Tiny House Blog

Adam Nash photographed this beautiful photo this week. Here is what he says: I took this photo up near Mt. Baker Ski Area in the Washington Cascades. It appears that this small A-frame (potentially a tiny home) has an incredible one-of-a-kind view of Mt. Shuksan. It doesn’t get any more idyllic.

The bloggable part of this scene is the ‘tiny home’ on the hill. A home with a window looking out at the whole Mt. Shuksan massif 24/7. For me a window is infinitely better than any framed piece of art on the wall. It glows! It radiates! Its like a backlit, ever appropriately changing, landscape photograph. It never feels wrong.

No one, in a house of a natural setting, ever said, “I wish there were less windows.”

Given the opportunity to live here with an original Ansel Adams print hanging on the wall or a simple window, which would you choose? Leave a comment. Pin it, share it. Spread your love of all things amazing in this world. And do good things. -AND Click here to see more of Adams photography.

This week’s Tiny House in a Landscape is a unique dome home. Built from from sandwich section glass fibre reinforced concrete. It is 3.5 meters high, and 6 meters in diameter. Big enough for a tiny home, studio, or getaway.

The builder of this unique dome resides in the UK and says the following: This Dome Home could be a very posh or modern garden office or granny flat it could also be the answer to the world wide housing shortage.

To learn more about it visit their website: http://www.dingley-dell.com/dome_buildings

Bill Kastrinos from Tortoise Shell Home contacted me recently to let me know that they have officially moved to Southern California. So a loss for us here in Sonoma County, but a real plus for people in Southern California looking for a great tiny home builder. Their new location is in Cedarpines Park and you can get their contact information at the contact page of the Tortoise Shell Home website.

Bill wanted to let me know that they are now offering bare trailers for sale. Here are the details:

1. 15,000# G.V.W.
2. RV axles, 3
3. 6 leveling jacks
4. Removable tongue
5. Emergency break away kit
6. 8 inch channel
7. Cross members on 4ft centers
8. 8ft wide outrigger to outrigger, and the bed is 28ft long

Tortoise Shell Home is selling these for $3,900. I have put a couple of pictures below so you can get an idea what they are like.

If you are interested contact Bill either by phone at 707-206-7581 or by email info@tortoiseshellhome.com. Let Bill know you heard about them at the Tiny House Blog.

Thanks for the update Bill and good luck at your new location.

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by Laird Herbert

Hi my name is Laird Herbert and I thought you might be interested in the tiny house I just completed.

This is my second tiny home that I have built. I lived in one full-time for a year over the winter and sold it last spring. I’m 28 years old and have lived in the Yukon for the past five. I am pretty happy puttering away building things. I’d much rather do this then sit in a cubicle! My passion is actually the design, that’s what I enjoy the most. So I’m diving into it full-time (hopefully) and will be building two more this summer (one for myself and another to sell), under Leaf House, which is my new company named after the famed Leaf House on Hornby Island which is where I spent my summers as a kid.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this northern rendition of a tiny house! It is much more challenging build tiny houses in an extreme winter climate. I’ve learned quite a bit about what you need to do when it’s -40 outside and your space is 160 ft2. I’ve also learned that it is a lot more expensive to build things in the North!

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Andrew Odom of Tiny r(E)volution who has guest posted here several times in the past has started building his own tiny home. Andrew, his wife Crystal, and new baby plan to live in their tiny home when it is completed.

Andrew has brought on five sponsor companies – EcoFoil, LP Building Materials, Ethel Gloves, Mechanix, and Gulf Coast Supply & Manufacturing.

They are also making videos, at the pace of about two a week. Andrew is a good communicator and I think you will learn a lot by following his tiny house build.

You can follow their progress several ways. Via his blog at
http://tinyrevolution.us/ via Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/tinyrev and on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/user/tinyrevolution2010

Thanks Andrew for sharing your learning process with us.

From a Tiny House Blog reader

Dear friends,

I wanted to let you know about a new petition on We the People, a new feature on WhiteHouse.gov, and ask for your support. Will you add your name to mine? If this petition gets 25,000 signatures by April 27, 2012, the White House will review it and respond!

We the People allows anyone to create and sign petitions asking the Obama Administration to take action on a range of issues. If a petition gets enough support, the Obama Administration will issue an official response.

You can view and sign the petition here: http://wh.gov/nBE

Here’s some more information about this petition:

Require States to Reform Zoning Codes to Allow Tiny Home Structures under 1000 square feet

The 1000+ sq foot zoning requirements currently in place in most states, were initiated by lenders/municipalities, in an attempt to force Americans to build bigger homes, thus incurring larger debt (so lenders could make more$) and municipalities could charge higher taxes.This practice limits the ability of Americans to achieve the “American Dream” of home ownership in a structure size that suits their needs. There is a growing trend to build smaller homes but it is difficult because of these restrictions. Laws requiring homes to be1000+ sq feet are unconstitutional and should be abolished. States should be required to remove these laws so that more families can live within their financial means, in a structure that suits their needs, and supports their environmentally held beliefs.

For those asking, this is a Cavco CGI, based on one of their products. http://cavco.com/