Our feature submitted by Debra Jordan of her family’s 320-square-foot home went viral with over a million visit in just a month.

We thought that was fairly successful so we’re going to ask you again for submissions. I’ll re-post our requirements and my details below, but basically anyone with access to a camera (even a still camera with a video setting) should apply.

Who I am

I’m Kirsten Dirksen, a former television producer (MTV, Sundance Channel, Oxygen, Travel Channel) and I now create videos for my husband’s and my website – faircompanies.com – and as a blogger for the Huffington Post.

What I’m looking for

I am looking for people who live in small spaces (house, apartment, trailer, yurt, etc) who are interested in being profiled for video stories. You would have to have access to a digital camera (whether a camcorder, something simpler like a Flip camera or even the video setting of your still camera).

What I’ll do with it

I would then edit your story and it would appear on faircompanies, on the Tiny House Blog, on my youtube channel and possibly on the Huffington Post and in a documentary I’m working on (see Can living smaller and simpler make you happier?).

The submissions process

1. You submit a few paragraphs describing your small home (ideally with photos attached) and explaining why you have chosen to live small (or if you didn’t choose it, what works about it for your lifestyle).
2. I will select a few people that we think would make great videos.
3. I will send you more information with shooting tips.
4. You will videotape your home and I will either interview you via Skype (for an example, see video The Burden of Stuff) or ideally, you (or a friend) will record your own interview describing your home and why it works for you to live small.
5. You will send me your digital footage via a filesharing service.
6. I will edit your video and post it to the websites mentioned above.

Please contact me with your submissions at faircompanies@faircompanies.com. I look forward to hearing about some unique small spaces.

Wendell Greenalgh is the builder and owner. He said that a number of years back he had been part of a crew constructing a new home on a site in Colorado. There was already an existing home on the site that needed to be removed. Wendell stated that he was able to recover enough lumber from the older home to construct this small house.

The house is 16′ x 16′. The top floor is a bedroom and bathroom. The ground floor is is the kitchen and living room. He was trained in stone masonry and concrete work so he also built a basement under the house. There is a balcony and deck off the 2nd floor level. He said that grandkids like to sleep on the deck or on the grassy lawn. The house is sited adjacent to a canal, so they can stand in the yard and go fishing.

Wendell stated that the bicycle is his exercise program. On the day of the photos, Wendell was replacing some cedar shakes on the home. He and his wife absolutely enjoy living in their tiny home.

- Royal

Tammy, John, Sam, Will, and their dog Dobbs from Gambier Island, British Columbia, Canada, armed with a hacked $25 shed plan and an incredibly generous friend with actual skills, constructed this cute little cabin.

Their cabin is a work in progress and probably always will be.

Photo Credits: Tammy Everts

The footprint is 10 by 12 feet. That’s right: 120 square feet. The sleeping loft is 6 by 12, making the grand total 180 square feet. The deck, which was added this past spring, is 10 by 10, and boy, does it make a difference. With both doors open, it feels luxuriously spacious, believe it or not. The materials cost – including salvaged windows and doors – was about $7,000.

Based from the Californian from Just Sheds for the pitch of its roof. The 10 by 12 with a 13-foot ridge gave them enough room to tuck in a sleeping loft. They hacked the plans to extend the roofline out 4 feet over the door, and they built the floor out of of 2x4s.

Please go to apartment therapy and read the complete details and a well written story.

I’ve moved into my tiny house. I love the house. It’s very well constructed. The wind here in the Delta is so strong that at first I was afraid that even though it had survived being towed from the east to west coast, it might come unhinged by the wind. It hasn’t. It’s solid, quiet and a tranquil shelter from the strong gusts.

The cats venture out when the air is calm, but stay in when it’s blustery. We negotiate seating. I have two cats and two dogs and all five of us prefer sitting on a chair or soft spot up off the hardwood floor. Misty, my elegant female cat, claims the cushiest chair when she’s home, and I sit on a small triangular wooden stool that I brought back from India.

Smokey, my big, brave, athletic hunter, leaps from the kitchen to the loft and sleeps on my bed. The dogs, Becky and Jenny, sleep on pet beds or the toddler sofa from Toys ‘R Us. There is just enough room for all of us, but we have to think before we move – there is apt to be someone or something else in the spot we’re moving toward. We have all the comforts of a traditional house: electricity, heat, hot water, air conditioning, toilet, microwave, refrigerator/freezer, satellite TV and internet. Things I don’t need for day-to-day living are in a storage unit in town. I’m renting the land I’m living on. It’s farm land – open, flat, spacious, so much better than an apartment.

Regards,
Elaine

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

Check out their story here.

While poking around online we happened to come across Jay Shafer’s Tumbleweed Tiny House website and the light came on in our heads! We would build a tiny house! A palace on wheels! We’d already rented out our home in the city and moved to the country in an RV, so why not build a small home, we didn’t need the space anymore, and wild horses couldn’t drag us back to city living.

It’s been months and months of planning, but we are finally underway, building our very small home that will accommodate our needs and desires for years to come. It was important for us to try and stay as green and non-toxic as possible in building our home, so finding all of our supplies has been challenging and time consuming to say the least, but we’re always amazed at how open and helpful people are when we tell them about our project.

While we have used many of the tiny homes already built as inspiration, we’re finding that sometimes the best way to do something is to make it all your own. Initially we planned to find a free travel trailer off of Craigslist, strip it down and use the frame, but ended up splurging on a brand new custom length flatbed car hauler frame instead. The 24’ frame will allow us more interior space so that I don’t have to give up the luxury of a washer and dryer, and my hubby can have his larger loft space with room for a built in dresser.

We’re excited to start our journey once our house is complete and start looking for a piece of property to call our own and begin living a self-sufficient life in harmony with our surroundings. Check back with us to see how things are progressing, or take a drive out to the beautiful Washington Olympic Peninsula and come for a cup of tea and a visit )

Mark and Olivia

www.naturallytiny.blogspot.com

Peter has built 11 tiny houses since we saw him last but is not super pleased with his new moniker “The Tiny House Guy.” With the economy in shambles and foreclosures running rampant, tiny houses seem more relevant than ever. But Peter has some ideas that are even bigger than his tiny houses. Please check out the Stuck in Vermont article here and enjoy this excellent video below.

In October, Will drove from Abbotsford, British Columbia to McKees Mills, New Brunswick. Will drove a used 1999 Dodge diesel truck and it worked out great to tow the house.

Will and Alyson created a small blog called Alyson and Will’s Adventure to cover their move and life at their new farm home and you can view it here.

After so many months and so much planning, I drove away with the tiny house and most of our possessions in tow. Left just around lunchtime with everyone on the farm hugging me and saying goodbye. I’ve got my Ipod loaded with songs and we’ll see how far I get today. — Will

Will weighed the house before moving it, it came in at 6182 lbs. empty (well below the trailer’s 10,000 lb capacity). The tongue weight is around 1,100 lbs which is more than the max of 900 lbs recommended in the truck owners manual. He was carrying all his and Alyson’s meagre possessions also and loaded the heavy items in the back of the house to lessen the tongue weight.

Most of the trip, Will slept at truck stops or campgrounds, just stopped and had a snooze when he got tired of driving.

Leaving Glen Valley Organic Farm

Fall Colors

Lunch stop in Golden, BC

I covered about 700 km over the Rockies from Kamloops, BC to Strathmore, Alberta. Kind of slow going over the mountains. It will be flat for a long stretch now. Not too much interesting about driving for hours and hours looking for good coffee and for a place to eat that is not too bad. — Will

Made it to Manitoba

KOA campground near Ottawa, Ontario.

It was nice to start seeing wooded areas in Manitoba after the plains. The northwest part of Ontario was really beautiful with a different lake after every little hill I would go over. Until next time, thanks for reading. — Will

Pulling in the drive-way at our new farm in McKees Mills, New Brunswick.

Will arrived on the farm just before noon today. I am so happy to see him and he is so happy to have arrived! The truck did really well, the house held together and Will survived the days of driving. I think he is feeling a great sense of accomplishment for having made the big trip and I’m so proud of him, too! — Alyson

Got the truck stuck when moving the house so had to use the tractor to move it.

The house after a recent snowfall

You’re looking at a disaster that used to be a livable house. Besides the wood, doors and windows, you also see curtains, beddings and other fabrics poking out. Where many people see only a trash pile, I see enormous potential. Why? Because even if the wood is singed and the fabrics have rips, I know that with just a few simple tools, a way to cut the wood and wash the materials, we have the makings for a little temporary house I call gertee.

scraps used for first 16' gertee, spring 2007

Gertees are basically standard yurts made from raw or salvaged materials. Unlike the Mongolian and Western versions (exquisitely crafted and covered in gorgeous fabrics), gertee is the budget variety. It utilizes many items that would otherwise go to the dump.

first 16' gertee, Mercantile campground, May 2007

A 16 foot wide gertee needs about 80 wall slats. If there are at least 20 2x4s in your mix (or fifteen 2x6s or eight 2x12s), these can be cut down into 1/4 inch slats. Even broken boards will work as your walls can be made as short as 5 feet. Pipe or other metals can also be used although not as easily as the wood. Short thin trees and bamboo work too.

first attempt at making walls, spring 2007

The walls slats are laid out like lattice on the ground and tied together at each cross. It takes 320 ties if you have four crosses on each board. The ties can be cut from scraps of string or fabrics. If at all possible, I recommend buying 400 8 inch plastic zip ties. Once tied together the walls slide together like an accordian and roll up for easy carrying.

first test of the 9' burnt spruce roof poles, spring 2007

A 16 foot gertee can be made with as few as 8 roof poles, more is better but not absolutely necessary. Poles need to be at least 9 feet long and can be as slim as a 2×2.

recycled construction plastic covers most of the 16'

The roof ring is by far the hardest piece to make. It may take more imagination than the rest of the parts, unless there is a carpenter handy who can fashion one out of leftover wood pieces and has a drill to make the holes. I’ve made one roof ring (my first) from a piece of metal screen that I curved into a circle, and I think teepee roof poles tied together might also work, although I haven’t tried it yet. I also think a square roof ring may be okay. The roof rings we make for the gertees we live in now are 2′ wide octagon shape.

recycled plastic roofcover before trimming

The door frame can be made of 4 boards screwed together to form a rectangle or a standard door with a frame can be used, even if the walls are shorter than the door.

plastic roofcover after trimming

The roof cover can be made from anything waterproof. I have used a combination of tent bottoms scraps, airplane covers and one time I used a slghtly ripped up sheet of construction plastic. Some sort of weatherproof glue is necessary if you don’t have one piece large enough to cover the entire roof. Square tarps work perfectly.

24x24' recycled billboard cover before trim, 2009

Today I cover all my gertees in recycled 24×24′ billboards, which are already fire, mold and UV treated.

stapling up interior wall covers, 2007

The exterior walls can be covered in pieces of fabric or plastic/tarps/canvas. The interior walls can be covered in screens, sheets, blankets and bolts of fabric.

upgraded scraps on walls, summer 2009

We’ve been living in our homemade gertees in interior Alaska for three years. While we’ve definitely improved on the materials we use to cover our roof and walls, we still keep a sharp lookout for useful throwaway items. The first 16′ frame endured six moves and rebuilds. Our initial concern that the zip ties would slip too much was unfounded.

16' gertee pods, winter 2009

As for staying warm in a gertee… well, I’m in one right now (written on 1/24/10). It’s a brisk 40 below zero outside and I’m sitting at my desk in a thin sleeveless dress, wool socks and my slippers.

recycled dollmaker fabrics over RadiantGUARD, fall 2009

I have RadiantGUARD foil insulation on all the walls and the ceilings plus an extra layer of R19 in the new addition. I have one long strip of canvas on the outside walls and this year I used the same canvas on the inside walls. I still use old blankets and scrap materials too.

exterior 16' bridal gertee, summer 2009

We have two gertees attached together this winter. The main gertee is now the kitchen with a wood stove in the center. The new room is the bedroom and bath and it has its own woodstove with the stack going out through the wall. With both fires going steady neither one has to burn too hot to keep it at around 68 degrees. Of course smaller fires means more work feeding them constantly, and a thermostat heater is on our wish list, for sure.

Cooking space out of recycled shelves and Granny's Oven made by the Amish

I just took a nice hot shower. My gertees have no plumbing so my winter shower is a 2 gal solar bag filled with hot water from big metal pots kept on our woodstove 24/7. I stand in a 2′ metal wash bucket with a plastic shower curtain tucked inside it. Works beautifully.

summer shower gertee, 2009

While the gertee lifestyle is certainly not for everyone, we believe it has changed our lives for the better. The ability to eliminate many of the costs that come along with renting someone’s four square walls has been a boost to our spirits and our creativity.

first gertee interior, June 2007

There is something very nurturing about living in a round room, once you get the hang of how to arrange the furniture. We now think in circles and “pies” and not squares and rectangles.

Gerteeville at Camp Redington, fall 2009

We’re set up in a year round campground, have electric and phone (usually) and the rest we do for ourselves. It’s been amazing to see what kinds of things we need and how hard it is to find some of them. Sometimes it hits us how we could be making things we’ve always bought, like rope, and now we make our own. Gertee has caused me to try things I never imagined I wanted to learn, like my chainsaw, which I started using to cut firewood but now have made 2 doors and all kinds of structural changes with it.

Me sawing logs, fall 2008

I have to say the best part of my gertee experience is the satisfaction of knowing I live in my own house I built with my own two hands. I own it free and clear and can change it anytime I choose (which is often because I’m an American middle aged woman).

original 16' foot frame, summer 2009

The best part for everyone else like me who needs a home is, Gertee is an affordable, livable option that can be modified to adapt to any climate. Green by natural design, yurts have a low carbon footprint and are a proven sustainable house; the Mongolians have been living in them for more than 3000 years without it destroying their environment.

gertee today, February 8, 2010

Our Gertee book is under development and will be available in April 2010.

By Niki Raapana

Using a home built trailer using classic and modern building techniques and style. Based on traveler’s and “gypsy” wagons from Britain and France as well as sheep wagons from the western U.S. George is keeping this to the absolute minimum in size and weight. George doesn’t plan to live in it so it can be thought of a base camp.

You can view more pictures and follow his project at his Paleotool’s Weblog. I will also do an updated post when George completes the vardo, so stay tuned.