Canopy & Stars Tiny Houses
The name of this vacation rental company in the United Kingdom might have picked the best name to describe the simplicity of staying in or living in a tiny house. Canopy & Stars have taken it a step further and offer handpicked quirky and eco-friendly small places to stay within Europe. They include tree houses, cabins, vardos, caravans, barges, yurts and more. Several of their properties caught my eye and stilled my heart: two shepherd huts on wheels in Hampshire, two shepherd’s huts located at a farm in Norfolk, and a train carriage in Wales.
Alex Evan’s Wiggly Tin shepherd huts (one pictured above) are located in Hampshire in the South Downs National Park. The huts (named Beacon and Butser) are completely off-grid and contain raised beds with storage underneath and wood-burning stoves. Showers and a bathroom are accessed in a nearby converted shepherd’s hut. Continue Reading »
The Tiny Houses of Belize
To kick off the official start of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, I thought I would add a little color to the Tiny House Blog with some tiny houses from Belize, the land of perpetual summer. My husband and I recently returned from the tropical country where we stayed on several cayes (pronounced keys) and on the mainland including Placencia, Caye Caulker and Rendezvous Caye and Tobacco Caye which we reached by sailboat.
Since the weather in Belize stays around 85 degrees F with nearly 100 percent humidity, most homes in Belize are raised off the ground on stilts to create airflow and catch some of the ocean breezes. Sometimes hammocks are strung in between the posts for lounging. Belize is an interesting mix of cultures from Jamaica, Cuba, Guatemala and other Central American countries and the styles are reflected in the colors of the homes which range from Caribbean blue to bright pink and orange. Continue Reading »
Pod and Yotel Rooms
I do a fair bit of traveling around the world and my husband and I enjoy staying in tiny inns, hotels, B&B’s and other minuscule accommodations. Some of these rooms have been a little unusual: we had a fun time staying in a fairy chimney cave in Cappadocia, Turkey and at a capsule inn in Tokyo, Japan both of which were tiny spaces.
The latest issue of AARP Magazine recently profiled several chain hotels that are going small. In London, Amsterdam and New York City, micro-hotels are becoming a popular place to stay for travelers on a budget who don’t mind a small space. Some rooms in the Pod Hotel start at $89 a night for a 60 to 170 square foot room. At the Yotel in midtown Manhattan, the tiny, Japanese-inspired rooms include everything you need: flat-screen TVs, media hubs, free Wi-Fi and custom modular furniture. Some of the rooms also have a galley kitchen rather than a mini-bar. In London and Amsterdam, the Yotel rooms are located inside the terminal buildings of Heathrow, Gatwick and Schiphol airports. Both Pod and Yotel plan to open locations in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. in the next few years. Continue Reading »
Drive Nacho Drive
Is anyone else stuck in the winter blues and getting the Road Trip Itch? Scratch that itch by taking a look at the blog, Drive Nacho Drive. Nacho is a 1984 2.1 liter Volkswagen Vanagon being driven around the world by Brad and Sheena. They quit their jobs at the end of 2011 and have been living out of Nacho as they discover adventure, food, culture and emergency roadside Volkswagen maintenance.
What popped out of this blog was the great step-by-step breakdown as to how the couple adapted Nacho for around-the-world travel. They cover everything from how they added in a hot and cold water infrastructure for drinking and showering, a solar electric system, custom cabinets, custom bumpers, locking storage boxes and the little details to turn Nacho into a plush tiny house on wheels. Continue Reading »
Norwegian Koie (Little Cabin)
Even if you don’t plan on making a back country trip to Norway any time soon, these tiny cabins may give you a few ideas on how to create a tiny house that melds nearly seamlessly with its natural surroundings. Koiene (pronounced koi-eh-n) are a system of tiny, convenient cabins scattered around the countryside of Trøndelag, Norway for use by anyone who’s in the area for hiking, fishing, foraging, hunting, cross country skiing or snowshoeing.
The simple, little structures can be rented through a website that specializes in memberships for these types of vacation cabins. The site and the cabins are run voluntarily by groups of students. The cabins are named after the area they are in and these multi-syllabic locations are distinctive from each other: some are on a river or creek, some on top of a mountains, some by the lake or other larger body of water. Continue Reading »
The Tiny Houses of Easter Island
When my husband and I told our friends and family we were traveling to Easter Island, many of them were surprised to learn that people actually live on the most remote island on Earth. In fact, about 4,000 beautiful, friendly people live on this magical South Pacific island, and many of them in some interesting, tiny houses.
Easter Island home made from part of a shipping container
Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, as it’s called by the locals, is actually a territory of Chile, but many of the people who live there are of Polynesian descent. The 15 mile long island is about 1,300 miles west of mainland Chile and Hanga Roa is the only town on the island. It also contains a small airport, one main paved road and several dirt roads.
