Christina Nellemann, Author at Tiny House Blog

Couple turns abandoned auto court into tiny house hotel

Eric and Sylvia Hawkins are not new to anything tiny. They lived for over 15 years in an RV and ran a company and short-term rentals from their camper. Sylvia and Eric Hawkins run the new Tiny Livin’ hotel in Cape Charles, Virginia. Their latest endeavor is a set of little houses that were once a 1930s auto court. Over 40 years they fell into disrepair and when found were overgrown with trees, bushes, and trash. The Hawkins decided to make the little houses their …

ÖÖD House: Space-Age Meets Scandi Style

by Christina Nellemann

Fully bringing in nature while still creating optimal shelter was the impetus for the ÖÖD House. The ÖÖD House has three mirrored walls. Designed by Jaak and Andreas Tiik from Estonia, this unique tiny house nearly disappears into any landscape due to its mirrored walls. The Tiik brothers wanted to design a building that could withstand extreme climates yet still offer amazing views. The interior features a clean Scandinavian style. The ÖÖD House house has these views in spades with floor-to-ceiling windows on three of …

Bellingham’s Big Freedom Tiny Homes Build by Hand

by Christina Nellemann

Handcrafted by the owner, each of these Washington homes features a unique mix of high-end finishes and personal touches in optimized spaces. Big Freedom Tiny Homes are handcrafted in Bellingham, Washington. Big Freedom Tiny Homes was founded and is run by Shannon Black. He began his self-taught business in Taos, New Mexico and brought it up to the Pacific Northwest. He offers several lengths of tiny homes and layouts that offer maximum living. The homes come in 26-, 28- and 30-foot lengths. The base model …

Advocating for Multigen Housing

by Christina Nellemann

The typical American dream of a couple with 2.5 children and a dog in a typical American home is fast becoming a fantasy. The real dream is making sure that that typical American home has enough room for aging parents, teens and their growing needs, renters, single mothers or fathers and their children, as well as remote workspaces. In a 2021 study by the Pew Research Center, over 59 million U.S. residents are living in multigenerational homes. This is four times the number reported in …

Tiny Home Frame Kits from Home Depot

by Christina Nellemann

One of the largest home improvement stores in the U.S. has also gone tiny. Home Depot sells and delivers tiny home frame kits directly from its website. These homes are also an affordable way to get a head start on a tiny house. The tiny homes by Home Depot come as pre-assembled steel panels. The homes range in size from 150 square feet to nearly 500 square feet. The frames are made from steel and come as pre-assembled steel panels that are architecturally designed and …

Drew’s Tiny Snowmobile Camper

by Christina Nellemann

If you live in most of the U.S. you probably have had more than enough of snow. Sorry, but there is one more snow-related item we need to discuss: a tiny snowmobile camper. Drew of Drew Builds Stuff converted a bike camper into a snowmobile camper. You heard that right. We’ve seen tiny campers towed by cars, by motorcycles, and even by bikes. Heck, we’ve even seen campers towed out onto a frozen lake for ice fishing. Drew of the YouTube channel, Drew Builds Stuff, …

Precious Price’s Backyard Tiny House and Rental Business

by Christina Nellemann

One of the best ways to see what it’s like to build and live in a tiny house is to see it directly from the owner’s point of view. One of the best views is coming from a 26-year-old entrepreneur in Atlanta. Precious Price transformed a shed into a tiny house in the backyard of a home she owns in Atlanta, Georgia. She documents all the ups and downs of her tiny house journey on her YouTube channel and she was recently featured on the …

Radica: A Small Business Built with Tiny Changes

by Christina Nellemann

This month’s issue of Tiny House Magazine features a story of the MoonLander truck topper by Radica, a Denver-based design company. The MoonLander story itself is well worth a read, but what is interesting is how Radica was established. Founded by Luke Bushek, Radica comes from Luke’s idea of wanting to feature “rad stuff made in America”. Radica’s MoonLander is a truck camper that breaks out of the traditional mold. After a not-so-stellar experience in a heavy popup camper and a standard truck topper, Luke …

Miniopolis Tiny Homes Helping to Rebuild Fort Myers

by Christina Nellemann

When Hurricane Ian hit the Florida coast last year, over 5,000 houses were destroyed and many families left without homes. Brian Sodre of Miniopolis is hoping to remedy some of the pain by building prefabricated small homes on concrete slabs. Rather than wood, the homes are built with SIPs, or structural insulated panels. Sodre plans on foregoing wood to build these homes and is instead using prefabricated structural insulated panels. The 500-750 square foot homes will also have what many tiny homes do not have …

3 Tiny Survival Items that Can Fit into Any Space

by Christina Nellemann

Inclement weather seems to be at the top of the news these last few weeks. Floods, blizzards, and tornados are affecting both small and large homes and their owners. The Red Cross recommends that these items be kept on hand for emergency situations such as power outages, downed trees, and blocked roads. This winter has reiterated the importance of having emergency items on hand. However, if you have a tiny house, many of these items will not fit into these small spaces. Tiny houses are …

Is the Airbnb Tiny House Rental Market Oversaturated?

by Christina Nellemann

As one of the first Airbnb hosts in my area in 2012, I was booked constantly over the next eight years. While I no longer host on Airbnb, I am a member of several hosting forums and have seen a very telling trend. The short-term rental industry is oversaturated. These forums cover all short-term services such as Airbnb, Vacasa, Vrbo, and many more. A consistent complaint on these forums is that once fully booked properties (of all sizes) are now hard-pressed to get any bookings …

Make this Tiny Christmas Tree for Free

by Christina Nellemann

Even the classic, fresh Christmas tree is not immune to inflation. According to CBS News the price of Christmas trees this year has gone up between 5 and 15 percent from last year. This is due to the increased cost of growing the trees as well as transporting them to lots. Of course, you can always go the fake tree route, but there is something so nice about the smell of a real tree and the feeling of nature inside your home—tiny or not. I’ve …