Tiny House Blog

Christopher Smith and his girlfriend Merete Mueller of the TINY movie project were recently profiled by Fox 31 Denver. Christopher and Merete have towed their 127 square foot house to their remote property in Park County, Colorado. Their tiny house is nearly finished, but according to the video, the build took them 8 months longer than they expected.

The video shows the couple towing their new home along freeways and high mountain passes and parking it on their new piece of land.

“To see that little, tiny house on this huge, beautiful landscape really feels like home,” said Merete.

Video courtesy of Fox 31 Denver

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The Blonde Coyote travels the backroads of the American West with a pair of trusty canines, a Subaru named “Raven” and a handcrafted teardrop trailer named “Rattler”. Mary Caperton Morton (aka The Blonde Coyote) is a freelance science and travel writer, photographer and a professional housesitter who has spent the past couple of years moving around the country every four to six months. Mary used to live out of her car in between housesitting jobs and carried her camping gear on the car’s roof rack – until she fell in love with teardrop trailers.

“I saw my first teardrop at a campground at Guadalupe National Park in Texas and fell instantly in love,” Mary said. “Less than a month later, I bought my own. I had been casting about for the next iteration of my life on the road. After 7 years of living out of my car in between housesitting gigs, I was craving some personal space, but I wasn’t willing to settle in one place. The teardrop was the perfect solution!” Continue Reading »

If a Moroccan tent and a trailer had a baby, and that baby went to charm school, it might look just like the Opera. The Opera is manufactured by the Netherlands-based Your Suite in Nature (YSIN) and was designed after the Sydney Opera House. The trailer travels around as a nondescript pop-up, but then transforms like a swan into an elegant and luxurious camping space.

The Opera has been designed for people who don’t want to tow around larger, heavier campers or fifth wheels,  but still want comfortable amenities while still enjoying the outdoors. The Opera offers what most camping tents don’t: two electrically adjustable beds that can be transformed into one, a private ceramic toilet and two sinks, a 36 liter (9.5 gallon) top-loading refrigerator, a 30 liter (about 8 gallon) water tank and water pump, LED lighting and even a teak veranda. The Opera also has a boiler that supplies warm water to the outdoor kitchen and the exterior shower, hot air heating, two cupboards, and a wine storage cabinet as well as baggage and clothing storage. Continue Reading »

Tiny House Blog readers who have perused the book “Teardrops and Tiny Trailers” by Douglas Keister may have seen the delightful little Swallow’s Nest trailer owned by Lowell and Janice Vivian. This trailer was originally built in 1961 by the German trailer company, Knaus. For its 50th anniversary, Knaus is selling the redesigned Schwalbennest in a limited edition retro design.

The diminutive trailer is just over 12 feet long and about 7 feet high. It weighs about 1,245 lbs. and has a maximum load capacity of about 400 lbs. It includes an awning, three windows and a skylight, outdoor lighting, integrated blinds, lights, a two-burner stove and sink, a fold-out work surface, a refrigerator, a four gallon water tank and a gas heater. It sleeps two people on the 4.5 ft. by 7 ft. fold-out bed. The trailer also contains a full wardrobe, storage under and behind the benches and above the dining area. Continue Reading »

The T@B is back! Dutchmen, the original manufacturers of the T@B, discontinued the production and support of the colorful, stylish little trailer in 2009, much to the chagrin of die-hard T@B owners and fans. One reason for this might have been because of the high cost of the various parts of the trailer that came from Europe. The rights to the popular trailer has now been acquired by Little Guy Worldwide, a company that makes teardrop trailers. Little Guy has partnered with Pleasant Valley Teardrop Trailers (the people who built my teardrop) to build the T@Bs. The Ohio-based company was also considering acquiring the T@B name and business at the same time as Little Guy, but instead decided to partner with Little Guy and their large fan-base.

The new 15-foot long T@B has the same smart and sassy design, options and details as the original, but is still in the initial floor plan phase. Little Guy has added some additional amenities such as an outdoor shower with a 2.5 gallon heated tank, a 3-way refrigerator that can run off 12 volt, 110 or propane and a detachable screen door. The trailer is about 1,500 pounds fully loaded, contains a sink and a 2-burner LP stove, a propane tank and battery attached to the front and has a 5 gallon fresh water tank. The interior has birch cabinetry, storage under and over the seating/Queen bed combo, a small closet, a Port-a-Potty, an LP furnace/CoolCat air conditioner and several upholstery designs.

Continue Reading »

If you live in a ski town, keep an eye out for a truck towing an elegant tiny house and five ski bums on the lookout for some great powder and free Wi-Fi. For six weeks, Molly Baker, Zack Griffin, Neil Provo and their videographers Sam Griffin and Andy Walbon will be road tripping around North America in a 112 square foot house on wheels and will be posting their videos online. The idea behind the trip is to find grassroots ambassadors for the outdoor gear company, Outdoor Research, ski some of winter’s best deep powder and meet fellow ski enthusiasts. They also wanted to take this trip in a tiny house to show that a passionate and low-impact lifestyle could be had for little cost.

“We are refining the entire process of living as ski bums,” Zack said. “It is really about figuring out what you do and don’t need. For me, I want to ski and there isn’t much else that I need.”

Initially, the group thought they would take the trip in a van with a wood stove – similar to one that Zack lived in in the parking lot of Mt. Baker. But, after seeing some of the Tumbleweed tiny houses, the crew decided a custom built house would meet all their needs. Continue Reading »