Tiny House Blog

The summer camping season is starting to heat up and for those Tiny House Blog visitors who are lamenting the loss of the tiny Retro Traveler, the Toad Camper is a nice and affordable alternative to the ultra lightweight trailer. Toad Campers are built by hand in North Carolina with the best American-made products and can be towed by most 4-cylinder vehicles. What I thought was a typo, was that the campers start out at $2,999 for a basic streamlined weekend trailer.

The company offers four basic models: the Micro, Micro XL, Tadpole, and 20-foot Bull Frog. Each of these models have very flexible floor plan arrangements including small bathrooms with showers, full or queen beds or bunk beds. They also come with the following features:

• Heavy duty axle with bearing buddies
• Insulated frame
• 13″ Radial tires
• Laminate flooring
• Various color choices
• Microwave, refrigerator, air conditioner and flat-screen TVs
• Wash station or full kitchen
• Central roof vent
• Durable rubber roof

The Toad Camper company also offers their trailers as rentals so you can test drive their different sized options. They also build custom trailers for just about any other kind of use including kayak trailers, refreshment trailers and restroom trailers. Continue Reading »

I am currently on my way to check out some tiny houses in the tropical nation of Belize. However, I thought I would leave you with a video of my teardrop trailer, the Sunflower, put together by the lovely Kirsten Dirksen of Fair Companies. Last fall, I met Kirsten’s parents at Austin Hay’s tiny open house and began to converse with her by email. She became interested in my bright yellow teardrop and wanted to show the lifestyle from my point of view.

From a mix of random video that I shot with my Sony Powershot, Kirsten edited together a very nice snapshot into the average life of a teardropper. During our final fall camping trip in the Eastern Sierras, my fellow teardropping friends and I get a little goofy in the video as we hike, soak in natural hot springs and cook over hot coals with a Dutch oven. My little cat also makes a guest appearance. If you are interested in learning more about how I got my teardrop and about teardrop trailers in general, you can visit my blog at www.tinyyellowteardrop.blogspot.com.

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

When a custom home builder and an architectural designer decide to build a tiny house together, there is a guarantee that something special will be born. Shane and Carrie Caverly of Clothesline Tiny Homes are currently living in their new 144 square foot baby and are also available to design, consult and build custom homes for anyone looking for a simpler lifestyle. The married couple decided they were fed up with paying rent and mortgages and having nothing to show for it, so with their 30+ years of combined building skills they drew up their own design that is timeless, clean, and modern.

So why the funny name?

“Shane thought of it!” Carrie said. ”I came up with about a hundred names, including Roadrunner Tiny Homes (which I still think is awesome) but none of them were sticking. We were out in the backyard at our former rental house, next to the clothesline, and Shane said ‘What about Clothesline Tiny Homes, because it’s so small you’re going to need a clothesline.’” Continue Reading »

Named after a simple, yet valuable commodity throughout history, Spice Box Homes is the vision of Colorado residents, Edwin Lindell and Chris Curry. They wanted their tiny house company to reflect their own love of the outdoors and concern for environmental impact, and felt that they could create a similar commodity through building, living, and educating.

Spice Box homes started in 2010 as an alternative to renting. When Edwin was finishing up college in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, he got tired of paying rent and decided to construct a tiny home on a trailer that could be moved every six months.

“Chris Curry, my business partner, had built a similar dwelling for himself a few years back to combat the same issues, just not on a trailer.” Edwin said. “Once our prototype was constructed and tested for seven months, we decided to hit the ground running to build a company, lifestyle, and adventure for our community, friends, and our environment. We work to construct custom homes that resemble our clientele and create better living patterns.”

The homes are built from reclaimed materials and include passive solar heating and efficient appliances. The company subcontracts all the electrical, plumbing, metal stud fabrication, insulation and roofing to ensure quality construction. Continue Reading »

My name is Alek Lisefski. I’ll be starting to build my tiny house within the next month and hope to complete it by this summer. I designed it myself and will do as much of the construction as I can to save money and because I believe it’s an invaluable skill that everyone should have. I’ve set up a blog for my project here: http://tiny-project.com/

While I haven’t started to build yet, I’ve done a lot of designing and planning. Attached are some of the models I’ve created. A few things have changed, but they are fairly accurate to what I will be building. What looks like glass walls around the bathroom is just so I can see through them in my model. They will not actually be glass.

I plan to build on an 8×20 foot trailer. My house will feature many windows (including several large, south-facing windows, for passive solar gain). The house will have fold-down overhangs to shade windows from mid-day summer sun, and will also include a fold-down deck.

I’m currently looking to form connections, get advice, and hopefully convince a few companies to sponsor me to help make this dream a possibility for me. Continue Reading »

I recently featured a teardrop trailer builder in Eugene, Oregon on the Tiny Yellow Teardrop blog and was pleased to find out that the family-run Oregon Trail’R company is one of very few companies to offer teardrop trailer kits. These types of kits can be perfect for people who are interested in building or owning a teardrop trailer, but don’t possess the skills, time or tools to build one completely from scratch.

Jon and his brother Sawyer of Oregon Trail’R create and supply a solid foundation for their FronTear style trailer. This includes precut walls, a floor, doors, bulkheads, partitions and spars. The buyer can do all the assembly themselves or Oregon Trail’R will begin the build and the buyer can finish it themselves. The buyer supplies the frame and chassis, galley and interior cabinetry, lighting and any other finishing details. Oregon Trail’R can also supply a custom frame designed for a 5×8 foot trailer for $1,300. Continue Reading »