a small truck. It was recently sold for about $8,500 and Joseph plans on keeping his next design’s price to below $10,000.

If you are interested in one of Joseph’s gypsy wagons, email him at jsph.crowell (at) gmail.com.

Photos courtesy of Joseph Crowell

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

This off-the-grid cabin in Northeast Oregon, named the Signal Shed, was recently featured in Sunset Magazine, and the couple who spent two years planning and two weeks building the cabin are now offering the plans and prefab models for sale.

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. Continue Reading »

I have been working with Gabriella Morrison wife of Andrew Morrison of Strawbale.com to put together a special package for tiny house enthusiasts. The Morrison’s have put together a package that includes the Sunset Cottage Plans, the How-To Guide To Building With Straw Bales (Post and Beam) 2 DVD set, the How-To Guide To Plastering with Natural Hydraulic Lime (NHL), and the How-To Guide To Pouring a Monolithic Concrete Slab Foundation. Five and a half hours of Andrew’s video training. The usual retail price of this package is $375 and for a short time they are giving readers of the Tiny House Blog a discount price of $99.

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.

The owner of this unique teardrop-style travel trailer has lived in it for a few months and is now selling it on eBay. She said it held up really well during the Canadian winter. It was built in 2010 and is 20 feet long. The trailer has been road tested for nearly 4,000 miles through high crosswinds and in extreme temperatures with no issues. You can view more photos at the owner’s website, Tiny Home Teardrop Trailer or on the eBay page.

Trailer Features and Specifications:

Exterior:
20′ overall length 10′ 4” overall height
8′ by 8′ by 16′ body
High tensile rustproof steel
Fir panel sides with cedar trim
Entire roof, front and back sheathed in waterproofing membrane.
Refurbished travel trailer chassis

Interior:
6’2” headroom in kitchen area
7’6” height in front
Sitting cove with long L shaped couch
4′ by 6’3” loft bed on hinge raises to for more ceiling height in front
two small windows an lots of shelving in loft area
Couch can turn into bed below to sleep more people
Large skylight and windows
bright spacious interior feels much larger than most comparable and even larger RV’s
Tile floor in entry way and bathroom
Engineered hardwood floor in kitchen and sitting nook
2 manual roof vents and one solar fan vent for air circulation
Custom Pine cabinets and countertops
Lots of counter space for eating and preparing food or working at.
Origo Alcohol stove
Stainless steel 2 basin sink
Cold air cooler built into kitchen cabinet
Under seating storage

Plumbing:
20 gallon fresh water tank
Pressure controlled water pump
Pex water pipes with brass quick connect fittings
On demand propane hot water heater
Brand new Moen shower faucet and kitchen faucet

Electrical:
120 volt circuit for lights and outlets
12 volt circuit for water pump and heater fan
2 deep cycle batteries
2 – 20 watt solar panels mounted on hing to raise and lower on roof
1000 watt inverter
Outside covered male receptacle to plugin to external power
All warm and neutral led lighting inside
Standard connector to towing vehicle powers brake and signal lights, electric brakes and charges battery

Heating and insulation:
High density foam core walls offer r 8 insulative value
10000 btu sig marine diesel heater
9 gallon diesel tank
4” galvanized exhaust flue

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Steve from Tumbleweed contacted me about a special sale they are having on the Popomo plans. Usually only available by purchasing Jay’s book, Tumbleweed is making it available for a few days at the low price of $9.99. Here is Tumbleweeds description of their plans.

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.