Tiny House Blog

Kai’s Weebee and Will’s Tarleton

Kai Schaede from Germany spent three months constructing his modified Weebee to meet his needs. Most Tumbleweed Weebee’s that have been constructed have been built on a trailer, but Kai wanted his on a permanent foundation so he altered it to work for him. Kai hopes that his pictures will motivate … Read more

The Small Trailer Enthusiast

by Christina Nellemann

The Memorial Day weekend is usually the green light to the start of camping season. If you are a tiny or small camping trailer fan, a visit to the Small Trailer Enthusiast will give you plenty of minuscule mobile homes to drool over.

The site covers trailers that are under 20 feet long and the owner, Pat, is a 2010 Serro Scotty HiLander owner and fan of other small trailers. He covers everything from RV industry news, information on new trailer models, campground and gear reviews, gatherings and he has links to several dozen small trailer manufacturers. Some trailers covered are other retro-style campers, the T@B, teardrops, fiberglass trailers and pop-ups.

Tiny House Blog’s Fifth Anniversary

by Kent Griswold

I’m excited to announce the Tiny House Blog’s five year anniversary! Five years ago on the 24th of May, 2007. I published the first post called Montana Mobile Cabins, you can check the post out here. I then invited a few of my friends to come and visit the blog. … Read more

Tiny House in a Landscape

by Kent Griswold

This week’s Tiny House in a Landscape is called the Rustic Texas Victorian built by Tiny Texas Houses. This beautiful 12′ x 30′ is a charmer that looks like its been here for a while, but it has only sat here a month on the site. Tung oiled antique pine … Read more

Tiny Tack House

by Kent Griswold

by Malissa Tack

A short story of how we came to build our very own Tiny House.

It all started with a meeting at the Apple Store. My husband Chris, while at work, had a chance encounter with a very adventurous lady. She tells him about this idea she has for living small, Chris is intrigued by this and asks to know more.

Later that day, Chris informed me that he was going to send me a few links, info about the Tiny House Movement. He said that he was working with Candice at the Apple Store and she showed him all about the Tiny House. He didn’t go much further into details, but I was curious. The next day, while working on the computer, I remembered what he was talking about and decided to do some investigation. I searched Tiny House Movement, and was blasted into another world… a much smaller one. The houses were amazing! So small, sleek and stylish… and had all the comforts of home. I’ve lived in my fair share of apartments within the past 10 years, and I know the feeling I get when I come home to them… empty.

Powering our Tiny House, The SolMan Portable Solar Generator

by Kent Griswold

Guest Post by Merete Mueller reposted from Tiny

Perhaps one my favorite things about our tiny house (other than falling asleep to the sound of rain on a steel roof) is that it is entirely off grid.

Christopher and I are both environmentalists of sorts, having spent chunks of our lives studying, researching, and telling stories about humans’ interactions with our natural resources and waste. Part of this tiny house experiment has always been about learning to lessen our own impact.

And there’s also the practical side of things: 40 miles from a major town, our tiny house doesn’t have access to a “grid” of any kind. No gas lines. No power lines. No water lines or sewage system. We’ve had to figure out our own solutions for each of these utilities.

Park County, Colorado gets an average of 246 sunny days each year, so solar power was an obvious choice for our electric needs. Throughout the building stage, Christopher looked into rigging up a system of his own design, but when we heard about the SolMan portable solar generator, we decided it was worth it to purchase a professional, pre-made solar unit than to build our own.

Glacier Trailhead Cabins

by Kent Griswold

Montana Mobile Cabins have been quite busy again so far this year. They recently delivered two cabins to Glacier Trailhead Cabins. Both cabins are 18 ft x 24 ft using square log construction. Both cabins were delivered as “dry” cabins, the clients will be finishing out the cabins themselves, as … Read more

Recycling Old RV Trailers

by Kent Griswold

by Abel Zyl Zimmerman

I recently bought and dismantled a 14 ft. RV trailer for tiny house parts. I thought you avaricious do-it-yourselfers might find the story interesting.

It was a pretty moldy RV, with some appliances inside and an undamaged trailer frame. My goals were to get those two things out of it, and when all was done, I was about 80% successful in doing so.

Costs:

Purchase price: $300
Licensing: $23 (it had current tabs)
Work gloves, dust masks: $10
Sawzall demolition blade: $7
Contractor trash bags (for loose debris and fiberglass): $12
Diesel fuel for the project, towing it home and delivering recyclables: $55
Local landfill fee (plywood, broken glass, fiberglass) $99
Read more

TINY Documentary House on Fox 31 Denver

by Christina Nellemann

Christopher Smith and his girlfriend Merete Mueller of the TINY movie project were recently profiled by Fox 31 Denver. Christopher and Merete have towed their 127 square foot house to their remote property in Park County, Colorado. Their tiny house is nearly finished, but according to the video, the build … Read more

Wee Irish Cottage New Build

by Kent Griswold

Mike Irish just contacted me with an update. He says, “Last year I bought a big house to remodel and it seems to take lots of money and time. I think I like the wee houses better.

The good new is I have another Wee Irish Cottage almost finished. It is 8ft X 26ft with 8ft X 20ft insulated living space with loft, and a covered 8ft X 6ft trek deck porch, insulated windows and door. The outside is covered with cedar bevel siding and the inside is T&G pine with bamboo flooring.

There is a small kitchen with a sitting area and under counter fridge, 36 in. shower stall and composting toilet. Downstairs there is a hide-a-bed if you don’t want to use the loft. I am advertising the Irish Wee House on Portland Craigslist for $12,500.

Tall Man’s Tiny House

by Kent Griswold

Guest Post by Adam Leu

This past winter, my brother and I decided to try our hands at a tiny house build. With my skills as a builder and my brother’s as an artist and designer, we set out with a rough design and many things to learn. We began with a modified plan that was inspired by two of Michael Janzen’s solar house plans from tinyhousedesign.com. The final product is the beaming rustic modern tiny house you see above.

Our spacious tiny house began as a 20 ft trailer with dual #3500 axles that transported a lowly camper in days bygone. Painted and leveled, construction was ready to begin.

The now completed rustic modern home is 21ft long, cantilevered a foot off the back, and semi-divided into three seven-foot sections. The square footage is approximately 130 sq ft, not including the additional sleeping loft. It has a maxed out 8ft 6 in width and towering 13ft 3in height, with a folding deck and removable awning for travel. While the weight is yet to be determined, it is estimated at 5500 – 6000 pounds.

Yestermorrow Design/Build School Class

by Kent Griswold

Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont is hosting a building class focused on building a tiny house on wheels. They’re hoping to find a client who would like to offer their little house as the subject of the class — significantly jump-starting the construction process! Essentially, the client would dictate the … Read more