I have attached a picture over a part of our city built up with tiny houses of different designs. This type of building in this type of area are called “kolonistuga” and the tiny houses are called “koloniområde.” This area was built way back to give hard working People in factories a chance to get recreation on vacation.

There are several areas with tiny houses in our city. Most of them are located in surrounding locations of the city, but this one and two to three more areas are located inside the city. It is a very nice contrast to all large buildings.

Photo Credits Anders Karlstam

Usually, people are not allowed to live in these permanently and they are empty during the wintertime.

Every house is owned personally, but owners have to be a members of a community that rents the land from the city. So every house owner rents the ground from the community, which is called a leasehold.

This community is called “Slottsskogskolonin” and was founded back in 1915. In the beginning it had 155 leaseholds and had about 40 tiny houses built in the first year. Today, the community consists of 154 leaseholds about 250 – 300 sq meters each.

Every leaseholder can have a tiny house no larger than 20 sq meters with a porch no larger than 6 sq meters.

I should also mention that there are regulations that say that all buildings have to be preserved in the architectural style of the period. Leasholders are also allowance to build a small storage building for storing personal items such as tools and gardening equipment. This storage building can be no larger than 3 sq meters.

And yes, all tiny houses in this area have running water, drainage, and electricity.

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Hello, my name is Ben, a 31 year old music teacher. I live in Southeast Louisiana and in the past four years I have been on a journey to create an easier life for myself. From growing a garden, raising chickens, ducks, and rabbits, to aquaponics. I just wanted to find a better, easier, healthier way to live.

I have just started my tiny house project with my dad. We began welding the frame for the trailer and acquired the axles. It is going to be a long project, but the end result will be so amazing I just can’t wait. I have been researching extensively every single tiny house resource I can get my hands on and have almost narrowed down what the final design is going to look like.

Most people that are building tiny houses struggle with a place to put it, but I will have a spot to put mine and enough space to have my small farm. So one day I can live in my small home, on my small farm, living a very big, enjoyable, sustainable life!

You can follow Ben’s build at his blog http://smallhomebiglife.blogspot.com/

The size of the trees that were taken down in the Northwest 150 years ago is something impressive. We are not likely to see anything like this in this area ever again. Below I’ve shared a few of those photographs.

A hollowed out log became a mobile office.

Hollowed out logs were used to house and feed the crews.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed this shared piece of our history.

CJ just sent me some photos he took at St. Augustine, Florida, he says: These were taken with ipod, so quality is not the greatest but they fit nicely with your post today.

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’56 Spartan Executive Mansion

Trailer houses have made sense to me ever since living with my parents and two of my sisters in a ten-wide on Kodiak, in late ’64. Being the only boy, I had a 7′x5′ “room of my own” so the lack of privacy didn’t ruin the adventure…it was just “cosy” living.

Spartans had a special appeal, since I saw my first one in ’62 ( I salvaged that same trailer in ’98 when the owners of the tiny water front site decided they needed a bigger mobil, making it my first Spartan). I loved the Aircraft look and clean lines; the all aluminum structure and serious steel chassis made these houses very rehabitable.(don’t worry about the spelling, that’s a new word)

This is the view aft from the mates repose, like all tiny houses it’s filled to the brim with living. Since my Colleen and I are life long collectors it’s also covered, as every surface was considered for potential as display for the many pieces of art we love to look at.

This view of the kitchen shows the meat of the remodel (aside from removing all of the bulkheads forwards); laminate floor from the bathroom door forward, tile aft, with electric heat under kitchen, bath, and bedroom. The original 24″ stove top and it’s associated cabinets were removed and a modern 30″range placed and I built a “side-board” that encloses our garbage/recycle with a narrow cabinet with drawers for utensils and the blender and other kitchen “stuff” that we don’t want cluttering up the kitchen counter. The wall oven is slated to go so that we can have a high-efficiency dishwasher in that location. The counter-tops are Granite and I managed to get the formica up in one piece, eliminating most of the metal strips that usually support these panels.

We started out with his and hers recliners, but have since put in a couch so that we can sit together. We also changed the curtains as the blue was too “busy” (we went with a “dusty rose” solid). I installed the 3 door glass fronted cabinet (just visible, upper left) and put lights in it, to display our sculptural pieces and dolls.

Here is a detail of the bedroom, the wall mounted head-board will get more shelves, nearly to the floor, on either side of the bed; the original window trim was stained and rotten, so the yellow-cedar wood work was a must. The beautiful silk quilt was what my Colleen made for me while she waited for her new house (the work was done in the ’51 Royal Mansion she uses as a sewing studio) along with curtains and rugs.

This close-up is to show-off the gorgeous finish of the black-granite vanity in the bath room, the barely visible curve on the left was so we could get a couple of inches extra mass, without a sharp corner in the door-way. In all, we installed 5 pieces of granite, gifts from Colleen’s oldest son, Arron, a skilled professional stone cutter.

Thank you Raymond for sharing your home with us. If you have a tiny or small home that you would like to share with the readers of the Tiny House Blog, please send photos and a story to tinyhouseblog(at)gmail.com.

The drawback is for those with slow internet connections as you will not be able to watch it. Simply click on the graphic below and it will take you to the Tumbleweed sales page, there you will learn how to build a backyard cottage Tumbleweed Style. Okay here goes, it’s not perfect so be kind to me

I personally have friends who have families in this area that lost their homes completely. Also many have lost their schools and churches too. I would like to reach out and help these people, but not sure of the best way to move forward.

I have several contacts among the builders of tiny houses and could reach out to them to see if they could help in any way. I am open to your suggestions and would like for you to comment below or step forward to help in some way.

Here is a recent article on Katrina Cottages of which I show a couple of pictures below. Could tornado victims find shelter in Katrina cottages?

Thanks for your input and suggestions!

These three homes are ones we passed along our two mile walk. Each is unique in its design and I am guessing they are one to two bedroom homes and around 700 square feet in size. This is a great size for a couple or someone with one or two small children to live in.

Photo credits: Kent Griswold

I would like to encourage you to check out the area you live in and look for the small or tiny homes. Take some pictures and share them with me. Once Spring sets in here in Healdsburg, I plan to take my bike out and shoot some of the local small homes to share with you. Have a great day!

Yesterday, I shared with you a photo of a shanty by Jerry Waters. After I found that picture I started exploring his site and discovered this link to the Tiny Houses of Kanawha City. Jerry gave me permission to share them with you. Here is what Jerry has to say about them.

Kanawha City has always been known as both a place of Mansions and Bungalows. The Libby Owens Ford glass plant brought many workers to Kanawha City, especially from Belgium. Add to that mix the many others who decided to call Kanawha City home, and you have a very eclectic bunch of houses from the very fine to the very modest.

One of the odd things about Kanawah City is how many of the lots were laid out: These were only 20 feet wide. The homes that were built on these narrow lots sometimes were only 13 feet wide themselves!

Over the years, many people added to the backs of these houses, since they couldn’t add to the sides. One former city official, knowing that property codes were about to change, bought up all the remaining 20 foot lots and built tiny houses on them in the 50s. Here are some of these interesting little houses…..

I am showing you some of my favorites here, so be sure and go see all of the tiny houses by visiting the Tiny Houses of Kanawha City page on Jerry Water’s site.

Photo Credit: Jerry Waters

This little bungalow is probably the closest to an original

Two story tiny house that looks much bigger than it is.

One of the fancier tiny houses in Kanawha City

Another two story tiny house

Nice porch and stone work.

Simple, pleasing design.

Large window with an inviting entry way.

This beautiful little house is perfection in miniature. Larger than the others, but still compact none the less.

by Kent Griswold (Tiny House Blog)

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This is Part 2 of 2. If you missed Part 1 go here to read it.

We arrived deep in the heart of the redwoods and Bill immediately displayed his skill as an excellent driver by backing the tiny house down a steep grade, dodging trees and other obstacles, right into the exact position the very first try.

Bill explains a little about the community in the following paragraphs.

I am supplying little houses for a Buddhist compound (also programmers), which might be a model for other communities.

I am guessing they are all making six figure incomes, there are 10 people total, and one of their people admitted none of them could afford real estate in the area between San Jose and San Francisco by themselves. So they bought a piece of property, I am guessing 3 to 5 acres, with a nice size house. Several people were named on the mortgage. Then they purchased 8 mini homes (from Tortoise Shell Homes), which by design gives them a place to retreat to, for mediation, sleep, etc. They share the house as a work space (they in large part program out of their home), they share activities together, but they still have the privacy of getting away to their “tinies” as they have affectionately named them.

These homes have been modified to meet the requirements of this group of people. Usually a kitchen is part of the Tortoise Shell Home, but in this case most cooking and eating is done at the main house.

Two "Tinies"

Oak floors, skylights, and modified exterior roofs to give it the Zen look are additions to the basic home. Each programmer has added his or her own personal touch to each home. Some with built in furniture, like the open closet below. Another, the unique shower and sink arrangement.

Completed "Tiny"

They have had a contractor raise the tiny houses up so that their disposal tank can fit under a porch and yet still be reached by the pump truck. Propane and electricity are used for the other appliances. This is a modern establishment and Internet connections and cell phones are the source of communication to the outside world.

Shelf Desk

These people are very private, but hopefully down the road they will open up and share with us how they moved through all the red tape to make this work for them. I’m sure there are many others out there who would like to start their own small community.

Loft and Skylights

Exterior of Tiny

Shower and Sink

Sink and Bathroom Entrance

Open Closet and Ladder

Work Desk

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