Last night I was reading the comments on the Facebook fan page and one got my attention. “I hate to say it but your blog is becoming to commercial for my tastes.”
I than took the time to look back at my recent posts and see if this was true and I had to agree with this reader. The Tiny House Blog was starting to look like a Tiny House Craigslist. Needless to say I had a restless night trying to sleep.
I think it is time for me to refocus on where the Tiny House Blog’s future is going and I want you to respond with your thoughts.
The Tiny House Blog was started almost 4 years ago in May of 2007 with a focus on the different types of structures available for building a tiny house. As the blog grew the focus changed to include stories of people who are actually living the tiny simple life.
Over the last year or so it has grown to helping promote new businesses and helping people sell their tiny homes, showing potential tiny houses via craigslist and even helping people raise money for their projects. Frankly, I like to help readers if I can.
I think the Tiny House Blog maybe has grown to where it is trying to do to much and thus is becoming scattered in its presentation. A blog has one main focus area which is the post. Trying to present everything there just may be to much.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below in the comment section and give me your feed back. My goal is to make the Tiny House Blog have quality content and to encourage you to continue to come and visit. Maybe trying to post 7 days a week is to much, maybe I should cut back to 3 or 5 days. There are many new blogs and websites out there today, let TinyHouseListings sell the homes, etc.
I want to hear your thoughts and I will be taking a couple days off to think this through myself. Thanks for listening!
Hey, you have to pay the bills for this blog. If they think it’s too commercial maybe they should support it another way.
I read all the stuff posted, some I like, some I don’t.You have created an interesting site, so for me, leave it as it is
I’m glad this came up, and I agree with the sentiment. I’d like to see more along the lines of designs people have come up with and are living in – a cleverly designed house or area always catches my attention. This includes how the house interacts with the area around it, which you already cover quite well. Tutorials and concepts are always welcome too.
And there’s nothing inherently wrong with the commercial stuff – I’d suggest starting a sister site for content like that, and leaving this site for ideas and tutorials.
What he said.
Agree.
I absolutely don’t understand what someone means when they see you’re too “commercial,” maybe they are being hip and accusing you of selling out, which makes no sense especially if they aren’t paying you one red cent.
Your site is good and interestingl;your instincts are sound.
Keep up the good work.
I rec, that you Dont split up the “commercial” stuff. Besides. Sounds like there’s the pants are a bit too tight on our some of our hipsters.
I agree that there are now too many ads on your blog. I know you are trying to make a little money to cover your expenses and I don’t object to having a couple of ads on the page.
I think connecting buyers and sellers of tiny houses should be a separate blog or at least a separate tab–then readers could look at it if they wanted to do so.
Refine your blog don’t close it–I read it at least five days a week.
Seeing as I can guess how much time and work Kent puts into this blog (and his others)- the ads have never bothered me a bit….
Much like tv, if I’m not interested, I just ignore them or tune them out- and feel that seeing many ads is a small price to pay for a ton of free reading, gazing, and informative material.
Kent, I wouldn’t mess with what’s working- and working well.
I DO understand how some people don’t like seeing the ads, but I’ve got zero complaints- and some of the ads have even been interesting or helpful in a few cases…
-Deek
Relaxshacks.com
I visit the tiny house blog daily to check for ideas and experiences of building and living in tiny & small houses. I also appreciate reading about new products and services directly related to tiny and small houses. Posting often and remaining true to the original focus of the blog would keep the blog fresh and differentiated from other blogs and websites that have developed since the tiny house blog was started. Other people are filling the needs of selling products, plans, houses, furniture, etc. The flow of ideas in the tiny house blog is priceless!
I like to see how stories about WHY the choice to go small, what they did to go small, then stories of what materials, and things they had to go through to get to the PRIZE, their tiny home. Then show the Finished Project. In my opinion, I think more of these real life stories attract readers than seeing a list of homes for sale by others. When someone new to the site reads person stories, it gives them a sense of HOW they can do it and the excitement behind the movement. There need be not alot of selling, these Stories WILL sell itself. Did Me for downsizing and the love of the Tiny House Movement. Just my thoughts.
My favorite posts show the interiors of tiny homes and how people actually live in them. I think in this day and age of more, more more keeping the focus on living more with less is a key component to the sites success.
Many Blessings,
Melissa
Mr. Kent,
Looking on Tiny House Blog has been one of my daily routines for the past two or three years. It is a fantastic site, and it still is. The information I’ve learned is priceless to me. Keep doing what you’ve been doing. I have loved every post, and look forward to each time I look on here.
All I know is, before I discovered tiny houses, small living, etc. a big part of my future was uncertain. As a college student, that’s important…really important.
I really dislike negative comments. My father has always said “Is it helpful? Is it positive? Then don’t say it.”
I love your blog and visit almost daily. You will never please everyone so I would say please yourself. If you are uncomfortable with the content, then alter it. If you are satisfied and gratified, keep going.
+1. That’s why you started the blog wasn’t it? Sometimes you get ideas from strange places, not just what others have done when they built theirs.
Sometimes the ideas will come from a commercial build, sometimes from a place that has nothing to do with tiny houses. sometimes there is something here that I don’t like, but I will look at it anyway. Just keep doing what makes you happy. Not everyone will like it, but you can never please everyone everytime, or everyday.
I think it’s great that you’re trying to improve your blog. I just recently started following Tiny House, so I don’t really know what it was, or even if what it is will work for me. But I can tell you what I’m looking for.
My parents are a couple years from retiring. When then do, they plan to move back to Wyoming and restore a ranch house they just inherited from my dad’s mother. While the house is being restored, they need a place to live on the ranch. They don’t want to get a trailer, because they have money for something nicer, but they don’t need anything bigger, because it’s just the two of them, and when I visit, there’d be three.
So I have been on the look out for economical, attractive, and eco-friendly ideas for my parents to build a small, semi-temporary home in Wyoming.
I hope that helps some. 🙂
I’d like to see more focus on solving the problems of tiny house design and living. I’d love to see more discussions and solutions for solving technical issues around having real bathrooms, usable kitchens, and bedrooms that don’t have to be reached via a ladder. I’d like to see more discussions of legal realities — zoning and other land use limits like deed covenants. I’d love to see more articles looking at settings for tiny homes. From backyards of other residences, to traditional trailer parks, camp settings, rural on and off-grid settings. Beautiful tiny houses, and tiny houses for sale, and designs for sale are cool, but such are hardly helping me get to my tiny house. If you have to push products, why not review some fixture and installations? I’d like to know more about small, on-demand hot water systems. How practical are incinelets? Is anyone making single unit galley kitchens, and if so, do any include propane powered freezers and refrigerators? What about laundry? I’ve only seen one tiny home with a clothes washer, why? Is there a practical, affordable, and portable off-grid electrical solution sufficient for a tiny home? I’d love to see more discussions of someone dealing with black and gray water. I love this blog, but I want it to help me move into one, and one that works for my situation.
As to your comment on self-contained kitchens suitable for the tiny house lifestyle, these HAVE been focused on in past posts! I remember being one of the contributors to the followup responses, where several of us readers offered up sources for the very thing (complete kitchenettes, self-contained, in a multitude of variations – and many propane-fueled, too! – just purchase and install!)…
I would venture that all readers can visit the older posts/archives and simply ‘catch up’…?
AND/OR, perhaps a good ‘growth’ idea, Kent, would be to do a more formal, regular ‘blast from the past’ write-up, once a week or so, on any of many ‘old topics’ – kind of bumping it back into the present.
There will always be newer visitors/readers who have those questions fresh on their minds, and even the ‘old news’ is still ‘new’ to many!
Quite frankly I usually just read your posts in my reader and only go to the website if I’m going to post a comment. Quite frankly I like your posts on new companies/products. They have been a help. If you feel there are too many, perhaps you should pick one day a week that is devoted to a post on new products.
Sleepless night after bad reader feedback… sounds familiar. I’ve been there and lost sleep trying to please others, but here’s the deal, the more you try to please others the WORSE it gets, because you gradually lose your own vision. The “others” won’t be there to give you ideas if you run out of your own.
There is something worse than hearing a whiny feedback or two, and that’s when a cool project that started out as your very own baby gradually becomes something tailored to others’ wishes, and you start to think of what other people will want before you add anything to it. That feels BAD and it’s happened to me twice now. Both projects I ended up giving up on because I started to resent them.
(Starting something commercial and tailored to the public in the first place is a different thing. 🙂
I say if something interests YOU enough that your brain says “blog fodder!” then POST IT. No other thought should intrude.
If they don’t like it they can go start their own, it’s a big internet. Meanwhile the people who like what YOU have to say will stay around!
Personally I love most of what you’ve posted lately and I like volume. If there’s more to choose from I just delete what I don’t like.
I agree with Janel. This is your blog and you should post things that interest you or that you think will interest your readers, but making yourself a “short order cook” as my mom used to say isn’t going to be sustainable, psychologically and emotionally.
Since I already live in a tiny house, I like the posts that show how other people use and maximize their small spaces. I am always looking for inspiration.
But I imagine you have a very wide variety of readers, some who may be looking for their own tiny house, some who just want to daydream, etc. I haven’t ever had the thought that you’re too commercial. Everything is presented in a fair manner, no hard sales tactics or annoying pseudo-reviews of projects.
Long story short: I like your blog just the way it is and you shouldn’t listen to the haters. Haters gonna hate. 🙂
I do like your website, advertisements are just a fact of life. You might want to relegate advertising space to the right or left margins and keep them out of the main body of the blog. You wrote, “The Tiny House Blog was started almost 4 years ago in May of 2007 with a focus on the different types of structures available for building a tiny house.” You certainly have done that, however many of the stick built, trailer bound houses are beginning to look alike. By all means keep featuring them, but perhaps sharpen your focus on the kinds of products that go into building them. Green products or new products like LED lighting, more energy efficient appliances, etc. Overall I like the site and visit often.
My interest would be in hearing more of the personal stories behind the people and their tiny houses and some practical tips for making it work. That and I love seeing pictures of the inventive use of space in the interiors of the tiny homes.
I like it just like it is – I’ve learned so much, and it has kept me focused on my dream to have a tiny house (on wheels, if possible). You are a service to the tiny house community – our learning tool, information tool, idea pool!!
I love your site. My favorite posts are the ones with images of interiors of tiny houses/spaces and the ones with new techniques/building styles. I think ultimately it is great to have a mix of posts, but I tend to like things that help me imagine the tiny lifestyle. I also like when you post videos.
Thanks for all you do and for making such a great blog. It inspires me all the time.
I read Tiny House Blog to sustain my dream of getting out of my urban basement and into a tiny house of my own. The content has always been useful to me in some way, whether it’s seeing how someone built their loft or how much someone else is charging for the tiny house they already built.
If you decide to bring the content back to what you initially intended, fantastic. If you decide to keep more of a mix of content and maybe move the ads to a different tab, great. Just keep Tiny House Blog going and we’ll keep reading!
Jesse
i look forward to reading your blog every day and am impressed w/ your output. i enjoy your guest writers too. the ads i treat like wallpaper.
i would appreciate seeing more personal stories, and more actual floor plans, as well as building in specific climates and parts of the country, say, the northern mid-west, the southwestern arid states.
you have a good thing going here and change is good too..
I think that people’s blogs are people’s blogs and they should put on them what they want or need to. But I understand not wanting to lose readers/followers. Personally, I’m pretty good at ignoring ads.
I really enjoy your blog, even the ads for selling a tiny house; these do not bother me at all. If I am not interested in buying, I just move to the next article. Perhaps, to satisfy those that object, a page can be added that features tiny houses for sale.
I would love to see more about how people live in their tiny houses, how items are stored, set up, layouts, decorating, etc.
Gives me ideas for when we build our own tiny house.
Again, I love this blog the way it is. I’ll be here regardless of what you decide to do.
Agreed. I for one (and I don’t suppose I’m alone) really like reading about the unique tiny homes that people have built for themselves and that they make work on a daily basis. I really have no interest in these structures that are billed as tiny houses, but, at 100 square feet, are too small to really be a viable home. And I think it’s much more in tune with the whole spirit of tiny house living to have designed and built something yourself. I do echo the sentiment that it seems like there’s been way too much time devoted to advertising for builders of these… playhouses (that’s what their size reminds me of). I think that, when deciding to build a sustainable small home, it might be worth considering alternative construction techniques. I enjoy the articles about alternatives like cob and straw bale construction – even alternative structures like yurts (although I would consider those more of a temporary living arrangement – I would think at some point a person would yearn for something a little more permanent and stable).
In short, yeah, it seems like there is an awful lot of space being devoted to advertising things. I don’t mind the occasional craigslist-type post where someone has a unique little house for sale as much as the advertising for commercial builders of overpriced playhouses. I think part of the intrigue of the tiny house movement is the uniqueness and individualism shown in the tiny homes that people create for themselves based on their needs and their environments. If you’re just going to buy a tiny playhouse on wheels, you might as well just get a travel trailer, it’ll be more cost effective.
Ah, I posted this positive thing below but lambasted the consistently negative comments of certain posters. Then I came up, and sure enough, here was Josh with his narrow-minded, point of view. This fellow’s posts with their constant criticism and negative viewpoint actually diminish my experience here, not the ads that are posted.
You do realize he was responding to something Kent had said about his own site and asked for honest responses to, right?
Awwww, your experience is diminished by opinions that differ from yours? What a fragile person you must be.
Perhaps I was mistaken, but it seemed to me that this was the place to post our thoughts on the recent proliferation of posts that are little more than advertisements. As I said earlier, and as others have said, I would much prefer to see posts about people who have used their ingenuity and constructed their homes, and stories about those who are actually living this lifestyle, not manufacturers trying to sell their homes or plans. And it’s not hard to see that I don’t have much, if anything, good to say about the tiny “houses” that cost $400 a square foot and are smaller than the averave child’s bedroom. These aren’t realistic alternatives to regular houses or apartments, and I don’t believe that they are viable long-term solutions. I’m sure they’d be great for weekend getaways or an external guest bedroom, but little else.
Josh said: “And it’s not hard to see that I don’t have much, if anything, good to say about the tiny “houses” that cost $400 a square foot and are smaller than the averave child’s bedroom. These aren’t realistic alternatives to regular houses or apartments, and I don’t believe that they are viable long-term solutions.”
Josh, this is my precise issue with you and several other posters who are so dismissive of the posts on this blog that do not fit their precise definition of what a “tiny house” is. Despite the fact that there are many people living long-term in Vanagons, 80-square-foot homes, houses that are smaller than the average child’s bedroom, or homes that are $400 per sqft, posts on these are so often cut down because they do not fit someone else’s preconceived notion of what should be considered a tiny house. A tiny house is just that: tiny. And some of us prefer to see how different people accommodate their surroundings to their own needs and wants, even if their needs and wants are different from our own. There is something to be learned from every post on this blog, regardless of whether the person in the home has a composting toilet but goes to the gym to shower (they might have brilliant storage solutions that can be worked into a home you build that does have a shower, for instance) or someone who goes to a laundromat weekly to do laundry or lives in a tiny home but uses orange crates for seating. It’s all informative.
I would suggest you do your own blog with posts about things that fit your predefined notion of a tiny house. And my guess is that the posts would all be similar with little differentiation since you are so down on what doesn’t fit your own ideal, and very little seems to please you. FEH
Yes, Anne, it was supposed to be an honest opinion, but I could have written Josh’s response before I even saw it. He’s uber-pissy about most of the things he comments on.
I visit your blog just about everyday. I discovered it a little over a year when I was wanting to build my own small cabin on wheels. I check your blog everyday for inspiration and gain inspiration mostly from the stories of other small spaces. I think the stories ground to us to each other and they keep me excited about what I’m doing. I want see how others are doing this, why they are doing this. I love it when you share their websites and blogs. I always visit them.
An occasional promotion for business’ doesn’t bother me, as long as the focus is other peoples projects/dreams and not product promotion.
What I enjoy least is the landscape pictures but only because I’m want to read what someone else is up to.
Keep it up, your doing a great job.
Mike
Have you thought about hosting an online forum? That would be a good place for people to interact, find dealers, building tips, listings, etc. Then you can focus on just blogging whatever the heck you want! Keep up the good work!
Have you thought about hosting an online forum? That would be a good place for people to interact, find dealers, building tips, listings, etc. Then you can focus on just blogging whatever the heck you want! Keep up the good work!
For me, you blog is a form of escapism where I come to dream about the type of life I wish I were brave enough to live. I think you cover all areas very well it does not come across as particularly commercial. I think it is important to help those serious enough to pursue their dreams, and so it is great that there are listings here too. I say, keep up the great work. Just follow your gut instincts. Change it up a little if it feels right, to make it a little fun.
“…For me, you blog is a form of escapism where I come to dream about the type of life I wish I were brave enough to live…”
This is exactly what I want to say…
Thank you
i love your blog. i think as long as the content is diversified and not just one big advert…i am fine with that. i love to see interiors as well as exteriors, of actual lived in houses. i like to see how things and people function in limited space and how the space evolves according to one’s needs.
i don’t mind some commercialism, because it can be helpful in finding sources for things. i am all for DIY, but sometimes ready-made or idea picking save you from having to reinvent the wheel.
keep on keeping on. you are doing an amazing job at conveying a broad spectrum of information.
kudos.
ps.
i love Vardos, and house trucks, and nomadic tiny living, in addition to stationary tiny homes.
the idea of being able to take your home with you is extremely attractive to me.i would love to see more information on these things, especially if people are doing this in the USA.
I enjoy the mix of things. I love seeing the tiny houses for sale. Yeah, I’d love to see more on how people are doing it, how you can do it yourself, etc… but I understand (or at least I think) that you are just one person running this site, and can’t obviously travel the nation bringing us original stories of tiny houses and their owners.
I agree with Annette and would like to see interesting solutions for fitting out and furnishing tiny dwellings. Mine is about 3 years away so I have plenty of time.
As far as commercial aspect goes I am fine with what you want to do. You have put a lot of work into the blog and you deserve to create an income stream is you so desire.
I like variety, and for the couple of years I’ve been on this site, I have gotten it. No complaints at all. Commercial promo is fine; just be up front in editorializing.
You can please some of the people some of the time, but if you please none of the people none of the time, you could be in Congress.
I love your blog, and it’s really helped as I work on creating my own tiny home. Personally I like the posts about companies who are targeting the tiny house market – it shows that we’re going mainstream.
The only thing I’d skip personally is the posts linking to Craigslist ‘could be’ tiny homes. I think the posts submitted by readers selling their personal homes are great (I love pictures!).
I read your website through the news feed, so maybe I don’t see a lot of the ads. I agree with most everything mybluemake says in their comment, although I definitely enjoy the “tiny house in landscape” posts.
I can completely understand if you find you don’t have time (or the inclination) for super in-depth pieces.
There’s nothing wrong with making sure you can keep paying the bills!
I love your blog the way it is! No need to change it. Please don’t cut back on how often you post, I need your blog everyday.
i think it is perfect just the way it is
I enjoy your blog but have had a wish to submit for a while. I live in a very functional SMALL home. Not so tiny that most people would never consider it for a long term home. I feel like the emphasis on the very tiny leaves much of the subject matter to a realm that is very unlikely for many people to ever live in. It becomes about vacation cottages or a short term home.
I would like to see more homes featured that could sensibly accommodate a broader portion of the public. These homes could give someone an idea that they are more likely to act on.
Heidi,
The WHOLE IDEA here, with this blog (at least, as *I* see it), is to educate, inform and inspire others who DO like the idea of MINIMIZING, of being able to live SIMPLY, and yes, within the ‘confines’ of a 12 X 12 ‘house, or even a tinier 8 X 10 vardo!
To suggest the blog might be ‘better’ by being more inclusive of larger homes shows you are here for the wrong reasons: you are looking for/interested in a home that is ‘smaller’ by your own comparison, not the TRULY ‘tiny home’ that MANY (more than you clearly realize) people are starting to yearn for/build to live in FULL TIME!
This is not a blog about vacation or temporary homes, although it seems that is what YOU think of them, by your comment.
It’s okay. Some people are not ready to downsize to the ultimate in MINIMAL yet (or ever).
You might still have trouble understanding how a person, let alone small family, can LIVE within a space that you might be used to as the square-footage of your bedroom walk-in closet, but many do. And MANY MORE plan to live in this way, soon.
This is not just a blog (right, Kent?) about ‘small homes’ or (as some skeptics might observe) sheds-for-guests, it is about the CONCEPT of living SMALL (tiny), a LIFESTYLE of LITTLE. It is the romantic notion of living unfettered by so much STUFF, of being mobile in some instances (gypsies, vardos), and, most importantly, to better focus on LIVING LIFE, not just ‘living in a house’.
No hard feelings, I just wanted to communicate with you this small point that was really a very BIG POINT, that of the tiny house being more than just a statement of economics: it’s about being able to live with only what’s necessary, the key word being ‘live’, and in a simpler, less-cluttered (both physically AND mentally) environment!
It’s NOT a ‘downsizing’ thing at all: although the wish for that, and the constraints of a suffering economy, DO contribute to the ultimate decision to live ‘small’, it’s more about the lifestyle than the square-footage…
Speaking for myself, and (I hope) many others,
Shea (aka jipsi)
I have never posted to this site before but I just had to respond to this –
i’ve been following you for years, and I love the site. I don’t mind the “tiny house craigslist” thing, but I’ll admit I really like the longer-form features about particular houses, construction tips and the like. the blog is awesome, and a real source of inspiration to me. i check the site everyday, and tuck away money when I can to build my own tiny house someday.
please, in whatever form, keep it up.
I LOVE your blog & visit it daily! Please, please do not go down to a couple times a week. I agree with most that YOU are the one with the blog vision. Don’t get sidetracked by the occasional person that needs to complain.
As for me:
I am currently saving for my own tiny house with a mere 15 months to go before the build starts! So… I am most interested in what others have done, what they would do differently the next time, where they park & live, pics of interiors, solar options, propane or on-demand hot water, storage ideas & how continued living in a tiny house works for them. Of course the pics & links to other sites are always appreciated.
Please keep up with your daily posts. You are the only site that I HAVE to visit every day. Thank you for being so dedicated.
I visit your blog daily and like the variety on it, I didn’t know about Tiny House listings so I enjoy seeing tiny houses for sale. I would love to know where there is a discussion of people who want to or already have a tiny house community, maybe by state/city? I am having the darndest time. I also am having a hard time finding people who have children living in a tiny house on wheels.
I check your blog daily, and enjoy it very much, almost always finding something else to look at in the “You might also like” links. As you know, I build my own little shed studio this past year, and a small cabin in the woods over 20 years ago, so this is a subject of great interest to me.
Personally I am amazed at your dedication and frequency, and yes, know how much work goes into that. I’d miss daily posts, but would certainly understand less frequent ones! We don’t want you to burn out!
Too commercial? I hadn’t noticed that, not in any negative way. It appears to me to be a service to the community, a way to allow those who want and need these resources to find them all in one place. It’s nice to be able to find information on heating products, insulation, building plans (even though I’ve built already!), books and more. As I say, I consider it a service.
If it makes YOU feel too scattered to include those things, then it’s your decision, but as a reader, I’m perfectly capable of not reading those things that don’t apply to me or to my needs. 🙂
This site is useful and valuable and not in any way too commercial. There is just as much information to be found here about ways to build your own small life on the cheap as there is about places that are selling their products, and I like seeing the posts about tiny dwellings that are for sale. It’s fun and inspiring to see what other people have created, the choices they have made, and the monetary demands of creating a low-impact lifestyle. The actual ads on your blog are just about the same as ads anywhere (and, in my opinion, far less intrusive than, say, the Huffington Post). If posting ads for dwellings for sale, or information about companies that build pre-fabs or small house outfittings seems like too much all at once, then categorize, maybe, but all in all, information is good. Debate is good. Forge ahead.
Please don’t change anything. Where will we go for information if you start leaving out elements of the current blog content?
Everything in electronic media has its commercialized element today – this is an internet blog for pete’s sake. People can escape commercialism when they park their tiny home in a rural setting away from the connectivity of modern life. Until then, lets be real and honest folks, you can’t expect electronic media to be free from all commercialism. This is a great blog – keep up the good work.
Please focus on the following three areas:
1. Showing innovative design/build concepts – we need to see how others are doing it so as to facilitate our own doing it. I would be glad to see commercial products included in this description. I’m interested in both modern AND ancient building materials and designs.
2. Reporting on people actually living the tiny life – this will give more people courage to try such a lifestyle. You might even report on the ease or difficulty of placing tiny houses in various locales and parts of the country.
3. Report on cheap methods of building a tiny house, including innovative recycle, multiple use devices, designing for inexpensive contruction. Most of us don’t have the cash to build a $60k tinyhouse on a spiffy trailer so postings on how people have done it on a shoestring will be most helpful.
Kregg
Kent, seems like tinyhouseblog is a collection point for most of a the Tiny House Movement, which is nascent stage. You have captured the imagination of people and showing them a new perspective, those who are doing research (lifestyle and logistics), those who have jumped in to try it full time, etc. I believe one of your most popular posts was with diana’s “innermost house”. if you type in “innermost house” on google, your blog post shows up first, at least in my results. While there are many tiny houses out there.. the idea that Tiny can be beautiful and can work with a few lifestyle changes intrigues people. That’s why Jay’s/Dees/paul mcmullin/ matt hoffman’s airstream,design does matter, quality craftsmanship, matters. The point is make the Tiny lifestyle, not seem crazy and ridiculous, make it crazy and ridiculous “not to” consider a minimal lifestyle. It’s more like, those living on a boat/houseboat, full time RVing. I understand there are politics about the building codes and such and I just wanted to make a point out minimum squarefootage.. back in the day, families were bigger, homes were smaller, people just thought bigger families were going always be the case, especially the religious culture back in the day. now families are smaller and homes are bigger. Most would think that haven’t a bigger house encouraged to have more children to fill it up, that is not the case, i believe its’ the cost of living that prohibits bigger families. I don’t mind bigger houses and homes as long as the space is being utilized. Anyway, i believe the Tiny house movement will continue on.. people will write books on how to transition to the tiny house, forums and social networks will be created to address these issues, eventually a Tiny Town, ordinance change packets/kits where it empowers community from grassroots to approach tiny house issues to make it easier to live. Anyways, the THM is in the beginning, the best thing you can do is showcase people that are doing it, like the monkton vermont guy that hosted a Peter King Tiny House Building workshop that moved from huge house to small house. With the huge banner ads, it seems like Tumbleweed houses owns the tiny house movement (tinyhousetalk.com, etc.) Great marketing strategy by them.
I second the idea of attaching a forum to your blog where people who have something to give/sell/whatever can connect with people who need that product/service/whatever. 🙂
Love your site – email u send out r great – it’s not to bez-zy 4 me – keep on keeping on – Roger,
http://www.EarthBall.org – I’m sending this e from my Earth Ball home located anchord out near sugarloaf key, fl. 20 miles north of key west – been living on the EB going on two years now… Peace, Love and Later, Roger@RogerART.com – It’s A Great Way to LIVE OFF OUR NEGITIVE oil, nuke GRID
Yours is one of the few blogs I read, but only when something catches my eye. I’m considering and researching for simple living so I collect all your commercial info as well. As for non-commercial content, I’d like to see more from people who have been living Tiny for over a year. I like the practical review, not just “Day 36 and we’re still here…” stuff.
I like to hear how people solve unintended problems. Maybe you could interview some long-timers?
The bottom line:
It’s your blog, you have to maintain it and find ways for it to pay for itself. Thanks for reminding me what those ads are there for and in the future I’ll try to click on them more often.
PS There will ALWAYS be someone criticizing your work. When it happens on my blogs I’m sweet but I never cave to their demands. If they don’t like it they don’t have to visit.
Hi Kent,
I took some picures this week of some houseboats in the FL Keys that I want to upload for you to see. I LOVE to look at all the different designs and of course the articles that tell a story about the people are interesting too.
I like having a section of “for sale” “how to” “products that go into the house” and “builders of tiny houses” as well as the forum. The ads are just fine! Not a reason in the world to spend all of your time without making money to cover costs.
Love, love, love your site. Don’t change a thing, and please don’t stop your daily schedule. Hope you are feeling the love from all your devoted fans. I will have a tiny house some day thanks to your help and inspiration.
I am so in agreement here. Granted, I don’t love every little thing, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the fact that you are bringing all the various obscure things to us. I would rather see you post an article about a tiny cookstove that is for sale that some people might find ridiculous than not see a post that day.
I think there are some purists on this blog who think it’s not a tiny house if it doesn’t have a shower, who thought the treehouses in Germany were uninsurable and ridiculous, who find this toilet impractical, or this guy’s trailer insanely small and feel the need to cut so many things down (and it is frequently the same names doing this). Quite honestly, I find those comments major downers. I’d rather see how other people are living and what super-insane ideas are out there because, Lord knows, I might be able to take some overly commercial or ridiculously insane idea and run with it in a more practical way that suits me.
I thank you for all your efforts. And regardless of what I say or anyone else says: Follow your bliss. It’s your blog. You are doing a great job. 🙂
Amen.
I like it the way that is is… I enjoy checking in multiple times a day and the entries that include tiny homes for sale make for new content to enjoy while we are waiting for more in-depth content.
I have loved this blog best of all of the tiny house blogs. I rarely find anything un-interesting that you’ve posted. Some of the ads that pop up that are not true “tiny house” related items are a bit off-putting, but not a deal-breaker. Some of the ads are very helpful to someone who is learning and thinking about making the transition to this lifestyle.
Personal info about people building and living in tiny houses is always appreciated. Resources for supplies, tips on materials are also priceless. I can’t say you are doing anything wrong with this blog. I don’t often comment, but I always visit and regularly!
Thank you for maintaining this site. I love it.
I agree with John and Jaie. A separate blog or section might be nice for products and listings.
TinyHouseBlog is my favorite read of all the stuff I have on my igoogle page. Everything about it has made me appreciate having moved from a big house (that owned me rather than me owning it) into a smaller house. This blog has given me much-needed perspective. The posts I love the most are the ones that show someone’s unique ideas on how to arrange and organize. I’m not in the market for buying someone else’s product but I love being inspired for what I might build. And I nearly always want to see more interior photos 🙂
Dear Kent,
I started reading last year and now visit as part of my daily routine. Your blog has truly become the internet hub of my tiny house universe and I only want to see that hub grow stronger and more robust.
Perhaps a new website (break out of wordpress?) would better suit all of the content, connections and advertising you provide your readers and customers? The more tiny house content the better!
My 2¢
-Morgan
How would breaking out of wordpress help that?
I am brand new to your website (and new to the Tiny House movement as well). I am planning on building my first tiny house this fall when the weather cools off here in Florida. In my opinion, you cannot show enough tiny house content on your blog (commercial or not) because, as long as there are pictures and info, I am getting lots of new ideas from people who have already been down the path I am about to embark upon.
I say, if it has anything at all to do with Tiny Living, include it! I would rather see you continue doing seven day a week entries on everything Tiny rather than limit yourself, depriving us interested folk of your insight several days a week.
You’re doing great. If that reader thinks there aren’t enough non-commercial entries, she should submit some that she would like to include herself. (Or start her own danged blog…)
This blog truly has become a main hub of the tiny house movement. Because the tiny house movement is in a state of accelerated evolution (due to the environmental and economic concerns we all face), the subject matter is bound to be diverse and fluid.
I read your blog daily. I’ve enjoyed all of it, including the supportive advertizey stuff. I’ve found that I glean just as many ideas and inspiration from those posts as I do your other posts.
But, honestly? I agree with many here. This is “your” blog. You are the only person that can decide what you want to get out of it. If you want to cut back to 3 – 5 posts per week, cut back. If you want to support fellow tiny housers that are selling their houses via craigslist, do it. Post what YOU find interesting. Support who YOU want to support. Or don’t. (Master Of The Universe voice) You have the power!! Heh heh. If you don’t stay true to what excites you, it will no longer be fun for you.
My best to you. Regardless of how this evolves, know that I’ve enjoyed the ride thus far. Thanks!
You charge money for these ads?? Hm. It’s very important to separate content and advertising, Kent.
Anyway, IMO the main value of this blog, and a lot of popular blogs actually, is as a communication hub. Seriously. Think about it for a second: that’s very hard to build and also very very useful.
There’s really a lot of value in connecting people. I suggest jumping all over it. It’s a precursor to getting people organized, too…. I have to say one of the most annoying things about the tiny house movement in general (and to a significant degree this blog, sorry) is that in the almost year I have been interested in it, there has been negligible progress in the politics department.
I *might* say that it smells like there is some minor progress with understanding what the problem is, but… that’s in a year. Frankly I forgot to put up my usual announcement post for the VirtualTinyHouseConference because I have next to lost interest in tiny houses. My blog is on repeat, posting reposts.
I’m still interested in building a tinyhouse for myself, but frankly I know that it is not practical until political progress is made, and that is clearly not happening so far, despite my attempts at agitation…. I don’t read most of the posts in my Rss reader on the subject of tiny houses anymore, only if they involve politics.
I’m sort wanting to do at least one last blog post on the politics which would be made to get newcomers up to speed, then I think that’s probably it for my participation in the blogosphere.
Kent,
Love your blog. It’s helped remind me of my interest in tiny houses. Would love to see:
more product reviews w/ you interviewing people who have used the product- with the reason they picked it. For example, is denim insulation better than foam, etc.
I do think the ads on either side of the main content would be better than in the middle, though.
Thanks for doing this, and rememeber you can’t please everyone!
I think blogging 3-5 days would be great too, then I wouldn’t feel like I’m missing something!!!
I find it quite helpful as is. For those of us just starting the “thinking” process about downsizing, I think your blog is invaluable.
Cheers.
Hey Kent,
I agree with a lot of posts up here on the fact that this is your blog. I’m a dedicated fan so whatever you do I will still check in regularly.
My favorite posts are those that contain tiny houses up for sale and ones about how people manage living the tiny house lifestyle. I would love to see more of those!
Don’t change a thing. My husband and I are going to be building a tiny house in May and your blog has been a part of our morning ritual for over a year. It’s the best, most informative blog out there on tiny houses and small living. We have learned a lot and been inspired daily by it’s articles and videos. That said, we appreciate your hard work! Keep it coming 🙂
I’ve only been perusing your site for a little over a year now and have to say that I always start my day with your blog.
I don’t feel that it’s too commercial at all. It has a nice blend: adverts, real stories, videos, helpful links, past articles, how-to articles and links, et cetera.
I just love how it varies and especially like the photos from all over the world. This is a global movement and those pictures reinforce it!
Gratzie for being there and making my day!
Namaste.
If there’s going to be adverts, make ’em tiny house oriented—-like Compact Appliances, which duh, feature teensy appliances. But you have to do what you have to do, and you’re providing a service.
I look forward to reading your blog everyday.
It does not bother me if you do advertisements..it’s really not that much.
Many sites/blogs are doing much more including those annoying pop ups.
I agree with gregor in that we need more info on whats happening politically regarding state laws/codes for or against tiny houses.
If that is not a concern to someone before venturing down this path it may well become one after having spent money and time in an attempt at living small only to learn later that there are ordinances, laws and codes against it.
Some times changes are required in what we do if for no other reason than it gets boring doing something the same old way.
Just make sure you don’t throw the baby out with the wash.
The idea of offering your blog less and making it more juicy sounds good to me.
Anoa
I have loved your blog since the first time I found it. The two times you featured our little buildings we got a ton of traffic on our Facebook page. Thanks again! I do like the diversity but agree that the commercial content has seemed to crowd out the “creative/DIY” content a bit. In a few cases I was left wanting for more detail and/or pictures but always happy to have a “one stop shop” for all things tiny house. The blog recently inspired me to convert our tent platforms to hard sided shelters. I agree with others, this is your baby and I will continue to be a regular visitor.
Howdy!
I love this blog and I wouldn’t change it at all! I have checked it every day for he past 3 years. When we decided to build our ProtoHaus this blog was extremely helpful. It has been the catalyst for so many fantastic projects and also a community builder. I say keep up the good work!
While not every single entry is not up my alley, I am always entertained by this blog. As I am not a long-time reader, I don’t know that it was ever different. I like the information I get here, and frequently I find myself intrigued by something mentioned and spend a morning researching it.
In short, do what you feel you need to do. I will remain a loyal reader.
-Z
Well, nstead of cutting back on the number of posts, may I propose a different course altogether?
The way I see it, this blog is fantastic in that it doesn’t confine itself to just one aspect of the Tiny House Movement. It has interesting posts for those generally interested, people who want to build a TH, people already living the lifestyle, etc.
It is probably impossible to keep everyone happy and entertained a full 100% of the time, espcecially if you do all the hard work yourself.
Cutting back the numer of posts is one way to refocus, and up the quality of the posts. Keep in mind though, what is a quality read for some, may be completely uninteresting to some of your other readers. You just have a lot of topics to cover, and a very broad audience to keep satisfied.
How about going the opposite way then: MORE posts. Of course one could not expect one individual to do that amount of writing, so how about some guest editors or asking people to send in material to be published, either one time, or as regular contributors?
It would up the diversity of the articles, and I’m sure it would keep people busy reading for longer.. you could add tags to the posts as well, so people could quickly search for items relevant to their interests.
You could have posts on relevant products & listings, building techniques, exisitng and in-progress homes, maybe even diversify from tiny homes to include ‘tiny businesses’. Hey, maybe even a once a week or once a month column from someone living in a tiny house, etc.
Whatever you decide though, I’ll keep checking your blog on a daily basis.. I might not read everything, but I sure do appreciate everything.
Personally, I really like knowing the things that are being sold. I think if it were somewhere else, I’d never go look at it, but keeping it all together, I get to see it all.
I’d also like to add my voice to the request for more about the political and legal aspects of the tiny house movement.
I very slightly agree with the facebook commenter. I don’t care to see reposted craigslist ads (which I think there have been, on here) but I don’t mind seeing houses for sale. Especially when those houses have detailed pictures of interior and exterior. That just serves to help us fix better in our mind what we want in OUR tiny house.
I would recommend a “for sale” section, which doesn’t come through the rss feed or blog, or set up a secondary “for sale” feed. You could even also manage this through tags, and allow readers to subscribe to feeds that include or exclude the “for sale” tagged posts. That would be very effective. And involve almost no change for you. Now that means everyone should be using the rss instead of visiting manually, but I think they should be doing that anyway 😉
So I say you are doing a fine job. There will always be critics.
I love it as it is and all the diverstiy is great. I don’t mind it being “all over the map” as it’s a small world anyway, and we are all connected and I find it fascinating to see the unique and varied ideas and projects. I also have no issue with advertising: we all need to have money to survive and I begrudge no one that option. Keep up the great work!
Wow, 77 comments in a hour. Now you know what to do to get some interaction, Kent, just tell people you’re thinking of changing something. lol.
I agree with a lot of what mybluemake said. I like to see a variety of articles around the entire experience of THB, from finding land to putting the finishing touches on a kitchen or bath.
Many of us are here to learn, dream and borrow for our own “someday” plans. It’s like that for me. I appreciate all info that you provide.
I have to say that I get less out of reading what I’d call vanity posts – basically personality stories – but you don’t do much of that anyway.
I’ve been reading pretty much since you started so I’ve seen your content evolve, but I don’t think you’ve strayed that far from the beginning.
I have only one complaint when it comes to this blog:
The adds in the middle are disturbing to the eye & takes the focus off your posts…so if you’re going to change anything – change that. 😉
…keep up the good work! <3
i think it’s great as is. the best tiny house blog out there and it helps to keep my dream of building my own tiny house alive. if you want to improve in any direction go for it – i’m sure it will be great, or leave it as is. i like it.
Love the subject, LOVE the tiny house in a landscape posts. I know I am not the main demographic but I am a mother of 4 interested in the “as tiny as we can handle home”. An occasional post for this demographic might be interesting to others as well.
Sorry I can’t chime in with all your well-wishers, but in fact I stopped reading Tiny House Blog regularly some months ago when it became, as you so eloquently stated, “Tiny House Craigslist”. I was alerted to this post by a friend and I have to say: please, please, PLEASE stop posting so many for-sale ads. I could use the listings site you mentioned if I was in the market to purchase.
I would love to read more posts about the practical specifics of furnishing and living in a small home (cooktop vs. range, for example, or ventilation suggestions) and accessibility. I can’t remember the last time I saw a post about a tiny house which would be suited for an elderly person or a person with a physical disability — heck, you’d be pretty much out of luck in any of them if you simply broke your ankle.
I would also be interested in reading more posts about non-trailer-based housing. Tiny house seems to have become synonymous with portable house, and I don’t think that needs to be so.
I’ve come here off and on for 3 years now. I am facinated with tiny house living. I have to admit that the Jay Shafer and other’s trailer-top micro cabin craze is getting old. When you feature another person’s version of tiny house on a trailer, while great for the builder, it is getting…well…yawn…
I guess you have to decide on who you most want to appeal to. Young potential builders who are happy to climb up into those hunch-over lofts? The vagabond downsizing to a “greener” life–but with a pickup truck with a V-8 engine? The close-to-retirement person who wants to downsize to something they can afford to live in, but needs a comfortable chair rather than a board with a cushion on it, and a bed that isn’t up a flimsy ladder?
Sorry, I’m ranting.
I assume you want to appeal to a variety of people.
I love to see 200-400 sq ft houses that actual humans could be happy staying home in. They can have comfortable furniture and comfortable beds. They don’t consider their toilet and their shower to be the same unit. I know, this is the type of thing that no one can get zoning permission to build–bless the U.S.A. Are there no success stories to feature in this area?
I would also like to see some stuff about alternative buildings turned into tiny houses. A single garage…a tiny public building…an old mobile home, etc. Something done on a dime, not 50-80 grand.
Maybe I’m in the wrong place. Maybe “tiny” has it’s limits and 400 sq ft is way beyond the core purpose of tinyhouseblog. That’s fine, too.
Right now ApartmentTherapy is having it’s annual “Small Cool Contest” and their category called teeny-tiny goes up to 400 sq ft. There are plenty of entries at 200-300. How fun! Actual people living actual lives every day, with interior pictures and floor plans.
No interior pictures of places are soooo disappointing, by the way.
There, I’m done. 😀
This blog has not become too commercial, in my humble opinion. Tiny House Blog is a fantastic resource and I read it, literally, every day.
“Too commercial”, not sure where that’s coming from, I personally don’t see it. I don’t know, maybe a separate section for things like tiny homes for sale or products is the answer.
I would like to see the more practical aspects/obstacles associated with obtaining and living in a tiny house. I would like to read more about finding land on which to put a tiny house. I know this topic has been well covered in the sense that it is basically very difficult to find land for these homes but if anyone has any information about land or maybe about the most tiny house-friendly states or something that would be helpful.
I’d appreciate practical advice and information about setting small mobile homes (the actual labor and costs involved) and about things like getting running water hooked up. Is it possible for a novice to set up an effective grey water system? Things like that.
Also, articles about the pros and cons, ins and outs of living in RVs, that would be great. Can you find land for an RV? RV parks don’t sound very appealing – but are they that bad? What all goes into “hooking up” your RV?
Information about earning an income while living the “tiny life” would of course be welcome. There is a site called “Cheap RV Living” and it has a section about people who “work camp” where they park their RV/Camper and earn money by working for national forests. That never even occured to me!
Anyhoo, I love this blog and I truly appreciate all the effort that goes into it. Thanks for opening up the floor for this discussion and for listening to our suggestions.
Kathleen
re: total volume of info:
i check multiple tiny blogs daily. many only have new content once a week or so, so i particularly enjoy your blog because there’s new content every day. also, the volume of your content is not so great that i can’t keep up with it either. however, if the content of your blog and other similar blogs was to grow such that i couldn’t keep up with it with a modest amount of time, that’s the point where i’d want some separation of content (eg, fewer “commercial” posts) so that i could spend less time keeping up.
re: content
i haven’t had any problem with any of the content myself. certainly some is of a little less interest than others, but all of it is thought provoking, and keeps me from getting in a mental rut, and keeps me thinking of creative ways to solve my own housing needs. those are all good things.
my fav’s so far:
Quietude, and Inner House. these 2 houses are my all time favorites. one post like the above would balance out 2-3 months of posts i disliked (and there haven’t been posts i disliked).
i’m sure it takes you a lot of time to sort and link and post all the content you do. i for one appreciate it. if you want to change the direction a bit for your own comfort, i have no problem with that. but i think you’re doing a stellar job now, so i can’t give you any tips on what to change.
–sgl
Hello,
I’m not in the habit of commenting, but I am a frequent visitor of your blog and thought I would throw my two cents in since you asked.
What I like about your blog best are the informational pieces about available building techniques, the clever living solutions of successful tiny house dwellers (particularly when we get to see other countries or cultures), and as many photos as I can get showing interior views of beautiful tiny homes.
The Tiny House in a Landscape I find less interesting, simply because they don’t usually have much content. It is still visually interesting, I just think of them as “lite” posts.
As far as the commercial aspect goes, I’m not too concerned about it. They are what they are, neat ideas that people are using to make a living selling products they are passionate about. I have not ever felt that your blog was pushing product for personal profit and I have never felt offended by the posts and I don’t think that will change.
I enjoy your blog and hope you will keep it up, hopefully 7 days a week, so that I can keep reading. 🙂
Thanks, Des
This is my favourite blog. I wouldn’t change anything.
Sleep well.
You put a lot of time into this blog (I provide a house advice blog with 3 posts a week and that takes enough time so I know) and there is no reason why you shouldn’t get some reward by making some money from commercial activities.
I like to see different designs and what people have come up with interpreting their tiny house or alternative lifestyles.. I use this blog for inspiration, and to hear their stories.
Ultimately you have to feel comfortable, it’s your blog after all – if the commenters have too much influence over the content then its no longer unique!
I hope you find your way. This blog is about simplifying – simplicity is key! If you were to write a bullet point list of keywords why you blog, there’s the answer – and its that core that attracts readers.
Best wishes.
I have only read the THB (via RSS feed) for a few short months, but it has already become my favorite subscription.
A large aspect of what Tiny Houses are all about is manufacturing for sale. As more and more companies are making these types of home available to the masses, THB has done a great job of bringing them to light. Mixed with DIY Tiny House builders, I find the content here to be very well balanced.
Just because something is commercial doesn’t make it bad.
There are some great Classified plugins available for WordPress. I’d suggest creating a separate WP-powered classified section, and then once a week feature the best listings on the main blog. 🙂
I have been a faithful lurked for years, and I just want to say that I don’t think that the blog has become too commercial at all. Like some of the other posters have stated, every picture that we see of tiny houses only goes to further challenge or solidify what each of us want in our own tiny house.
I actually enjoy this style of blogging – in the words of the author of one of my other favorite blogs, Minimal Mac, Patrick Rhodes, you’re the curator of this exhibit of all things tiny house. Keep it up, because you’re doing an excellent job!
One negative: the email signup popup is fine once or twice, but for those of us who actually come back on a regular basis, it gets really old, really quick. Even more so if we’re on a mobile device. Just a friendly FYI!
I think this is a great blog and I don’t think you should be losing any sleep over a comment by one person. You will never be able to please everyone. You just have to stay true to your first love of tiny houses. I particularly love the posts on someone who is already living in a tiny house and shares with us how they did it and how it is working for them. I love the interior pictures as well.
Cool things pertaining to tiny houses are also great – solar, rainwater catchment, compost toilets, etc.
I’m not as keen on the RV-type things but no one says I have to read those posts. Someone else may like them.
I also think that if you decide to make it a part-time blog, instead of what it is now, you will lose readers. I think a real blog needs posts every day (perhaps not on the weekend though – we need to get a life 🙂
Best of luck with what’s ahead.
Heather
I really like your blog (I’ll have to confess though, I thought it was a “Small House Magazine”). This is the only blog on the net that I actually read every post and look forward to the next. You are providing a service that most forward thinking, conservative, intuitive people greatly appreciate. To live the affordable dream based on actual need instead of greed is a great expression of humility and love for humanity. The fixture and utility ads that show different options for different life styles or needs is invaluable. I am 62, but have not lost the visionary adventurism of my 20’s. Thank you for your dedication and service. Be true to yourself, listen to the spirit that is within you.
I live in a small but not tiny house. BUT… we’ve got 7 people in this small house. I love the articles and features from which I get ideas and encouragement for my own life. Organizing and storage, decluttering, and seeing other people making a lot out of a little and enjoying it.
OK, Stop already! Don’t change a thing!!!!! I look here everyday after work just to see what is new…..not broke so don’t fix it!!!!!
Bob
I liked some of the alternative building strategies presented in the past years. I have also liked tours of tiny houses, including those that are lived in. But face it, a lot of the tiny house pictures are going to come from either 1. architects, 2. builders or 3. MLS pictures.
In my opinion, this blog really struggles on tags. Your categories are too broad and too hard to find, and there are no sub-categories. I can’t quickly filter between “real” tiny houses (ones with bathrooms, showers, etc.), toy tiny houses (without bath, water, power, etc.), off-grid vs. on-grid, architect designed, trailers vs. real houses vs. lofts, and so forth. You can’t have so many tags that there are only a few items in each tag, but it’s terribly inconvenient to get dozens or hundreds of hits on a tag, and then try to find something relevant.
Also, I hate to say it, but tinyhouseblog.com does come across as a Deek and Jay Schaefer / Tumbleweed fan site. If I wanted to track their every move, I’d read their blogs directly. A quick link would be fine, not embedded video, pictures, articles, etc. from their blog posts.
And finally, I don’t really care for re-posted articles, especially marketing brochures. This is a blog, you’re an expert, and I would much rather have two paragraphs of your personal analysis and comments, then some open discussion with the other comments participants.
Overall I still enjoy this blog, but I do agree that it has gotten swamped in recent months. The avalanche of posts also tends to snuff comments and conversation, because everything is shoved off the page after a single day, sometimes only in hours.
I just want to express my deep appreciation for all that you have done and are doing to forward the public conversation and the public embrace of living compactly, of living a life of energy and economic sustainability. In the economy we face in the future, it just makes sense to downsize voluntarily, rather than having the economy do it for you, which leaves people dealing with it in a less than thoughtful and empowered manner.
As a personal response, last year I bought an old 26′ travel trailer, stripped it to the frame, and re-built it as an all-climate, heavily insulated, hot water in-floor heated, off-grid ready, permanent home/office on wheels. The interior will be completed this summer, and I hate not being able to work on it full time.
What was going to be my “home” has morphed into a prototype for a new living concept, sort of a not-so-tiny hybrid of an RV and a Park Model utilizing the easy mobility and inherent tax advantages of one with the livability and aesthetics of the other. It is one sweet design, with multiple redundancies (solar, gas, electric, photovoltaic, wood-burning) in the realms of power, heating and cooking. And it’s rather cute to boot.
This spawned a new business: building, selling and renting a similar product on a 30′ frame with a sleeping loft and a fold-out greenhouse/solar collector/living space totaling 337 sq.ft, of useable living space, that can sleep 6 if need be.
Tiny House Blog has inspired my thinking, broadened my horizons, and provided encouragement about the viability, and the social value of such a business, and for that I am grateful. db
I completely skip the ads and lately I’m skipping a lot of posts. I’d like to read more stories about folks who are actually living in tiny homes, even up to 500 s.f. or so and how they organize, work, live, etc. in these homes.
My favorite thing about Tiny House Blog is being able to hear the story. The story about how a house was built, the inspiration behind the person building the house, how they went about it, etc.
I believe when you read a Tiny House Blog post, it helps get the wheels turning for the readers. The “I could do this” light bulb cuts on.
Please keep providing the quality content you’ve provided us with for years. Your blog has inspired me to become involved in the Tiny House Movement. I have checked your site daily for years and I hope to continue to do so for years to come! Thank you Kent.
Kent,
I’ve been reading your blog daily for a couple of years. I’m glad that you have new content almost daily – DON’T CHANGE THAT!
You inspired me to build my own TH which is well under way – framed and roofed – in my driveway in Portland, OR.
My favorite posts are just any cool Tiny Houses. Love the personal stories from builders. I like cool TH related products. Well, I guess I like pretty much everything you do!
As for being too commercial? Please! I highly recommend Terry Gross’ interview with the Black Keys. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/31/133276978/the-fresh-air-interview-the-black-keys
They talk about being called “sell-outs” because they sold the rights to their music for commercials.
Personally, I don’t really notice the ads. Selling ads is the mark of a successful blog! Many of them relate directly to Tiny Houses. It’s not like we have to sit through 3 minutes of ads to read a post (that might be annoying). If someone doesn’t like ads they can go read that other great TH Blog that doesn’t have ads. Er, wait, um… which one is that again?
Bottom line, Kent: Keep up the good work and don’t worry about the haters!
Cheers,
-Matt
You can’t please them all, so don’t try! Just keep up the good work and not worry about the nay sayers,they come and go. I visit your blog everyday, the center of my internet day. I agree some posts are better then others but there is always tomorrow’s post to look forward to! Change your blog if YOU want to, I’ll still be here reading every post. Thank you for changing my life!
I like to see the pictures and floor plans of small and tiny houses. I also like to read about the ways people have solved issues like insolation, heating, cooling, plumbing, etc.
I would love to see more on location solutions for placing small/tiny houses in residential areas. I’m hoping to build a small house (not on wheels) and need all the help I can get to figure out how to find a place for it. How to get a city to allow for some re-zoning to allow the smaller square footage. That sort of thing. Maybe how to find like-minded people to develop a small-house neighborhood.
But I read this blog frequently just as it is and I get the updates from your facebook account.
It’s very difficult to gather enough material to post 7 days a week. Your readers would certainly understand if you cut back the frequency and maintained high quality content as a trade-off. Perhaps you could devote one day per week or per month to feature tiny houses that are for sale, or tiny house builders.
I would love to see more floor plans and stories about tiny house dwellers. Put out an open call for people to submit stories and photos. Perhaps you could expand to include categories such as Tiny House, Compact House, Small Cottage, etc. because certainly the majority of people are not going to make the commitment to live really tiny.
Keep up the good work. I truly believe that comments (even negative ones) can help us refocus our efforts.
Kent,
JD at GetRichSlowly ran into a similar problem a year or two ago. He solved the problem by hiring some freelance writers I think. Might be worth getting in touch with him.
I know that, as a trained architect and practicing engineer with an interest in tiny structures, there are some very talented people that would enjoy helping you write for the site.
Kent,
I think the blog is great and it seems like I’ve been reading it for ages.
I think that the wide variety of articles is wonderful as it refreshes my thinking and sends me in new directions.
I read a lot of blogs daily, and I do have a list of blogs that I may stop reading before long, but yours is not on that list. It’s not even close to the list.
I wouldn’t mind seeing more on geodesic domes and yurts, as well as what people do for heating, insulation, water and other related mechanical systems. Maybe more cold climate stuff as well…
Ian
Please don’t change a thing and not one more restless night (over this). This blog is perfect to me, just as it is. I don’t care about every single thing you post, but I wouldn’t expect to. I have noticed that the types of posts I do care about has changed from when I first arrived here.
When I found this blog, I was in the “OMG – tiny houses, never thought about those before” phase and spent months fantasizing and absorbing information on the concept as a whole. Now that I am more educated about them, I know what I like and what part of the process I need to focus on now.
My interests will certainly continue to change and I have no doubt that this format will always have something to offer.
I also really like the houses for sale. I wouldn’t be surprised if my dream house shows up here just when I am ready to buy it. If you feel a conflict with the new classified for tiny houses, maybe consider a mutually beneficial and supportive relationship with them. Work together.
I do have one plea – please don’t post less. I come here daily and always look forward to new info. Maybe post more by having someone help you run the blog? A regular contributing editor maybe? You could even encourage guest posts from your readers. In other words, the more you can do the better we are – but take of yourself first, of course.
I enjoy the story’s of People behind the tiny houses, not so much the houses themselves, they all start to look alike after awhile a box on a trailer. Its the People that make these little structures so interesting. They have motivated me to build my own tiny house thats over half way done. the story of these people keep me swinging the hammer. The videos and interviews of these beautiful souls is what keep me returning to your blog. Keep up the great work.
Oops, meant to say, “take *care of yourself first”. You have already done so much for this movement, if you never do another thing it will have been more than enough.
I have enjoyed your blog for four years. What I enjoy most is meeting the people that have built and live in thier tiny houses. They enspire me. I would like to see more of the same. Meeting the people is as important to me as seeing thier sturctures. Keep up the good work. By the way. I have my tiny house started and hope to finish it by next spring. Thanks for the inspiration.
Myron
I think it would be great to see more information on how to make a tiny house work/happen for the people reading your blog. For instance: I live in an urban area and would like to remain in the city. I also want to build my own tiny home. I know there are many obstacles to tiny homes in urban areas and I think it would be nice to see more posts on the obstacles that you might face if you’re trying to build your own tiny home and how to overcome them.
I’m also, honestly, tired of the trailer tiny homes. It seems like a lot of your content is centered on tiny homes that are portable (modular, on wheels, can be packed up, etc.). I want to see what kind of tiny homes families are building and how they are making it work for them. It’s fine and great to build a home that’s only 118 sq.ft and on wheels but that’s not practical for a family of 3 or 4, but tiny houses aren’t necessarily out of reach for these kinds of living situations either (as evidenced by your recent post with the woman who recently turned her patio into her living room to accomodate her second child.) Aside from the few installments of her story I have seen though there’s no other evidence on your blog that a family could make a tiny home work for them. If I didn’t know better I might think that as someone with a family a tiny house isn’t a possibility for me.
I do really like the installments of other tiny structures though, like the tiny movie house, as do all of the people I’ve shared those with. I’d love to see more of those kinds of things too.
I am a big fan of this blog and like others I enjoy coming here on a daily basis. Some changes in format would be very worthwhile, but please keep the blog as the main focus. A website tab format for different listings (for sale, tiny house plans, etc would be helpful, including a search to help find older articles by key words.
…the tab format in its current form may simpler no longer be adequate for the site.
I don’t really think it is becoming too commercial.
I struggle sometimes with the misspellings, sentence fragments, and run-on sentences, but that’s just because I’m a picky teacher.
I like the content and the information. I’m still dreaming of owning a tiny house some day- preferably one made of cargo containers.
I enjoy your blog and check it almost everyday. Personally I would like to see more tiny houses that are not on trailers. I get bored with that more than any ads I see. Also more info about costs, how long it took to build, how they solve for water, electric, etc. Details, details, details. I found some fun links and blogs to follow from here. Keep up the good work.
I have been reading here for about 3 years now and love the storys of folks building their own tiny homes, and the mobil ones on trailers are my main passion and focus. Really the only thing I dont care for is the storys on Commercial trailers/mobil homes/RV’s…like the one on the front page right now below this thread. There are tons of websites out there to promote commercial builders, but to me this has always been “the” place to go to for info on people building there own mobil tiny homes. I do like the Tiny home builders like tumble weed and others as they focus on real tiny homes not RV’s.
I don’t see anything wrong with being commercial. I think it is great to help out people trying to make a living with tiny houses, and you are also helping those who want to buy one. Maybe some people would want the commercial activity to be off to one side, so they can ignore it, if they want. Lots of sites do that.
I love seeing the different tiny houses. Please don’t be discouraged. Your work is important. We all need to have a smaller footprint, and you are showing us how.
I’d like to see more “how-to;” when I started reading several years ago, it seems like every day there was a new house design or new plans presented that started me thinking about building my own “perfect” house. It seems like there isn’t much that’s new under the sun recently in that regard. I don’t mind the commercial–if I see something, I can study it for inspiration. But lately, no interior photos, no floor plans…not much…I really would like to see what a tumbleweed box bungalow actually is, for example. Perhaps the market is saturated?
Maybe you should (ever so slightly!) expand the definition of “tiny house” to include small cabins and the like…for those of us looking to make a tiny house a permanent home, they might be more appealing than the small trailers (which are admittedly, still really cool….) and keep us inspired.
I love the variety in your blog. I think it is great that you promote businesses related to tiny/small house living, showcase home designs and examples of small/tiny houses and profile homeowners and builders. You’ve done a great deal to increase awareness about small/tiny house living and are a great resource for small home enthusiasts. Keep up the great work!
I for one don’t think you should let one comment overly weigh your thoughts. I love looking forward to your posts and think your blog is a wonderful resource. What appeals to me most about it is that it is such an eclectic compendium of information. Prior to your blog the only name in the tiny house world was Jay Schaefer. Now the community is well aware of wonderful plans, fabulous creativity, resourcefulness, and down to earth practical skills that can be gleaned from many places and many people. Some of that info comes from Craig’s List. That’s not a bad thing because Craig’s List is only one place out of many. I look forward to your posts, just as they are. Thank you.
I read your blog every day and I love it! You have inspired me to read, learn, and plan. My next house will be tiny! And please don’t stop telling us about places to buy tiny homes – we need that! Reposting CL ads is fine – how else are we going to know who is selling? I love tinyhouselistings.com also – please keep developing that. Keep fighting the good fight – you are helping a lot of people! 🙂
First of all, you need to lighten up on Mr. Kent! 🙂 j/k When you’re in the heat of battle day after day creating a blog like this, it’s easy to lose focus or get a little off track. I don’t really like the advertisements on here either, BUT the other values of the site far out weight a few ads. It speaks volumes about you that you can read a wanton comment, step back from it, look at it objectively and then find the grace to agree with it. THERE IS ENORMOUS VALUE IN THIS BLOG. The articles are spot on. I’m always amazed as how well you come up with new and interesting content. This is the only blog I read with any degree of regularity. I’m very sensitive to advertising and marketing and I vehemently protect myself from it. Obviously, there’s not too much here 🙂 So, while stopping, taking a deep breath and taking a moment to refocus and rejuvenate is always good for you and this blog, I wouldn’t go all goofy making changes here. You have a unique blog that obviously works so if’n it ain’t broke … DON’T try to fix it. 🙂 This is a great time to say thanks for the past 2 years of Tiny Houses! I’m hooked! And, I look forward to seeing what unique thing you’re going to come up with next! Peace!
I enjoy the blog daily and agree with many of the people who say to do what you want as often as you want. It’s fine the way it is, but if it is causing you problems then by all means, adjust accordingly. If you go to fewer posts I’d miss the daily activity, but you need to keep things at a level that makes it possible for you to have a life too. If giving alternate days to guest bloggers works for you or whatever else might be necessary, well, we’ll just get used to it and go on from there.
I think you have done a good job myself. I have enjoyed reading your blog. I think it wood be nice if you could provide more info on how to put together the electical system for one of these. Like providing info on sources for solar panels, digital lighting, pros & cons of DC vs AC, etc. Perhaps you could focus on an individual area each week to provide an indepth look at the subject over a month or so. This approch could be used on all of the different areas of small house construction. Such as the plubing, roofing options, heating, and suppliers of the components. Then of course if you could create an index as a quick search tool, that could take your readers to the different sections of your old blog posts covering what they are looking for as they build there own tiny house.
Of course I fully understand if this is asking to much, but you asked.
Thanks for all the great reading,
Mike
I think you should examine how the space is used inside the Tiny Houses (or trailers, or living spaces, or yurts, or ….). Some of the houses you highlight have a lot more functionality than others. Some border on novelty. You can live in a teardrop trailer but it’s not very interesting unless you point out HOW the space makes a home.
And fewer posts is OK if feel that’s necessary. If blogging is a grind and it’s not your full time job, by all means focus on quality and not quantity.
Thanks for sharing what you share. But please, please, please have Christina or someone review your entries before posting. You say you’re looking to have a quality blog and quality extends to how it’s written. 🙂
To be honest, in guest psots it’s also really confusing that you have no break or even a quotation mark to mark where you shift from your intro to the guest poster’s words. You should put “Bill says” and then put quote marks around the guest poster’s words.
Keep going!
This blog is the first “site” I open up in the mornings after I deal with email.
I enjoy your blog so much and the posts I enjoy the most is seeing other folks homes and stories the most. Being in the design state myself I love seeing how they adjusted their homes to meet personal needs. I love the artsy homes that so many do like the gypsy cabins.
Personally what I would like to see are more posts on the “how to” part of tiny home building but this is your blog and your free to do with it as you please! If tiny home in the landscape is your thing then do it! I must say I love seeing those pics.
Just keep up the good work and thanks for what you are doing!
Well I love your site and have learned a lot. Personally I feel that when you are paying almost
$30,000 for a tiny house this would put most people in debt so the point is getting lost.
In this day and age you can buy a house with land for less. The thing that draws me to the tiny house is the idea of living life on your terms, constructing a home of your own design, without having to stay within unrealistic building codes. After all you can always move it. I think some of the RV information is a little redundant. The best part of your site is the uniqueness of the subject. So to spotlight an RV that can be found all over the web is not as cool as other things you have posted. I love the do it your selfers who make something from nothing, I Think to answer your question “where to go from here” you need to ask yourself why live in a tiny house.
Thanks
Bob
Yes, interiors! I always love to see how creative people can be when they actually live in tiny spaces full time and own stuff. I’m eternally curious about how they can make the tiny space functional, organized, & uncluttered, yet still interesting, beautiful, and expressive. Thanks for all the work you do, this is my favorite blog.
It’s late, after a long day and just want to say that I check this blog everyday, so you are doing something right.
Wow. Wondering if you realized how much of a response your open-end quandry was going to unleash…? 😉
I’ve been a reader/member/fan of Tiny House Blog for a little over a year (or is that two years?) and enjoy it 100%. I even haveit RSS’d to my Yahoo home page, right at the top, because I’d rather FIRST read about someone’s cool tiny house, or just pause-relax-for-five and take in the latest ‘Tiny House in a Landscape’, than glimpse today’s grim headlines.
As for growth, sometimes it’s a given that things will ultimately change as they grow, and others, well… sometimes we can, or should, keep things at a low simmer just-a-little-bit-longer before the next growth spurt kicks in. Prolong the youth, as it were.
I don’t believe THB is ‘too commercial’, even the slightest.
Perhaps it’s a little bigger now, with more people (readers AND contributors), more posts and viewpoints, and with more ‘content’ now that makes it more of an every-day-read, as opposed to the once or twice a week updates of yore.
So don’t fret too much. *I* wouldn’t, based on one complaint, or even several.
But a suggestion (can’t call it advice, because I don’t give THAT out anymore, especially unsolicited! lol)?
It can get to the point where, if there is a lull, that nowdays you might feel like you MUST come up with something to ‘fill it in’. There have been a few instances I noticed that I wanted to say, ‘wow, what was that all about?’, because it seemed …. well… trifling… maybe even awkward…? Like a paragraph or entry that was thrown out there just to BE, without having much to say except ‘I’m here’.
Listen, that there can be a day or two (or WEEK!) where nothing is new or noteworthy is OKAY. You don’t have to wrack your brain coming up with something to fill a blog page EVERYDAY just for the sake of it. Does that make sense?
Sometimes it’s the quiet LULLS in a pleasant conversation that make it that much more pleasant.
Just relax. Keep doing what you’re doing.
But don’t allow yourself to start feeling like it’s work, a job, or the joy will have just run off without you.
And above all, take time everyday to just ENJOY the whole idea that compelled you to start this blog in the first place: tiny houses and the tiny-home lifestyle! Make a conscious effort to give yourself a ‘break’ everyday just to browse, to surf, to think, to let inspiration come to YOU, rather than feeling you have to ‘hit the grindstone’ and go in SEARCH for something new and informative to share…
Just my 2 cents.
I’m a willing participant/reader and intend to stay, as long as you keep sharing your viewpoints and discoveries and continue giving other like-minded souls a place to gather and inspire/be inspired. 😉
jipsi
(aka Shea)
I enjoy this blog. I find it inspirational. Some days, the posts interest me more then others, but that’s ok. Appreciate your hard work.
I agree with one reader who said this: It is the people and their stories which makes this blog interesting. I don’t come here wanting to find a tiny house. I come here wanting to hear other people’s experiences, exploits, and adventures in creating their tiny houses. Here’s the simply solution. From now on if you have a legit story of someone post it on the blog. If they happen to be selling their tiny house just create a link at the end of the post to their website or craigslist ad aside from other relevant links. Booyah, problem solved.
I enjoy this blog very much and also enjoy the mix of personal features as well as slightly more commercial features.
I really enjoy features where we are gain insight into how the people adjust lifestyles to new circumstances/environments.
Hi! I really enjoy your blog. Especially posts with inspiring pictures of tiny houses and space saving solutions. Thank you for a great blog!!
I think that you shouldn’t listen too much to complaints. Your audience is growing, and for every person who complains about one of your posts, there are 50 others who love it.
As for the focus of your blog… I’m sure everyone has their own preferences, and not everyone likes the same posts. If there’s something that just doesn’t interest me (like yurts, RVs and some others), I skip it and come back the next day because there’s a good chance it’ll be a different topic. I like the variety, and I do find myself pulled in by subjects I didn’t think I’d enjoy.
I agree with some of the previous comments though… the shift from the introduction to the main body of text in the guest posts could work a lot better with added quotation marks, you don’t need to post every day if there’s nothing much that really catches your interest (and yes, some posts do feel like “fillers”), and an occasional post about a particularly interesting RV might be ok, but RVs really have enough sites already without taking over the Tiny House Blog.
Another pet peeve of mine is the “Tiny House in a Landscape” series. Don’t get me wrong – I love the pictures and the idea of the series, but there have been several instances now when you posted a description along with the picture where you provided false information. That can happen to anyone though… but when it was pointed out to you in the comments, you didn’t correct the original post as I think you should have.
All in all I think you’re doing a great job with this blog, don’t change it too much, please!
Kate
Hi Kent, I hope the volume, sincerity, and gushing support of all these comments have buoyed your spirits! This is the only blog I read EVERY day. I love it! It inspires me and has given me countless concrete helpful ideas that have helped with my own tiny-house build (currently underway). The only advertising on the site that I find to be a bit “too much” are the ads that are smack dab in the middle of the page and push your great content out of the way. The ads around the edges are fine. I agree with others’ suggestions about more clearly quoting others’ words or entries and about editing more closely for spelling, etc. Honestly, though, if nothing changed, I would still check your blog every day. I love seeing how other people are downsizing and finding small, low-cost, creative solutions for living a fulfilling, self-defined, debt-free, more earth-friendly life. However you tweak your blog concept, I hope you end up with something you still love and find inspiring, and that works well in your life.
Jan
I come to this site EVERY DAY and LOVE IT. Keep things the same and thank you for taking the time to keep this thing going. It is an inspiration.
Kent, don’t let small thinkers get to you (no pun intended). Keep it up, much appreciate what you do. Hope you get a good turn out today for the conf.
Wow! I want to say a huge thank you for your blog as I look forward to reading it daily and reviewing the archives. I appreciate the sharing you do with people, businesses, and the world with ‘Tiny House in a Landscape’ (never boring! especially since my heritage is Norwegian and Tiny Houses seem to be in my blood just as rocks and water are!). I know change is inevitable but I have to say I trust and admire all you’ve done and hope some things will stay the same. I’m a satisfied reader!
This reminds me of a popular “back to the earth” magazine I read faithfully back in the 1970’s. Then it got too commercial and lost its focus. I dreamed of owning my own little plot of heaven in the country, so I devoured that magazine. When they tried to “sell” me all the gizmos I would need to be a self-sustained property owner, I quit reading the mag. Likewise, I have been passionate about wanting (needing?) my own little space for as long as I can remember. I guess it started back when I loved the childrens books like The Box Car Family, and The Trolly House Family, and the series about Treehouse Kids. Being a member of a large family, I was desperate for a place to get away from the chaos and have some peace and quiet of my own. Now I am happilly married, live in a HUGE old house that is most often filled with family, friends and pets, and realize that my dream of a tiny house will stay just that – a dream. But to keep my sanity, I allow myself to indulge my daily wishlist and read your blog the very first thing. Unlike that magazine I gave up, I won’t quit reading your blog, commercials or not. My tiny house and my plot of heaven are dreams that nourish my spirit and keep me smiling. You will do what is right in the end, and still have MANY faithful readers either way. Keep up the good work.
I have to agree in a way. Buying a tiny house for $50,000+ holds no interest to me. I enjoy hearing how people do it themselves, how to save money and do it on the cheap. Those are the stories that interest me.
I do enjoy your blog however and have been reading for a very long time and will continue. Thanks for your hard work!
Yes, as others, I do try and go at least once a day and check-as there’s always something new. I do get bothered some by the pop up thing and that it does seem a little “commercial” now but understand the site needs to try and be worth your time so put up w/it usually. I also can see where maybe it would be nice to somehow have the “trailer homes” in a separate category as usually they’re really used as a extra bedroom more tan a home. For most they only work as a part time solution. Seeing real homes that are small and are actually lived in would be more true to the sites name. Having to do laundry and maybe even bathe as well as store your tax returns and tools somewhere else isn’t really home to some(misleading square footage #’s for folks that live w/stuff all in one place)-but it’s nice to see what the folks on wheels are up to. So, maybe all too many contradictory ideas for you to weed through—thanks for your effort and good luck.
I love your site. I’m a relative newcomer but I think telling us where we can buy supplies and houses is simply information we can use (or discard). I don’t view it as a personal gain thing. Even if it is, you deserve compensation for your knowledge.
Good morning Kent,
I have learned after nearly sixty years in business that no matter what you do, or present to the public that roughly half the people will come down on one side, and half on the other. That goes for entertainment, business, religion, or politics. Abraham Lincoln said, “You cannot please all the people all the time.” So you should just continue to do the best you can. Your site should be commercial. There are no free lunches in this world today. That’s what got us into the financial mess we are in already. You have to make a living just as we all do. I personally have learned a great many things from your blog, and I expect to learn a lot more. I also do not think it is a good idea to criticize the folks who make mistakes in their grammar. They have important thing to tell us too. That is just plain snobbery in my book. I went to work in the mills at age 14 working 8 hour nights, and attending a lousy school in the daytime with mostly lousy teachers that kept telling everyone, except a favored few, to quit school and go to work in the local mill. That was tragic and criminal as far as I am concerned. Let’s not discourage people from contributing ideas to the blog. I want to hear what everyone has to say. I also want to know all about the latest products that are on the market that will help us build a more economical and perfect small home for the American public. I want to buy them!
Right now, we are facing one of the most serious problems our country has ever faced. Our government has placed more value on the welfare of the citizens of other countries than on the citizens of its own country. Therefore it is up to us in the private sector to do what we can do to help our fellow Americans because our government is wasting billions jousting at windmills in other countries and fighting meaningless, endless wars that are destroying our own country.
So I say to you Kent, keep right on doing what you are doing. We need all the help we can get to solve this terrible housing and poverty problem in America.
Walt
We’ve been reading your blog for a very long time. It has been like a light in the wilderness for us.
How could we not love it, we found our house on your blog! There is nothing wrong with the way it is done. Some of us do not have the skills to build our own tiny houses and read with excitement of tiny homes for sale. I’d change nothing.
The stories of people experimenting and building are always interesting. Things for sale? Well, as I said, we’re not builders so that’s a good thing.
If you want to separate the sales/commercial things from just small house living, fine. Please do not drop them completely. All of it is good and it’s useful to someone out there who probably wouldn’t find this information otherwise.
All in all Tiny House Blog is amazing and we hope you keep on keepin’ on.
Thank you.
I love this blog. The comercial aspect of it gives some real life perspective. How much things cost, etc. I think you should keep it just as it is.
I think you have a nice variety of posts. I love this site and check it near-daily, and while I have no plans to build anything in the near future, it fuels my tiny-living daydreams. Thank you for that!
Buck up. One lousy comment and you are backing off on one of the best tiny house websites on earth? Keep doing what you are doing, make some money to support yourself and the blog. Go forth and conquer! And thanks.
Don’t beat yourself up: its a fine blog, and mission creep is not unusual. 1. Define what a tiny house is: exclude non-self sufficient trailers and tents in the yard. If they have to use somebody else’s toilet, if there is no kitchen, that is not a tiny house. 2. Mark selling/ renting differently than “how interesting this is” feature articles. They are both useful, just make sure you label them properly.
ok, enough said, publish another post already! keep up the good work.
I do not mind the advertising you have on this blog. Most pertain to tiny living. I have looked in to the products that have been advertised. Kent, I believe that as long as your blog stays true to your belief it will be fine. Keep up the good work.
I think Tiny House is a great blog and I like the diversity of information that you make available. It does not feel like a miniature version of Craigs List in any way. Keep up the good work!
I will echo some of the other comments with less trailer homes and more permanent tiny or small houses. I love small and tiny houses but I want them to be real houses, a home with real roots, rather than wooden RVs.
I have asked myself why is there not more commercial campers, RV, boats in the post. Not the average one but the novel ideas such as special stoves, sinks, or use of space.
The Saturday post is a nice consistent routine that is great. Maybe Monday and Tuesday can be reserved for craigslist, Thoughtful Thursdays…
Maybe it is time for the blog to expand beyond a blog format into something more. I keep thinking of the format that Carl Arendt had developed for his website, twice a month he compiled a group of themed model railroads to share about. But in addition the website expands and links to all the information one would ever want to know about making a micro sized model railroad. Including his books, suppliers etc. http://carendt.us/scrapbook/linkindex/index.html His website is focused on one very small subset of a much larger hobby, and it still can go many different ways. Carl spent a lot of time organizing the like data together in different ways.
Your site is much the same way, it is the web welcome center for the idea and action of tiny houses. It is and needs to continue to be the combination of ideas, commercial, directions, locations, celebrations, and even mourning of failures for the tiny house community. There is the blog portion but also the sales portion. Maybe another way to look at it is like a coffee house with a book store attached. The question is how organized do you, and your customers, want the place to be? Is it very highly organized like a modern bookstore, or is it more like the pile of books and other stuff grandma is selling at the garage sale, with a set of wooden spoons thrown in, because you know there are cookbooks in the pile. There has to be some planned chaos so that if I come in looking for cookbooks I at least have the chance of finding them but at the same time I find something about rose gardening.
Maybe it is just you should include only two lines and a link to the craiglist adds rather than a whole post. Or maybe you should add the “three other post you may like” feature that I have seen on other blogs, then people would have a reason to drill deeper into the past great information.
But like many other people have said this is the first blog I read via my RSS reader. And reading via RSS is very different than reading on your website. All the links along the top and side are gone. After going over your website in detail I think adding the 3 related posts code to the bottom of each post is a great next step. http://www.linkwithin.com/learn?ref=widget A second action, though I personally don’t like it, is to limit RSS readers to showing the first 10 lines so people must come to the website to read the full post. Third is a link cloud on the righthand side, a more visually pleasing way to group like posts. All the information we want is there, what is needed is some tools to access it, and for you to make some $ while providing such a great service.
Ryan
I agree about the commercialisation. I also have thought this, I’ve always been interested in the people and how they live the simple life, both in the city and in the country. It would be extra inspiring to see people who live in small but well designed houses. Off the grid would also be amazing as would be families not just couples. That’s my 2 cents.
Kent, I have read your blog since its inception. Before that, the information I found about small house living was spotty and often redundant. Commercialism seems to be defined differently by different people who have commented on this post. I agree that ads are acceptable. The costs have to be covered some way, right?
Over the years I have developed a mental list of floor plans, unusual solutions to common problems (like more headspace in a loft), and alternative ways to cover the need for shelter. Many of the ideas in my list are a result of the DIVERSITY of your posts. One of my favorite ideas (a wall that opens out in the loft area) came from a houseboat design.
I think the “feel” of the blog has become less homemade and more “slick” over the years, but so what? If it was a perfect world (made to order just for me, right ;-)), I would like to see more interior details and more specifics from people who are doing. But you do have those things already and this is a blog, therefore should be YOUR specifications, not mine (or anyone else’s). I often go to other websites from the links you post and get more details. I no longer do a lot of web searching, so you are my main source of info on things like solar park models and other blogs (Rowdy Kittens and Deek’s Relax Shacks
Your blog is one of the three I read every single day. I love it! Just a word about the complaints from the grammar nazis. It boosts their self esteem to critique other’s work. Don’t take them too seriously. Yes it is important to write & spell correctly, but it is most important to let yourself come through in the post. Let someone edit you if you want but don’t stress over the occasional mistake. Continue to let your wonderful personality shine through.
I read and refer to your blog often. I think you are doing a GREAT job. You are tackling an rapidly expanding market and interest. Personally, I have loved the whole mix. And I hope you don’t cut out too many videos. You could do videos and pics.
I also would like to see MORE about GREEN tiny houses. I would NOT buy or build one that isn’t green. I’ve been involved with construction before, and I know firsthand how deadly most standard building products, glues, finishes, and all of it are. So MORE GREEN, yes! 🙂 🙂
I also would LOVE to see tiny houses that are made from non-toxic material AND recycled materials. I think recycling is extremely important.
As to how often you post, I think you could easily post 3 times a week or even once a week. Everyday is more than many can absorb, so I feel I am missing out. And to wade through archives is tine consuming.
As to grammar, do NOT worry about it. If that is all someone has to say, they are not worth your time. The bottom line is: YOU are doing it!! GOOD FOR YOU! Keep going. We can never let grammar and other foolishness stop us. If you want you can always have a friend proof your posts. But basically I would NOT worry about. It someone else does, they have missed the whole point of your blog. You are giving us all invaluable information. Bless you!
Make sure you are NOT hard on yourself. You ARE doing a GREAT job. It doesn’t mean you may not want to make changes as YOU change, but keep in mind that there will ALWAYS be critics out there. I know, because I am author. And it’s okay to let some new ideas in, but always make sure that you stay true to yourself, your ideals, and what is FUN for YOU!!
I reeeeally admire the grace with which you handled the Facebook critic. Kudos for you!! It is the best way. Your response was openhearted and THAT counts for everything.
Great job, and I LOVE your site!! 🙂
I am fairly new to the tiny house ideas, however i agree with Robin completely!!!!! i would like to see more Disabled styled homes that i could build for myself. and i’m old 64 so nothing to hard for us golden oldies to build. I have 6.6 acres in missouri and am jumoing up and down to begin to build a home there, off grid and water catchment. Kent keep up the interesting and very informative web site i read every day, love it. thanks for the good job.
I think it’s all been said already.
I think you would benefit by writing a mission/purpose statement of what you are wanting to accomplish – then let that be your guide.
I also would love to see a little more variety as in families living the tiny house/simple lifestyle, as well as more of the larger tiny houses. Again, how small must it be to be considered a tiny house (put that in your purpose statement – and use it as a guide). But for our family of 7 (was only my husband and I when we started reading your blog, but we’ve adopted 3 with a 4th in the process – and a grandchild living with us) we can’t live in most of the tiny houses you showcase, but are extremely interested in the idea of the smaller footprint lifestyle, thus still are able to glean lots of valuable information.
You are a blessing to many people and you challenge our traditional thinking. Don’t ever give up.
I have really enjoyed reading your blog for the past few years! You have made an important contribution to culture and knowledge of tiny homes and I know this blog has made a difference in my life and others. Thank you!
As others say, this is your blog, so do what you want. But if you are truly looking to serve a broader community here are my two cents.
1. I agree with others… what is it like to actually LIVE in a tiny house? I live in a 240 sq ft. tiny home on wheels (eco-friendly school bus conversion) and I love learning how others are managing the daily challenges.
2. Your blog has begun to feel more commercial lately, and while I don’t have a problem with that per se, sometimes it feels like marketing or advertising material is masquerading as a blog post and that bothers me. I suggest being more obvious about separating your ‘true’ blog postings from announcements of interesting products/plans/stuff for sale. Even providing a more critical review of the same products would be more appreciated instead of simply posting new products. There are a lot of other blogs out there pimping cool new eco-products/designs etc. and it comes across to me as pretty shallow and I don’t add these sights to my regular viewing. So… just try to be more TRANSPARENT about your commercial/marketing efforts… you need to make a living too and I respect that, and I even enjoy some of the products you have from time to time, but I just don’t like wondering if something is truly a ‘blog’ post about tiny house living or a well-disguised advertisement.
3. I agree with others about how expensive a lot of the tiny homes are… $80K for a tiny house?? Holy cow… I suggest trying to diversify to less expensive tiny homes or at least frugal tiny home living.
4. I realize this is a pretty big project to keep going every day, and I respect the amount of work you have put into it in the past. Perhaps one way to ease your work load is to have a special topic one, two or three days a week and seek more contributions from your readers. For example… —“living the tiny house life” that focuses on the day to day logistics…
—“frugal tiny house living”
—“construction tips” or “tiny house logistics” that covers everything from zoning/legal/logistics issues….
—“tiny house products” day where you explicitly share and feature specific commercial products.
—“tiny house of the week” (my favorite idea) where viewers share their tiny houses, talk about life in a tiny home and basically demonstrate through their stories that tiny house living is a reality and is doable and that real people are doing it!
By having a special day or two that includes more contributions from viewers, you will get a small break and then can focus more on the 4 or 5 days of the week that you really love to do.
5. Another way to deal with the commercials is to simply highlight one each day or every few days in the sidebar as “featured product”
6. Whatever you decide to do moving forward, You have to KEEP LOVING WHAT YOU DO… so that said, if at the end of the day you still enjoy doing this blog exactly the way you’ve been doing it, then don’t change a damn thing! Those of us who respect your creative freedom will go along for the ride no matter what… and if you love what you’re doing then the ride will continue to be worth taking 🙂
Kent… remember you can’t please everyone all the time!
Keep up the great work. I love your site!
PS: – I forgot to mention…
Thank you for asking for input from your readers and respecting us enough to consider our opinions worthy… I for one really appreciate it! 🙂
Your blog is one of the first things I look at everyday, I think it’s great. Frankly I think the commercial aspect becoming a part of your blog was inevitable because of your popularity, and because there are so many more resources available now for the tiny house movement than when you started! And part of that is your fault 😉 You just had to go and encourage people to live in tiny sustainable houses so other people had to come up with products for them! It’s a good thing. I really enjoy the stories about the people who build these little homes, and the stories are a part of what makes this blog so great. The only thing I would personally like to see more of would be small homes in urban settings, any information on people who have been successful in that endeavor would be great. Otherwise, be true to your own ideas and why you started this blog, that is why so many of us started reading it in the first place.
Figure out the 3 things that make you happiest to blog about and stick to those.
Hi,
As I have learned in life, as long as you aren’t hurting others you must follow your heart and do what you want to do. Do what makes you happy.
In this case what I am hoping that makes you happy is to continue doing what you have been :0)
I go to this site everyday that I am not without computer access (very rare not to) and enjoy all of the insight on all of the subjects that you are kind enough to offer up for our consumption. If I am not interested in one particular item then I breeze by it. I mean seriously, we still live in a semi-free country. I complain about government intrusion everyday but I DO still have the liberty to not read something.
Whatever your decision is I respect it and thank you for all of your writings in advance and what is yet to come.
You never know where inspiration will come from or who you will have an impact on in life. I am a capitalist through and through but am in the process of design mode for my tiny house. Hope to be done by the end of the year with the build and expect to be there for 3 years until the 2 B’s kick in on my daughter. That’s blow dryers and boys. She’s 8 now. ;0) With the money I’ll save I plan on taking her snow skiing, surfing, scuba diving, etc. Now is the time in my life to give her “experiences.”
Long post but all of the items that you present give me ideas and options to use to achieve my new goals so thanks again.
Take care and best wishes,
Steve B.
How about information on building truly non-toxic tiny homes? It’s even more important in a tiny home to have natural non-toxic materials, because everything is concentrated in a smaller space. Also, how about information on building more affordable tiny homes?
I really enjoy the posts that feature an individual or family living the tiny house lifestyle. It’s a perfect mix of inspiring and informative. Just my preference 🙂 You’re doing great, thanks for the joy of reading your blog.
I am less bothered than many others are by a “commercial” element–in fact, if we don’t encourage commercial firms from serving the tiny home movement we won’t see much widespread innovation that goes with that kind of market orientation. Also, not everyone wants or is able to take the time to go totally recycled, to give just one example.
To me, this is a sign that the market is maturing–which is truly a good thing. The more people interested, the more pressure for communities to reform outmoded building codes and zoning regs, for instance (which I believe to be the largest barrier to this market truly exploding).
It is common for a blog to become stale seeming to a blogger with time–it’s hard to do the same thing over and over again, after all.
I agree with the folks seeking more information about families “living the tiny life” and the challenges they face and overcome while doing so. So far, too many of the blogs out there are still focused on the structure and far too little about living in it. The result is that many look and say “That is really neat–but I can’t quite see myself living that way.” Most folks want to be reassured that others with similar family circumstances and needs are already successfully doing what they are contemplating–and just how they are doing it.
There are many ways to have recurring themes or areas within the blog for particular topics. It may also help to recruit a few guest bloggers on part of this expansion.
Good luck whatever you decide–I have the blog in my RSS reader so I don’t miss any posts.
As a reader with limited building skills I enjoy hearing about commercial products available. I say keep them coming. One reader’s suggestion to identify the type of post would be useful for those who don’t want to read these posts.
Have you considered doing it by days of the week? “Product Thursdays” (ok, that’s not a very good name) “Seller Saturdays” or something like that? I think that would be a pretty easy way to make sure you’re creating the ratio you want of philosophical/commercial/how-to’s/etc. I dunno, just a thought.
I would start by writing your priority list. What kinds of posts do YOU want to make a priority here? Once you have what seems like the right number to you, determine how much focus you’re going to put on each of them…maybe using percentages.
Remember: This is YOUR gig, not the commenter’s!
While of course there’s the community and the audience to think of, the reality of it is that this started as YOUR passion…and if you spend all your energies trying to please everybody, all you’re going to get for your efforts is burnout.
I like the posts as they are. I don’t have a lot of time to devote to the subject and like that I can find a good variety of posts here, all the types you mentioned. Just because a house is for sale, either by the resident or the manufacturer, doesn’t mean it isn’t filled with fresh ideas for my next project.
I really like that I can read just one blog a day about tiny houses and still gain a wealth of information.
The only commercialism that bothers me is those annoying double-underlined paid links that clutter the text (especially when my cursor happens to accidentally pass over one and it pops up, interrupting my reading). But even if that doesn’t happen, it gives artificial importance to words that are not important and distracts from reading.
Your blog is the only tiny house blog that I read every day. I love it.
I can’t think of a single thing I would want you to change!
Bravo to you for taking the time to promote this type of alternative to large, expensive housing.
I like your blog just the way it is!!! Like one reader siad….for thos e of us with limited building knowledge it is nice to also kits and other ways to a quick build.
I have seen park model trailers go for upwards of 80K…that way out of my budget. I feel that I will have about $12,500 to $14,000 in my tiny house is finished….to date…$12,000.
Every thing I have seen on your blog just as it is has in some way contributed to my tiny house project. There have been some things writen that I enjoyed more and some less, but they all had an impact on my house project!!!!
You can not please everyone nor should you try!! Follow where where your heart leads….and they will come!!!!!!!!
Bob
I am mostly a lurker but I ejoy the site. I’m not sure where my future will take me but this site will definitely help me get there! I want ideas on how places are built, how they are lived in, and most importantly, how to get communities to accept smaller homes. Thank you for all your work!!
You have a terrific blog – I read it every day. And my 20-year old grandson who is a university architecture/environment studies student share lots of it by email and talk about it.
I really haven’t particularly noticed the commercial aspect that has appeared, or if I have it doesn’t bother me! You are doing a terrific job and a great service by cheering on and encouraging the smaller footprint people!
My husband and I have a rather unique small apartment – not really tiny I guess as it is about 600 sq. ft. – but in an unusual setting, and one which preserved an existing structure. We have a small apartment within a 100 year old barn!
Thanks for your work on this blog!
I agree with a lot of what the other Elizabeth said. One thing I’ve noticed is that you seem to go in phases with things Sometimes it’s lots of commercial posts in a short period. Sometimes it’s many posts about people who live on someone else’s property. Sometimes it seems like the Deek show.
I would suggest being mindful of that and keeping it mixed. That way people are less likely to think you are doing too much of anything.
I personally could do with less about people who threw some boards together, slapped a mattress in it, and called it a tiny house. More about really living in smaller environments and less about just existing would be great
Might I suggest occasionally focusing on one part of a tiny house. For example; what is the minimum square feet in which one could build a proper bath room, what are some different kinds of toilets that would work in a tiny bath, what materials are needed to make a whole room shower, and even where does the toilet paper go in a whole room shower. Another day you could focus on kitchens, closets, or kids. That would be very helpful to readers trying to figure out how small is too small to truly enjoy.
Thank you for this fun and informative blog. Keep up the great work!
I love your blog.My sister and I have watched it since its inception. I saw the comment that it may be considered “More commercial” because of the interest generated and the demand its created, hell, “Ben and Jerry’s” got more commercial too!
Your being quite helpful, by posting others Tinyhouses they are selling is nothing short of wonderful, a central clearing house of sorts, & the lifestyle videos are SO wonderful, and I have personally immediately fallen in love with every cute,witty, spunky, female interview you have done, (Yeah, so where’s the TINYHEARTS Personals column?? Wink, wink) Follow your nose, do all you have planned, and trust me, you haven’t sold out to “The MAN”, not yet, you are our last best hope for the Pioneer Spirit that lives in ALL our tiny-lovin’ souls,so, take that next tiny step onward!
Since we ‘talked’ about the ad issue already and you made clear sense about helping keeping you going, I had nothing more to say, understanding that this has really grown big from its start. But what I do want to say is that before your blog, there was little to no information…if one googled ‘tiny house’ ‘small house’ usually one got a site for play houses for children, or maybe treehouses. Now, and I do give you the credit, you can find many blogs on the subject or aspects of it. Architects are running with the idea of small homes (not tiny, but tiny is relative, in my opinion – well, not to Buckingham Palace, but…), developers are embracing it as well. So you have made a rather large imprint in the world – even while people have been living in tiny/small houses for centuries.
It seems a lot of comments bend to people stories and I think that is always good. Personally, I care as much about the home as the people who live in it, so to mix it up is fun.
So let the ads stay, so you can do some traveling and gather some photos and stories!
Thanks for your very big and open mind and spirit!
1) posting 3-4 times a week OK with me
2) please fewer videos — or add pics as well. I live in a tiny trailer on top of a mountain and my satellite bandwidth and speeds are limited. I tend to skip video posts.
3) I don’t mind if you / Christina make a few pennies trough this blog.
Just label Ads as Ads .. if you get kickbacks for mentioning someone’s Tiny House for sale .. just add a line at the end of the post saying so .. or add a line saying when you do NOT receive anything in exchange for mentioning someone.
4) it would be nice if all pics (like the house in a landscape) are credited and we know who the photographer is.
5) I dislike commercialism, however I need the tips and products such as stoves for sale etc. Very hard to find on my own. So .. the Tiny House Blog is just fine … chill out and keep posting!
Don’t make drastic changes .. don’t mess with a good thing .. 🙂
You’re doing great. It is a broad topic that encompasses architecture, social studies, civics and more. I love that I can see an awesome mini-log cabin next to a funky bucky dome.
As for commercialism, I don’t think so. Just because you are helping promote the market does not mean you are selling out the ideal. If anything you are promoting the ideal. Money, when used correctly, is our agreement about value and allows us to trade with a broad range of people. You should be proud to be promoting a more sane economy. Good Work.-Brook
Money is good! Don`t change things I know finding enough material must be hard, just be careful of who and what you endorse.
I enjoy your blog and read it daily. I thought I read at one time that you were full-time blogger. If that’s the case, I see the potential for so much more that would be a win/win for all involved. I look at your blog everyday because there’s a posting everyday…which means each day there’s an opportunity for me to learn about products/ideas that might be perfect for the tiny home I hope to build someday. When presented as advertising, I tend not to pay attention to it. And when there’s a posting that doesn’t interest me I quickly exit your blog. It seems the goal would be to have something of interest to most individuals daily…which might be more articles posted…and incorporate products sellers might want to introduce to the public in an educational way which would provide additional income for you the blogger. An example might be an article on copper sinks. Many tiny homes won’t have an abundant water supply. Copper sinks make a lot of sense as they are naturally antibacterial and germs like giardia, e-coli, can’t survive beyond a few minutes on it’s surface. Write an article on copper sinks, introduce them to your readers, then provide introductions to copper sink manufacturers with what makes their product unique. Explain why some copper sinks don’t have the germ protection properties that others have. You could do this for numerous products, thus educating your reader and advertising for manufacturers but in an educational way. Manufacturers pay for you to promote their products and readers are appreciative of products they may not have otherwise considered. There are tons of products I would like to know more about…doors that open outwards instead of inwards…who makes them and are there special kinds of hinges you can purchase that can’t be accessed by intruders from the outside. The list goes on…If you just blog for fun…then the blog the way it is is fine. But if you want to take it further, making it a full-time,paying career…there’s an opportunity out there that’s being missed.
I have been following the site for years now.. I think the site has lost a little of its focus.. It used to have small dwellings. Now there are so many sheds made of scrap junk and biult in one afternoon. There is nothing really worthy about them.
Like many others, this blog is the one I read on a daily basis. Whatever you wish to do, I’ll still be here reading.
I don’t think the majority of people can comprehend the dedication it takes not only to produce a blog but have a successful one like the Tiny House Blog.
You can’t please everyone all the time, so be true to yourself, and those who are true to the tiny house movement will remain.
Thanks for all that you do- everyday!
Cheryll
It’s your blog.
On the Craigslist thing:
Personally, I APPRECIATE Kent fielding and sharing those specific ‘tiny home/interesting home’ sale/rental ads because it completely frees me from having to peruse (ugh) Craigslist myself!
Plus, through those Craigslist/classified ads with pictures that Kent ‘encapsulates’ for us here, I enjoy seeing REAL tiny homes that have been (or will be) lived in, in an eye candy kind of way!
So I’m all for Kent CONTINUING to share any pertinent and relevant ‘ads’ as long as they continue to be for true ‘tiny homes’ for sale or rent (and not just someone’s tent/tarp on a bicycle thing – though INTERESTING, those are better left in the ‘novelty’ ‘look how this person lives small’ part of the SITE itself), as he MAY be providing a particular reader with the HOME OF THEIR DREAMS by doing so!
The next step is to begin talking about and creating communities of small house dwellers. Most of the wonderful homes you feature are either stuck in the middle of nowhere, mounted on a trailor or in a backyard. While you have featured a street of small rental homes, there doesn’t seem to be anyone trying to develop pockets of people devoted to creating communities of small homes. I am an older woman hoping to retire to a small home for many reasons, but I am put off by the seemingly isolated little home here and there. I would like to live amid people who share my values both young and old. Thanks for the opportunity to share within this topic.
That’s what I hope for too, Jann. There are such communities: on Lopez Island, Washington, where I used to live, there are four specifically for low-income people (they own the houses and run the community), and I know there are others. It is possible. I suspect it works best when there is a community housing agency or nonprofit who organizes things and oversees the overall design and construction, but the impetus comes from the people in the community.
In the one I am most familiar with, there was a basic template for a very small house, and each occupant got to specify how the space was set up and finished. They are very attractive houses with private space around them, and common space with paths– parking at the fringes.
I have read your blog for more than three years now. I’ve always loved small houses. My husband says I have boat mentality.
I love everything I’ve seen on your blog. But probably prefer the real life stories of people really doing it !
We live off grid in a small house we built from our own trees,lumber we milled. I lived with three people in a 11×11 cabin for three years and small homes since then.
I believe it’s what is needed in this time.Economical , self sufficient, community oriented, trade /barter included in the economy.
Thank you so much for your hard work.
Kent, I like the site and visit it more often than any other blog. Maybe the answer is in changing the name of the site from the Tiny House Blog to the Tiny House Website or Tiny House Hub and then you can just categorize things accordingly? (ie. Homes for Sale, Homes to View, Tiny Living Resources, etc.) I love the variety of things I find here and am always the MOST interested in seeing as many photos of the tiny homes as possible. I always want to see just a little more. 🙂 As an small-apt. dweller in a big city, I dream of a liveable treehouse in the woods and your site definitely helps keep my dream alive. Thank you! And, if time for maintaining the site is becoming a challenge, is there a way you could allot one day a week to updating it? I hope you’ll continue w/ the site b/c it really is a gem among rubble, in my opinion. Best wishes as you wrestle w/ your decision!
I view your blog as an Information Resource Center for Tiny Houses. As such, I Expect it to contain all manner of things related to Tiny Houses. If that includes a new product/service you’ve found, then so be it. Some people may have been looking for just that thing and so you will have helped them.
If you are concerned about the daily blog maybe getting too commercial, then maybe you could do one blog a week which contains all the Commercial-esq entries and the rest of the week is back to other stuff that’s non-commercial.
But really, you’re like a Tiny House News Reporting Service. If it’s got something to do with Tiny Houses you’re reporting it. And, you aren’t charging anyone to receive your postings. So keep doing whatever makes YOU happy – if it makes YOU happy there are many others who it also makes happy. Let the crabs in the bucket make their own blog if they don’t like yours.
Thank you for all your efforts, they are appreciated.
Michael
I don’t think your blog is too commercial at all. It’s about people and real experiences and tiny homes. You cover a lot of useful information. I’ve been very happy reading here and I hope you don’t change a thing.
Your Blog is great! And its is your blog, so do what you like. so far you have brought a great verity of tiny homes, from hand made rustic ones to ultra modern ones, some may not be the best design, but I learn something from every post.
thank you for your hard work and dedication. and don’t worry about the negative folks
I don’t mind learning about other businesses and resources out there for Tiny House lovers — in fact, I really enjoy it.
I do wish there were more stories about people actually living in small spaces. I love the idea of living in a small house but can’t wrap my head around several things such as: how do you find property to keep a small house on? What does it take to manage a composting toilet in the winter? Etc, etc, etc.
I love this blog and read it every day, but I agree that a minor refocusing might be appreciated.
Kent, keep up the good work.
Keep in mind the way our society is structured, whereby 80% of the people will always be telling you what you should do. People have to remember that if they don’t like what you are posting, then they can just click and that is it. Problem solved.
So just do what you feel is right and I’ll be checking in everyday, just like I have everyday for the last year.
I hope you keep the Tiny House Design site going and start selling your plans in the near future.
All the best.
Mark Frost.
Cheers
I am weighing in late. I had the chance to be the 9th commenter, but decided to wait.
I love your blog. You put a lot into it, posting every day is a BIG job. I am doing good if I update mine every two weeks.
My idea about small housing is that there are just not that many people actually doing it. There is a lot of interest, but the commitment is not there YET. When there are more people actually WALKING the TALK, then you can share their experiences.
Until then, it is enjoyable to read about plans, ideas, and dreams. And you are providing those resources. So thank you. Yours is the ONE blog I check every day, faithfully.
Debra
Don’t change a thing. I look forward to seeing it in its diversity and having “for sale” houses/products does not lessen it’s credibility at all in my view.
I enjoy it everyday and save it for the days I do not have the time to check it out.
I have been so busy this last week that I missed this post. I’ve been one that occasionally posts, well, maybe not so much a criticism, but a reservation about some of the “tiny houses” presented. I agree, though, wiht all those who wrote to tell you you gotta do what feels right to you. After all, you are the one on the other side of the keyboard spending all that time and effort to put together this fantastic blog. I am a regular reader and will continue to be. A Tiny House(or maybe Very Small House) has been a dream of mine for long time. I got derailed by a rather serious illness, and now at age 68, am wondering how I can sell my Smallish House and find a bit of land to build my Little House, perhaps in a like-minded community. Your blog keeps my dream alive. I may be slightly nuts, but I think I might be able to pull it off. Thanks to your blog and all the folks who are following their own dreams and sharing them here.
Kent, its 08:15am in the Uk and the tiny house blog is one of the first things i read in the morning (and normally again at lunchtime)
i have been a fan for a number of years and its given me the inspiration to plan and hopefully one day build my own tiny house. (with regards to the site looking more comemrcial) if it wasnt for the number of different types of buildings and companies i wouldnt have been able to draw different elements from them to put in to my plans.
keep up the good work 🙂
Gareth
I thoroughly enjoy reading this website daily. It is one of only a few I regularly visit. I do believe that sometimes any “project” can stray off track if that’s what you think has happened here. Honestly, I don’t. But to keep it simple and give you what you ask for..Here is my opinion. I would like to see a little less of houses being built on a flatbed trailer. The whole idea to me seems silly and impractical. An RV would be way cheaper to own and operate rather than towing the broad side of a barn down a highway. Which has to be murder on fuel economy. Kinda defeats the purpose of “footprint” many people claim to believe in to justify the building of these trailers.
I would also like to see how the tiny house community could provide a solution to the homeless problem here in America, and I would love to read about it here.
Maybe I am too late but here’s my two cents. I would like to be able to see the entire post in the daily emails I get rather than just a snippet or portion; especially when there’s pictures.
Like some others, I also check up on TinyHouseBlog quite frequently. Up until a couple weeks ago, I read it every day, but recently switched to once a week.
Personally, I really enjoy seeing the homes you find that are for sale. I don’t think it’s overly commercial at all. I think it’s a service to be able to come here to see the interesting homes you find that are available and their prices, sizes, quality of construction, etc. Please don’t let one or two negative comments change that. If there needs to be some sort of compromise, maybe there could be a separate section for them?
Also, I have been thinking of writing you for quite some time to possibly offer you some server space. I have a fast server that I’m not even using at all right now. One big reason I recently changed my habit to reading THB once a week instead of daily is that the pages can load rather slowly.
I agree with the commenter who upset you. Your blog used to be way more interesting than it is now. These days it’s a re-hash of Craigslist or a reprint of advertisements people have sent you. I am sad about this. As a result, I don’t read this site nearly as often as I used to. 🙁
I rarely read the blog, but do follow you on Facebook. True you do talk about contractors, materials and plans…BUT you are a resource!!! The stories inspire and inform, but one has to find the parts. So I think the means justifies the end. I live in a 1640 sqft cabin on 4 acres…love it, but want to do some major downsizing. I’d love to be mortgage free for retirement and also free of the duties that hinder my wish to travel. Thanks and keep on inspiring me. Deborah and the furry gang