868 Ogden Utah
The following is not a tiny house, but it is creative use of a small space so I thought I would let Stew share it with you.
By Stew MacInnes
I thought that your readers might like to see the photos of a cool little project that we just completed. This is a little 780sq ft building in downtown Ogden Utah. The property is located in a rather run down part of town, which the city is really trying to improve. The area has all the trappings associated with urban blight, rampant drug use, gangs, crime…you name it, it has it! In fact, when a family member and I purchased the property, the front window had six bullet holes, the planter had hypodermic needles in the bed, the front door had been kicked in and the furnace was destroyed after vandals went in and ripped out the copper coils. – Interesting side bar, I still had to fight the city council on numerous fronts regarding my plans to renovate the property, much like most tiny home owners find when dealing with city hall!
I purchased the property with the intent of using it as my office, which I did for most of this past summer. Then when Maximus Extreme Living Solutions started to take off, I decided to sell the building since I had moved my office into our production warehouse.
The property once housed a small chiropractic office; the good Doc practiced there up and into his 80’s. After the project was just about complete, the former owner’s daughter and son-in-law stopped by and asked if they could come in and view the renovation. They were very complimentary and said that their dad would have loved what we had done to the place!
I would like to give credit to the commercial contractor that I hired on this project, his name is Mike Smith of Stature construction and he was fantastic to work with. I also used a gentleman by the name of Mic Allen to do the custom steel work that you see on the front of the building (I designed images that were consistent with Ogden’s past and used a 1930’s font for the street address of 868, that you see on the fascia of the building). Lastly, I’d like to credit my business partner on this project, my mom Sue, she is great to work with!
Salt Lake City Small House
I am Jeff White the director of the Sarah House Utah project. We are a small non profit community based organization. Our goal with the Sarah House project is to provide fast, green minded, safe, affordable homes for the underserved using salvaged material and volunteer labor.
We are also providing online instruction and showing people how to build inexpensive homes using salvaged material for themselves. Our small house is 640 square feet and is currently being constructed in a residential neighborhood in Salt Lake City which was a lesson in dealing with permitting and zoning, etc. I have enclosed a few photographs. You can see more on our facebook page Sarah House Utah or pose a question as many others have on our page.
Rendering of Completed House
Tiny House in a Landscape
John D. Woods sent me this weeks Tiny House in a Landscape photograph.
John says, “I saw this little settler’s cabin on our Labor Day weekend trip to the Grand Tetons. It is located on Utah Hwy 16, just south of Randolph, Utah.”
Thanks John for taking the picture and for keeping your eyes open for this special feature.
Living in a 1950’s Travel Trailer
By Kyle Harvey
I have spent much of my adult life thinking about living spaces. For quite some time, as a touring musician, sleeping arrangements were made on the fly. Sometimes a couch and many times a floor, finding a place to crash after a show on the road was almost always an adventure. In the event that we were unable to find a place to stay, we could always find a piece of ground underneath the stars in the sky. Camping was common and comfortable, in warmer months. On occasion it meant sleeping on top of picnic tables at rest stops. Once, it even meant sleeping directly on the pavement in a bank parking lot, two blocks off of the Vegas Strip, complete with a good pair cowboy boots under my head taking the place of a pillow. While not always ideal, it was most certainly romantic.
Naturally, I have spent a great deal of time pondering society’s perception of shelter and home, which has led me to looking up their definitions, respectively. According to Mirriam-Webster’s online dictionary, shelter is something that covers or affords protection. Further, their definition of home is not only one’s place of residence, but also the social unit formed by a family living together.
Tiny House in a Landscape
Greg O’Neil sent me this photo that he took at Capitol Reef National Park in early March of this year.
The stone and mud house is 10×12 and dates back to the early 1800s. Eleven people called it home at one time (eight were children) and a couple of them slept in the rock ledges behind the house.
“This area of southern Utah has a diversity of landscape like no other area in the state – red rock formations and canyons, pristine meadows, alpine forests, as well as lush green valleys.”
Quote from: Capitol Reef National Park
Tiny House in a Landscape
Kevin Stevens sent me this cool picture. He says: “I could not help but think about the tiny house in a landscape set as we traveled by this neat little adobe cabin in Utah.
It’s in Capital Reef National Park, and we stopped there on our spring road trip. It belonged to some early settlers, and is called the Behunin Cabin.” Check out Kevin’s blog where he is also building a tiny house and has some great stories and photography.
