Christina Nellemann

Teardrops for MINIs

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For those of us who want summer to go on for just a little bit longer, here are some tiny teardrop trailers that exemplify the ease of summer camping. MiniTears are beautifully designed and built by Kurt Bowden in Northern California for MINI Cooper enthusiasts and other small car owners. … Read more

The Cloud

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Have you ever wanted to sleep on a cloud? If you are living in, or visiting the Bordeaux region of France, you can sleep (for free) in a tiny cloud house constructed by Zebra3 and the Bruit du frigo collective until October 31, 2011. Le Nuage, or The Cloud, can sleep up to seven people and is located by a lake in St. Catherine Park in Lormont, France.

The cumulous structure is built of wood and plexiglass and is part art, part practical living. The Cloud was created as a refuge from urban life and has an open living plan and integrated beds. There is no bathroom and cooking is done outside. Reservations can be made on The Cloud’s Facebook page.

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The Tiny Houses of Black Rock City: Rites of Passage

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This year’s Burning Man was a rite of passage for two of our good friends who decided to come along with my husband and me to this popular event. It was their first time attending, and many of our discussions revolved around how impressed they were with the organization and creativity of the event…especially the building of Black Rock City. I agreed that the ingenuity of the camps and shelters that make up the city grows each year.

The art, the shows, the dancing, the fires and fireworks are all wonderful, but personally, my favorite part of Burning Man is visiting the camps and admiring the multitude of styles and designs of shelters. These shelters (most of them specific to Burning Man) are built to create shade from the blistering sun, as blocks against the wind that sweeps across the desert, and to protect Burners from the ubiquitous dust that gets over everything. Each year I’m in awe with how the artists transport these structures across the country and erect them in this stark desert, only to take them down again a week later.

This year the weather couldn’t have been better. The dust was minimal, the winds were mellow and the temperatures were fairly low. In fact, you needed a shelter warm enough for the very cold nights that affected most Burners this year. Here are a few of my favorite tiny houses of Black Rock City 2011.

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The Stable Company

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The Stable Company designs, manufactures and installs high quality, timber frame buildings and serves customers throughout the UK and Ireland. They specialize in small garden rooms, equestrian buildings and other outbuildings. The Stable Company’s insulated Garden Rooms would be the best option for a tiny house. The Company offers three: the Mono, the Duo and the Eco. The Mono has a single pitched roof and a choice of three different depths and unlimited widths. The Duo has a traditional pitched roof and a choice of 12 sizes. The Eco has a single pitched roof that features sedum plants and rocks.

The company also offers a pad foundation, Thermowood® siding, cedar roof shingles or insulated metal roofs, French doors, skylights, exterior lighting and decking. Interior options include laminate flooring, electrical and lighting, heating units and blinds.

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Joseph’s Gypsy Wagons

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Joseph Crowell has been building buses and vans for many years, but was recently inspired to build his first gypsy wagon by Sunny Baba, an activist and spiritualist who has built dozens of gypsy wagons.

Popomo on Fox Business News

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Fox Business News recently ran a video featuring Tumbleweed’s Jay Shafer and his tiny Popomo house which was parked in the middle of Manhattan. The 172 square foot Popomo was on its way to the East Coast of the U.S. and Jay was interviewed about it and his other tiny … Read more

Idaho Sheep Wagons

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Kim Vader and his family have lived in Boise, Idaho since the early 1900’s. His ancestors were sheep farmers, his aunt was Basque, and their lives in the high desert have inspired Kim to design and build classic sheep wagons. This style of wagon was originally used by sheep herders who needed a portable place to live while tending their sheep in the high desert and mountains of the Western U.S.

Kim has been a craftsman for over 35 years and builds the wagons from scratch. You can purchase a finished wagon or have a custom sheep wagon built to your specifications. The wagons can be built on running gear that is freeway worthy or they can have original antique wood spoke wheels.

Typically, each wagon will have a bed with a memory foam mattress, a sitting and eating area with storage underneath, an antique wood stove or an electric stove, and a small kitchen area with custom cabinetry. They can also have several 110 electrical outlets and a storage area on the back of the wagon. The wagons are painted in traditional white and green colors and will have the classic canvas roof that is rated to last up to 10 years. The wagons are built with 2×6 Douglas fir and the cabinets and doors are built with 3/4 inch birch, pine and Douglas fir.

These sheep wagons can be used as a tiny house, on a farm or ranch, as a guest house, or an artist’s studio. Idaho Sheep Wagons also offers delivery. The prices range from about $9,000 for a 12 foot wagon to $13,500 for a wagon with original spoke wheels. Currently the company has a wagon for sale for $8,300.

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The Signal Shed

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This off-the-grid cabin in Northeast Oregon, named the Signal Shed, was recently featured in Sunset Magazine, and the couple who spent two years planning and two weeks building the cabin are now offering the plans and prefab models for sale.

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

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

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Dee Williams on Peak Moment

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Tiny House heroine, Dee Williams, was recently interviewed by Peak Moment, the online program that features people who choose to live simply during these challenging times. In the video, Dee discusses how she built her famous tiny house, the catalyst that made her want to downsize, her challenges and regrets when building and trying to locate the house, and how her tiny life has actually expanded and strengthened her sense of community.

Marcia’s Soo Line Caboose

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Marcia Weber lives full-time in a Soo Line train caboose that was built in 1909. She purchased the caboose with her husband at the Tunerville Station in Whippany, New Jersey in 1975 from an ad in the Wall Street Journal that simply said “wooden cabooses for sale.”

Big Sur Cabin Rentals

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If you want to get a taste of a tiny house on a big coastline, visit the tiny cabins owned by Richard Wagnoe who has 54 acres on a stretch of Hwy. 1. The carpenter, stone mason and horticulturalist rents out several tiny cabins and a few Airstreams to visitors traveling along this beautiful area of California.