Happy New Year and a warm welcome to 2012 from the Tiny House Blog.
I wanted to thank you for continuing to support and visit the Tiny House Blog in the year 2011. The blog continues to grow steadily and it is because of you sharing your stories and ideas with us that it continues to be a popular destination on the internet.
Here are some stats from 2011.
- Almost 10 million pageviews (9,568,072)
- Almost 2 million visitors (1,874,141) We have an average of 10,000 visitors a day.
- Just shy of 23,000 facebook fans
10 Most Popular Posts for 2011
- Ten Tips for Decorating a Tiny Apartment
- The E.D.G.E
- The TB Trailer
- Simon’s House
- How to Arrange a Teeny Tiny  Apartment
- Diana’s Innermost House
- Little Cob Cabin
- Small Cabin Plans
- Build a Small Log Cabin
- How To Start Living in a Tiny House
Looking ahead to 2012
There are a couple of neat new books coming out real soon. Lloyd Kahn’s new book called Tiny Homes Simple Shelter and Deek’s new Humble Homes Simple Shacks book. I will be reviewing both real soon. My goal is to continue to bring great content, so please keep sending me your stories and ideas. I also want to clean up and streamline the blog so it is easier to get around and loads faster. There are now over 1,400 posts from the past four and a half years and I want them to be easier to find.
Thank you again and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year Kent, and all my fellow tiny house followers. And thank you to all that have a tiny house and share for me to enjoy.
Happy New Year to you too. And thanks for being our touchstone for all things tiny. – Margy
Happy New Year! Thank you for all of the inspiration and encouragement. Tiny Living, leaving tiny footprints is the way go : )
Happy New Year, Kent and Tiny House Bloggers! Boy, I wish that collage was clickable for each picture because there’s so many of those I want to visit! 🙂
You can, just click on the top ten links above as these photos were taken from them.
Thanks, Kent! Silly me, I had no idea the list of Most Popular Posts was the same as the pics. Thanks for letting me know that.
I’m sure you are not the only one, so I just added some text to it so everyone would know.
Kent, you rock and watching your blog progress (and the blogs that have spun off of yours, though we know what started it!) is one of the more hopeful signs moving into this new year. All things good to you and yours in 2012!
Looking forward to tiny house blog posts in the new year!!! Thanks for all the hard work you put into my favorite blog!!!
Well, I just spent New Years day repairing my hot water heater. Go figure, my hot water heater would go on me on NYs Day. Lucky for me, Home Depot was open and I could get a new pressure relief valve. I had to fix some other crap around the house too.
After all this is done, I am now sitting down, watching the Giants vs Cowboys. But more so, I am thinking about the practical pros vs cons of tiny house living. I would not have this hot water heater mess if I were living in a tiny home that would have a much more efficient water heating system.
I will share my concept with all of you. First of all, I live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Its been quite a warm winter but its just a matter of time before we have some days in January when we will hit minus 40. Heating a tiny house with a wood stove at minus 40 would be an easy task considering how our ancestors survived over 100 plus years ago. Water issues in winter is not a pretty sight so you have to stay on top of that. Anyhow some of my ideas in bullets:
1. build a tiny house/possibly two on a small acreage.
2. have a well on site
3. compost toilet
4. solar power
5. wind power
6. gasoline inverter for power
7. power from utility if power is near property (only an option if the other options are not enough)
8. build a garage to house my vehicles/snowmobile/quad.
9. have a plough on an old used pick up truck for snow removal on property during winter.
10. build a 4 season gazebo w/wood stove
11. build a wood stove sauna with a water heater and shower adjacent to sauna. The heat from sauna wood stove would heat gravity fed water tank for showers eliminating the concerns with modern day water heaters.
These are just some ideas I have for the future. I currently live in a home that is 1500 sq ft (2400sq ft) if you include the basement. I feel like a prisoner to the home. I need to replace windows damaged by condensation caused by the four seasons we get here Canada. The cost to maintain a tiny home vs the home I am currently in is not only hitting the pocket book but also my time which is more important. I have mentioned this in other posts but I will repeat it:
most of us work an 8 hour job so we are away from our homes during that period. During the time the home is unattended, its still being heated. When I am at home, I use basically the family/kitchen area, bedroom and washroom. The remainder of the home goes unattended even when I am here. So why heat that wasted space. Why not have a couple of tiny houses and only heat the trailer you are inside, when you actually occupy it? It just makes sense don’t you think. The people who have started this movement, that are currently living it, well I won’t be far behind you. I am tired of living just to maintain a home rather than have a small place as a patrol base to go out and do the things I love doing, such as mountain biking, skiing, backpacking, kayaking and so many other things that my wallet will allow me to do.
Anyhow, just some thoughts. For all of you considering this big move towards living simple and small, I look forward to advice and reading more articles about people freeing themselves from being a slave to their materials that just hold you down.
Happy New Year Everyone.
Rob…Happy New Year. After a divorce in 1982 I thought like you do, I built/renovated a 800 ft2 1/1 with no basement, later added a 1200 ft2 garage for my woodworking, bikes, and kayaks. Now I’m down th 500 ft 2 in this house and figure I could go to 300 ft2 and be comfortable…Follow your dream, post here so we can follow it also. I too choose a small home payment, it gives me more time to camp. hike, bike, and kayak. Welcome…
Hi,
I am building construction estimator on Ft. Huachuca Az.
I have ran the figures on building a small house. IF you do all the work
yourself (no labor$)
You can figure an average of $10.00 per square ft. If you build it on a slab
it will save money on building costs but may cost you more when you figure
in all of the permits that you may have to get.
Anything built on a trailer does not require permits or stamps of any kind.
As long as it passes DMV inspection you are good.
Most of you may have known this already, but just thought I would throw in
my 2 cents.
Happy New Year to you, also. Love your site, visit it every day. Oh, and by the way, thanks for featuring my caboose!
Happy New Year to you Kent and thankyou for all that you’re doing.
The Tiny House movement is indebted to folk like you…
So Kent, when are you and your lovely girlfriend/wife going to make the leap…into a small house that is.
Thank you so much, Kent, for providing the best blog on the internet as far as I am concerned! It is educational, inspirational, inviting and completely engaging. It’s one of my particular delights each week. I am so glad to see the level of interest in tiny house living. In addition to everything else, maybe you have started a revolution! I look forward to another year!