california

Sarana House

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Sarana House is named after a word in Pali, an ancient Buddhist language, that means “safe place” or “refuge. It will be the ultimate refuge when moved from its current location in Los Angeles, where it’s being built, to its final home on a private 23 acre forest retreat, named Sarana Park, in Northern California.

The tiny house on a trailer is being built by Juko and Jerry, not only as a new home, but as a way to respond to the Great Recession. Following the foreclosure of their home in Santa Monica, the couple decided to downsize and live more simply. Their first tiny house, the Huling Halfway Hut, was featured in  a Tiny House Blog “Tiny House in a Landscape” post. During this time, Juko and Jerry became stewards of Sarana Park and wanted to make this new land a place for reflection, restoration, and transformation. They think of it as a “re-boot camp” – a place where their friends and guests can take some space to recharge, rest, and be inspired.

Sarana House is being built with as many reclaimed materials as possible. They are using reclaimed white pine from Ohio (Juko’s childhood home) and Pennsylvania; and Juko is building a larger kitchen by re-furbishing an IKEA freestanding kitchen. A long bench will be the focus of the dining room. It will be large enough for several people to sit or for one person to sleep. Bamboo flooring has been installed and  a stock door from Lowes has been cut down to fit the entrance.

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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 Smallest Shop in Los Angeles

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by Peter Bruce

So here is the story behind the Anna Bruce shop on Abbott Kinney in Venice, California… the “smallest shop in LA”

My sister, Anna launched a line of embroidered 100% organic cotton t-shirts, baby clothing, and not-quite-organic hats about two years ago. Her line consists of animal and plant patterns (and even surfer) stitched onto colorful and very soft cotton. She started small, mainly giving her work away as gifts to friends and family – with the occasional sale generated by word of mouth. She soon realized she had something pretty special with more and more people asking to order merchandise. I came on board to help her spread the word and we worked to get her line into shops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Marin County in Northern California.

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World’s Tiniest Hotel

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by Elaine Walker Calling all tiny house fans! Would you like the opportunity to stay overnight in a tiny house before plunging into building your own? My Story Indulgent Restraint was born of my fascination with tiny houses and a desire to live in one. A few years ago while … Read more

Hoffman’s Tiny House in the California Gold Country

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Guest Post by Steve Hoffman

I bought plans from Jamaica Cottage Shop about two years ago and made a few modifications for my design. I built the Vermont Cottage on a 20 acre parcel in Calaveras County in the California Gold Country. This project has been my passion, my delight and my greatest satisfaction! After I finished the exterior, I finished the interior to have all of the comforts of home.

The property is off the grid so I put in a 400 watt voltaic power source and a 12 volt pump connected to a 275 water tank to provide water for the sink. I also build a 4 X 8 room off the back that I use for storage, power/inverter equipment, and a small shower (I have an outhouse for toilet needs).

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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.

Cargotecture by HyBrid Architecture

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Sunset Magazine’s Celebration Weekend in Menlo Park, Calif. was held at the beginning of June, and one of the stars of the show was the cargotecture c-series Sunset Idea House by HyBrid Architecture. The c-series represents a group of pre-designed, factory built units made from recycled cargo containers that can be combined or customized as desired by the owner.

Hybrid coined the term cargotecture to describe any structure built partially or entirely from recycled cargo containers. The c-series consists of five models ranging in price from $29,500 to $189,500. The home featured at the Sunset show was the c192 nomad which costs $59,500.

The prices of the c-series include:

  • Recycled ISO cargo container with new paint
  • Soy based spray foam insulation
  • Aluminum clad wood windows and doors (one 10 feet long opening and one side door)
  • Bamboo finish floor
  • 5/8 inch drywall ceiling and walls
  • Panelized wet room bath with redwood decking.
  • Duravit bath fixtures
  • IKEA cabinets and kitchen fixtures and lighting
  • Summit appliances
  • 30 gallon electric water heater (gas if available on site)
  • Convectair Apero heat
  • Factory plans, State L&I permits and inspections

Green and off-grid options are offered including solar panels, composting toilets and “green machine” sewage treatment and roofwater harvesting.

All the models are insulated about 15 percent above IBC and UBC building codes in the floors, walls and roofs. The building can be placed in cold climates as well as moderate to hot climates. The recycled plastic and soy sprayed-in insulation creates R24 walls, R44 ceilings, and R32 floors. The roofs can handle 60psf snow loads.

The HyBrid homes are shipped complete. A local contractor will need to be arranged for electrical and sewage hook-ups as well as foundation work. In many jurisdictions, if your project is less than 200sf there is no permitting process required. HyBrid has completed residential and commercial cargotecture projects in California, Oregon and Washington and has designed over 20 projects on 5 continents. They will ship their cargotecture homes worldwide.

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Claremont Small Houses

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Last weekend my wife and went south to visit our daughter who lives in Claremont, California. This is a college town in Southern California with lots of old class charm. One afternoon we went for a walk and I grabbed my little camera just in case we should pass some … Read more

Berkeley Backyard Cottage Open House

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Kevin Casey from New Avenue Homes contacted me about an open house coming up in Berkeley, California in a couple of weeks. A 430 square foot backyard cottage and I am hoping to get on over and see this little cottage in person and I wanted to let you know … Read more

Sausalito Floating Homes

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If you love houseboats or floating homes, you may want to make a walking tour of the famous Sausalito Floating Homes part of your next trip to the San Francisco Bay area. I thought I would profile these particular floating homes because the community is maintained by homeowners and individuals rather than city officials. This makes this waterside neighborhood unique in that the designs of these homes, that are docked in Richardson Bay, are up to the owners.

M Skaffari/Flickr

The famous Sausalito floating homes community has a history that stretches over a century. During the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s improvised floating homes made from scrap wood, old tugboats, elegant ships and even old Pullman cars were built by professional artists, and since the dock areas were so small, most of the floating homes stayed small. Some of these homes are now offered as vacation rentals and there are usually a few for sale. Some of the homes have names including the Taj Mahal, the Train Wreck and the Pirate.

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SALE! Topaz Lake Tiny House

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This tiny house that I wrote about last year near Topaz Lake in California is still for sale. The owner, Tracy Pope, is eager to sell it as soon as possible and is willing to take as low as $1,500 for it. If anyone is interested in taking it off … Read more