Tiny House Blog

When architect Lila Cohen and designer Teina Manu purchased a lot with a bungalow in Arizona, they decided not to live in the bungalow, but to make it their architectural office. Their home then became the 450 square foot shed at the back of the property. According to Lila and Teina, the shed was most likely built around 1916 and they wanted to retain the original style by re-purposing many of the items and materials found in the little structure.

Manu, who is a designer who creates custom furniture, wanted the home to be eco-friendly as well.

“Little and low-priced to me is green,” he said to Arizona Central.

The tiny house contains a small kitchen/dining area, a living room, one bedroom with a walk-in closet and a bathroom with a sunken tub. From the front door of the house, every room is visible except the bathroom. A full size washer and dryer are inside a closet and a tiny office area utilizes a vintage sewing-machine cabinet as a desk. In the kitchen the appliances are smaller than average and the eating area is a steel breakfast bar. The couple had a stove custom made and they use Japanese shoji screens to separate the bedroom and living/cooking area. In fact, every door in the house is a sliding screen door. Continue Reading »

by Louise Norris

I’ve been reading your blog for some time now, and love all the photos of tiny spaces. We have an average-size house and two little boys, but we also work from home and my husband spends much of his day on the phone with clients. He needed a quiet place to work, and we found inspiration from your site. Last winter, we purchased a Tuff Shed and had it installed in the corner of our backyard. It cost us about $3000 for the shed, and then we spent about $1000 more to equip it with solar power, add a porch, and finish the inside. Tuff Sheds don’t come with interior finishing in mind, so we had to add lots of nailers in order to be able to anchor the walls and ceiling properly. But once that was done, we were able to put in sheetrock, wood flooring, and all the finishing touches that make it feel like a regular room.

We added the porch and roofed it to match the shed, and then we painted the entire thing to match our house. My husband ordered all of the components of the solar setup and put the whole thing together himself. We built a wooden box in the corner of the room to house the marine battery he uses to store electricity and the various other parts of the solar power setup. We insulated the walls and ceiling, but in order to make the room comfortable in the summer, he built a little swamp cooler using a bucket and a desk fan (which doesn’t use much electricity). In the winter, he uses a brooder light to keep his desk area warm. The 120 Watt solar panel provides enough electricity to power the fan or brooder light, his laptop, the phone charger, and a couple of lights. Continue Reading »

Historic homes have plenty of charm and character, but are often short on space. This is especially true when company arrives. Ybor City resident, Judy Greer, has found an affordable solution to that problem: she is installing a guest cottage behind her home. Designed and built by Historic Shed, a Brooksville-based outbuilding specialty company, the cottage complements her historic home and adds to the neighborhood character. The cottage has a bedroom and full bath, and is roughly the size of a typical hotel room.

Construction of a detached building was a less expensive alternative to building an addition to her home. There was no construction inconvenience since all the work took place in her back yard, without disturbing her house. “My guests will be comfortable and I’ll keep my privacy,” say Ms. Greer. “It’s the perfect set-up. My neighbor is considering something similar for her mother-in law.”

Historic Shed designs and builds outbuildings for historic homes, from simple garden sheds, to garages, to cottages like Ms. Greer’s. The custom designs incorporate architectural elements from existing historic homes and use traditional materials and detailing. Historic preservation consultant, Jo-Anne Peck and her contractor husband, Craig DeRoin began building Historic Shed outbuildings in 2008 to fill a void in the market for historic homeowners. “Many historic homeowners don’t want a stock metal or vinyl shed in their backyard, and in many cases they are actually prohibited by local historic district design guidelines,” says Ms. Peck. “We also get many calls from owners of newer homes who just want an attractive backyard building.”

Each Historic Shed outbuilding is constructed in a warehouse, broken back down into individual walls and roof for delivery, and then reassembled on site. Installation typically takes 2-3 days for garden sheds and two or more weeks for a more complex structure such as the cottage due to coordination with electrical and plumbing contractors. For more information, see the website at HistoricShed.com. View photos of construction here.

As my husband and I began mapping out the interior of our rustic shed-turned-cabin in Montana, he knew we wouldn’t have plumbing, and I knew I didn’t want to deal with chemicals or smells. With two small children and weather that can range from -20 to 85-degrees Fahrenheit, we also didn’t want to deal with schlepping outside for potty breaks. Building our own humanure toilet turned out to be our perfect solution.

With only 12x20 feet of living space, the whole cabin is virtually a kitchen/bedroom/bathroom. We had to choose between putting the loo by the hot stove (not safe for children) by the hide-a-bed, or in this quiet corner. While some question the cleanliness of pooping so close to a food prep area, one must remember that this is not a flushing toilet that sprays bacteria into the air with every flush. Your backside seals the toilet while you do your business. There is no splash. Compost debris quickly covers the deposits, and the lid is shut immediately. Also, having water within easy reach is a must for cleaning up "accidents." We hope to adjoin the outhouse to The Shabin in the near future.

We get quite a few jokes from friends and family about our “lovey loo,” but I would take our lovely-loo over a honey bucket any day! It’s a bucket inside a wood box, and we cover – um – the deposits with sawdust. it has a real toilet seat on it for looks and comfort, but it is what it is, and it works very well.

Recycled red outhouse behind The Shabin always stinks!

Continue Reading »

I covered the Climate Rite air conditioner about a year ago and Todd Arend recently sent me information about a new model coming out July 22 that is better geared for small small home. Here are the details.

CR-7000 model is brand new to the market starting July 22.

The unit is completely re-engineered. This next generation is much improved (construction of unit, wiring, optimized sensor and thermostat, etc). This unit was developed for bigger spaces than the CR-2500, which is ideal for dog houses, small trailers, etc.

The CR-7000 model suits tiny houses, sheds, man caves, etc. due to its btu power (7000/7500 btu) vs. the CR-2500 being 1800/2500.

The Ideal space footprint for the unit is 350-1,200 cu feet Power consumption averages .5kW/hr for CR-7000.

This item may sell out fast as it was featured on Good Morning America June 20, 2011. The Tiny House Blog purchasers can get a 10% discount by using the Coupon Code “Tiny10“ and the CR-7000 is the recommended unit.

Learn more at the Climate Rite website.

*Note a portion of your purchase goes to help keep the Tiny House Blog running.

Kirsten from faircompanies.com just sent me her latest video, which I promised you a couple of weeks ago. More on that in just a moment. First, I want to introduce you to Debra and her family.

Debra says, “I have never been a ‘hippy’ type – I like painted fingernails and makeup – but more and more I can relate to a lifestyle of simplicity and sustainability. My husband and I lived in a small town in the amazon jungle for six years, and an Andes Mountain top city for three. I know now how to live simply, and how to be happy because of it. It has influenced our lives now that we are back here in the states.”

Two years ago, Debra and her family lived in a nearly 2000 square foot home on an acre and a half of land. Then her husband lost his job and they began to work 4 jobs between them to pay the mortgage, until one day they remembered they had a choice.

Before having their son, Debra and her husband Gary had spent 9 years living in very tiny homes in South America. Living small hadn’t felt like a sacrifice, but a way to stay focused on what is important. They decided they wanted to get back to that.

They stopped working so hard, sold or gave away all of their extra stuff and began looking for the perfect tiny home.

Debra had always liked the Mississippi shotgun style homes, but they decided the 100-square-foot places that are “kind of curious at the moment” were too small.

They considered converting a shed or an old school bus. They decided RVs or mobile homes were too expensive. One day, while browsing craigslist, they noticed an ad for a local Arkansas company custom building tiny homes for a price that could mean an end to house payments.

Six weeks and $15,000 later they had their own fully paid-off dwelling. Today, Debra, her husband and 13-year-old son live in a 320-square foot home that is not a sacrifice, but exactly what they need.

They have a walk-in closet, full-sized appliances and even an antique bed. Their son has his own lofted bedroom big enough for sleepovers.

They’ve done a bit of DIY to create a custom sofa that becomes a guest bed so their home now sleeps “6 people comfortably, probably 8 to 10 people uncomfortably”.

They even have a separate studio next door for their home business where they make tiny baby gifts “made by hand in a little cottage”.

[This video was shot entirely by Debra and is a response to our call for submissions for tiny homeowners interested in filming their homes to be edited for our site and the Tiny House Blog.]

Thank you Debra for sharing your story and thank you Kirsten for pulling it all together into a video we can enjoy.

The builder is Scott Stewart who I have featured many times his website is http://slabtowncustoms.com/ Slabtown Customs in Arkansas.

You can reach Debra with questions at her email address: [email protected] and visit a couple of her websites here: Store: http://www.minkeebabygifts.com and blog: http://www.minkeebabygifts.blogspot.com .

Guest Post by -Derek “Deek” Diedricksen

(by example of a recent FREE CLUBHOUSE-SHED/Playground Set in the Massachusetts area (the following is a ROUGH excerpt from an in-the-works salvage chapter on tiny houses that will be in my follow-up book to “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks….” a micro-cabin design collection)

We’ve had quite a few posts on this subject before, from scrounging pallet wood for construction (which can be found at almost every turn), to dumpster-diving for materials, and finding/collecting them streetside (esp. windows and doors on daily trash routes/construction site debris piles)…..but Craigslist is the one often used and obvious place we have not discussed quite as much- at least in terms of pure salvage.

You’d be amazed, in YOUR area (well, unless you’re in the middle of nowhere Montana, etc) at what pops up under the search title “Free”- lumber, appliances, boats, campers, defunct mafia torture tools, and more- and alot of it is perfectly good stuff- you just need to ask a few questions, and check out the photos first, before hoppin’ in you car for the trek.

Today;s Example: Now here’s a free 8′ by 8′ by 8′ clubhouse (or guesthouse? if you tweaked it) that was recently up for “FREE” in my area just last week- it also came with the offer of an enormous swingset worth of pressure treated lumber (none of it that old)- so, with some time and a few simple tools, you’d have this free shack AND an abundance of lumber all in one trip with a smallish trailer or truck.

Beyond that, if you want more bang for your buck, and have no kids, or no need for a swingset, with a little research you’ll find that the slide itself (and various other swings and parts) are actually quite pricey as replacements. Therefore, there is a used market for these items on craigslist and ebay- making your trip even more potentially worthwhile….AND, potentially providing even the most “broke” of us with a means to acquire additional funds for that dream micro-cabin in the woods. Heck, in this case, the 8-foot-cabin cabin COULD already be that tiny dream cabin, writer’s retreat, or treehome/treehouse escape- it just needs some rennovating and t.l.c.

Now the sticklers out there will immediately think “Now Deek, tisk, tisk…you’ll at least need nails and paint to complete the tiny house task at hand, and those DO cost money…so your cabin quest really wouldn’t be “FREE”". Well, that is true, but its also true that with a little time and luck, pre-planning and searching, you CAN find a TON of free paint most anywhere as well- and if the colors aren’t up to your liking- mix ‘em until you get something more workable or palletable. As for the nails, especially with larger ones, I always have two small buckets on hand when I’m dismantling projects and salvaging (removing nails) from wood- one bucket is for nails that are still useable and good (or easily bent back into shape), the other’s for nails that are totally hopeless. This later bucket eventually goes to the metal scrap yard for recycling. The point is, though, that after a little salvaging here and there, you’ll be amazed at how much by the way of hardware (nails, hinges, hooks, bolts, lag screws) you’ll accumulate- and aside from the expenditure of time, yes, even your nails will be free…

In the case of the swingset I’m also assuming (if built properly) that its fairly loaded with galvanized carriage bolts- and sizeable ones too….and those things don’t come all that cheap….not to mention the other specialized hardware a playground-set harbors- which you just may find a use for…

As for the gas money to get to these free items- well, that’s where selling some of this stuff on the side not only covers that and evens things out, but brings you out far ahead in the end of this often fun and rewarding game. Also, after doing this for awhile, you may end up with an excess of perfectly useable lumber. If that starts taking up too much room next to your front-yard collection of garden gnomes, then there’s also the cash possibility of moving THAT as well.

And….be sure to pat yourself on the back while reminding yourself that you’re most likely keeping a HUGE amount of trash out of landfills by going this avenue of cabin building- it always makes for a nice backstory too…

-Derek “Deek” Diedricksen Author of “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks…”, Host of “Tiny Yellow House” TV on youtube, Honcho of http://www.relaxshacks.com