oregon - Part 10

ideabox’s New minibox

I covered the ideabox several years ago. It is one of my favorites. I wanted to share with you their newest design concept. Its called ‘minibox’, 200 sq ft of open space, aimed at bringing the outdoors in. Taylor Russell from ideabox shared the following information with me.

ideabox is a small home design company based in Salem, Oregon. They have homes ranging from 200 sq ft to 1250 sq ft, all prefabricated and ready to go.

It’s one thing to be small. Quite another to be so full of personality you live beyond your shell. Everything minibox is about is living big. Clever combinations of natural cedar and galvalume metal creates a confident exterior and a totally cool persona.

Tammy and Logan’s Tiny House Tour

by Kent Griswold

My friend and fellow blogger Tammy Strobel of Rowdy Kittens and her husband Logan just fulfilled a dream of theirs and moved into a tiny house. The home was designed and built by Dee Williams and Katy Anderson of Portland Alternative Dwellings based in Portland, Oregon. I asked Tammy to give us … Read more

Simple Life History

by Kent Griswold

By Dan Price

In 1990, I moved back to my home state of Oregon intent on living in a tipi and getting rid of mortgages or rent. I looked for a suitable piece of property for months and finally located a 2 acre meadow next to the Wallowa River near the town of Joseph. The owners agreed that I could set up a tipi there in exchange for clearing downed trees and repairing the fence lines. A few months later I moved out of a small room up town and into the tipi full time. I spent three seasons in that 16 ft tipi.

In order to simplify, I sold the tipi and built a 9 ft X12ft red willow hut, complete with carpeting and blanket door and proceeded to live in that space for 2 years. Luckily I was able to put in underground electricity early on so was able to have lights and a small heater which helped in the winter months. The came a time when my Moonlight Chronicle zine got a corporate sponsorship from Simple Shoes in California and I spent the next 4 years mostly traveling around drawing and writing.

Tiny Straw Bale Village Getaway

by Kent Griswold

Recently I had the opportunity to work closely with Strawbale.com to introduce to you the new Applegate Residence, a small straw bale home that can be built for around $20,000. I am very intrigued by this type of construction but I have never actually stayed in a straw bale home. As I was learning more about Strawbale.com I stumbled across a page that showed some tiny straw bale homes for rent. I contacted Gabrielle Morrison to learn more about them and she wrote back with the following information and photographs. I’ll let Gabriella tell you more.

Over the course of about 3 years we built a series of 4 charming and beautiful straw bale cabins, all at 200sqft to create a mini “Straw Bale Village.” Three of them serve as sleeping cabins and have plenty of space for queen size beds as well as desks.

Alsek Cottage

by Kent Griswold

I have featured the Oregon Cottage Company before here on the Tiny House Blog and you can visit the previous posts here. Todd Miller designs his homes to fit his clients needs and the new Alsek Cottage is his latest design. I’ll let Todd tell you more about it.

The Alsek Cottage is Oregon Cottage Company’s (OCC) response for a client’s wish to reduce costs and do a partial build-out. Our client wished to express her talent in finishing the project on her own and to reduce her expenses along the way. She also wanted to flood the interior with light and create additional loft space.

We were able to satisfy her requirements by creating a 4/12 single pitch roof, adding clearstory operable windows and cut costs by:

Eliminating an exterior porch to maximize the conditioned space.
Creating a 4/12 simple shed roof.
Utilizing vinyl in lieu of wood windows.
Reusing a window and a solid wood Dutch door.
Stubbing out for gas, water, and waste only.
Installing pine v-grove interior wall finish and allowing the client to trim out the windows, door, base boards and loft. Surrounding and sealing the wood.
Allowing the client to install the finish flooring.
Allowing the client to install all interior partitions.
Installing T-111 siding with battens eliminating the beveled cedar siding.
Finishing the exterior with a field paint of only one color and allowing the client to paint the trim if she wishes.
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Sharon’s Small House Story

by Kent Griswold

My husband and I have been living in a small home rental in Portland, Oreogn for the past year and a half. Our cottage is about 450 square feet. It feels quite spacious to us. Both of us grew up in very large homes full of family, friends, and fun and we loved it, but prefer a smaller space for ourselves.

We got married in Maine (we used to live in Boston/Somerville) and packed our small Honda Civic with all of our possessions and leisurely road tripped to Oregon.

We found this house on Craigslist soon after moving to the area. Because we only brought our clothes and some personal items, we wanted to find a small place that would be easy and cheap to furnish. It took a few weeks, but we were able to get everything in our home (except TV and bed side tables) from Goodwill, Craigslist, and garage sales. It was quite an adventure!