That amazing window (which Laurie called “a magic window”) was found lying up against a barn and turned out to be a church window from the 1800s. Custom glass was made for each round section of the window. She and her husband also perused the salvage yard and found old growth pine boards to use for the floor and chimney pots for the roof. Soybean based foam insulation was sprayed into the walls and the roof is Vermont slate. The house is powered by wind and solar.

Video images courtesy of Laurie Halse Anderson

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

Mariah and Ryan Lingard fell in love with the woods and lakes of Joseph, Oregon and purchased some partially burned, partially logged land after seeing an ad in the local paper. The 100×150 foot parcel of land cost them $47,000 and is located smack dab in the middle of hiking, skiing and snowshoe territory. The couple has a full-time home in Portland, but they make the 6-hour trip to the Signal Shed about four times a year.

After two years of planning and extended weekend camping trips to their land, the couple built the 130 square foot cabin over a two week period with friends and family. The materials cost about $10,000 and the cabin features several recycled windows, IKEA cabinets and laminate flooring. They found the barn door hardware and the woodstove on Craigslist. The cabin rests on a floating pier to minimize impact on the land and cedar screens used to lock it up when Mariah and Ryan are not around. The Signal Shed has no running water, no electricity and the couple uses the woodstove for heat and some cooking.

Mariah grew up in an off-grid home in rural Oregon and is not bothered by the lack of running water or the portable toilet. The couple heat up water on the stove or in a solar water heater, and read at night by candlelight or oil lamp.

The structure was awarded a 2011 Residential Architect Magazine design award. As an architect, Ryan is now offering the Signal Shed plans for sale in limited quantities. It is being sold for $18,000 for a prefab modular structure and detailed plans are being sold for $1,000.

Photos courtesy of Sunset and Ryan Lingard

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

By: Estemerwalt Log Homes of Honesdale, PA

Photos:  http://www.estemerwalt.com/log-home-photos/exteriors/m-logcabin1.html
Photo Credit: Estemerwalt Log Homes/ www.estemerwalt.com

This Pennsylvania log cabin is a year-round rustic hunting and fishing retreat – the perfect outdoors getaway, and the very definition of aesthetic simplicity.  While not teeny-tiny, this little cabin is a marvel of simple efficiency.  The 1,200 square feet of living space relies on nooks to delineate space functionally; two small sleeping lofts meet at a spiral staircase, and there are three more beds on the main level.

Furnishings are sparse, as are amenities: this home is completely off the grid.  There is no running water – only an outside well and an outhouse. There is no power – the owner brings a generator with him when he’s there, and the log cabin is heated only by the woodstove and fireplace.  (The photographer brought a generator with him for this photo shoot, to light the cabin.)

Located two miles from the nearest road, this property came with a run-down cabin the owner initially planned to restore, before he realized a newer place would better serve for a hunting and fishing retreat. The logs come from Estemerwalt Log Homes, a 5th generation, family owned company with 125 years of experience in the lumber industry. The logs for this cabin are milled 10” round eastern white pine, and made the voyage to their final home here several logs at a time, due to the remote location of this property.
This is one home that fits its surroundings perfectly!

This cabin is living simply and covers the basics of protection from the harsh cold outside. It surprises me how many things we think we need to live, but when it really comes down to it all we need is shelter, warmth and food. What do you think?

The FirstDay Cottage company in New Hampshire offers a house kit which they claim a couple, and a handful of friends, can build in approximately fifteen weekends and for under $45,000. These house kits can be customized for each customer and can be built with almost no carpentry experience. What I found very refreshing about FirstDay is that they insist that their kits are so simple to put together, that they encourage all their customers to contact them frequently to get advice and support throughout the project. They even help to get the owner/builder financing.

While these houses are little larger than the average tiny house, the smallest is under 1,000 square feet. The smallest of the plans is the Basic, which is 16 feet by 30 feet or 960 square feet and costs about $26,900 for the kit.

The FirstDay Kit Includes:

• Instructions and plans
• Posts and beams
• Sheathing and decking
• 2″ High-R Foam Insulation
• Roofing and siding
• Windows
• Interior and exterior doors
• Nails
• Building wrap
• Interior partitions
• Kitchen cabinets

I actually found the FirstDay plans through this couple, who are living the simple life in upstate New York with their young son. They built their own FirstDay as a spec house and then built a tiny cabin in the woods from the scraps left over. The entire project cost them about $900.

By Christina Nellemann for the (Tiny House Blog)