oregon

Floating Guest House

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As many of you know I am a huge fan of floating homes and have often thought of starting another blog focusing just on them. Recently through a google alert I discovered this little floating guest house in Portland, Oregon. Designed and constructed by a company called Studio Hamlet Architects, PLLC based in Bainbridge Island, WA. Julia Zander was kind enough to send me some wonderful photographs and gave me permission to share this project with you.

Floating Retreat
This floating guest house is nestled among a community of eclectic houseboats on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. The project was designed to work as a part-time residence for a couple’s use while their main floating home is being built. After moving into the main house, the guest house will become a vacation retreat for visiting family and friends.

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LeisureLand Community River House

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Guest Post by TR Kelley

We bought this 5 acre piece of land on Oregon’s Siuslaw River in 1998. In addition to the ramshackle house and barn, there were six creosoted pilings driven into the riverbank in front of the house defining a 6×10 rectangle under some huge old firs.

The urge to build some sort of platform for river viewing, birdwatching and outdoor summer sleeping was irresistible. We started with a dozen different 6×4 beams salvaged from a demolished plywood mill to frame the floor out to approx 11×11, with an additional 4x4x5 triangle nook sticking out over the river. An abandoned 100-year-old house upriver yielded the 2×6 T&G subflooring.

The River House at LeisureLand, looking upriver (ESE). River mile 34.5, Siuslaw River, Oregon.

The next year, we built the framework of the cabin over the top with recycled lumber. 3″ peeled poles were recycled from a tipi project to make the rafters, and a neighbor’s remodel gave us the door and vintage bead-board for the ceiling.

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What’s next for minimalist houses?

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Logan, Tammy Strobel’s husband from the Rowdy Kittens blog sent me an article from The Oregonian that I think is very import for us all to read. It is an article about Rich Daniels who did a guest post on the Tiny House Blog a couple of weeks ago. This … Read more

Mike Jordan’s Tiny House

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Mike Jordan had fallen in love with the idea of a tiny mobile house about five years ago. After a divorce, and becoming the primary caregiver of his young son, he realized that his chance had come to simplify and streamline his life. Mike originally looked at small RVs, vans and Airstreams, but decided to go with a small mobile house built by the Oregon Cottage Company.

Mike, who rides a bicycle instead of owning a car, appreciated the green aspects of the tiny mobile home but was a bit concerned about having to pick it up from Oregon and bring it back to his home in Connecticut. So, he looked at it as an adventure, bought a van sight unseen in Washington and towed the house across the country with his son.

“We had a hell of a good time,” Mike said. “It was the best time of my life”.

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Backyard Box

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These small, well-designed little backyard houses are actually much better looking and more detail oriented than a basic box, without forsaking the modern, prefab style. Backyard Box, a company based in Seattle, designs and builds small prefab houses that can be used in many ways: as a rental income property, guest house, home office, mother-in-law apartment or a tiny house.

The smallest design is the MatchBox, a studio that packs a kitchen, living room and bath into 400 square feet. It can fit into a lot that is 17 by 27 feet and starts at $79,500. A larger design is the SandBox, a one story backyard cottage with kitchen, living room, bathroom and one bedroom. It is 600 square feet and is designed for simple and minimalist living on one level, and will fit on most city lots at just 17 by 37 feet. The SandBox starts at $86,500. Each of these houses are custom architect-designed and you can choose from three finish levels.

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Greenbox

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Derek Metson of Greenbox Designs, LLC located in Clackamas, Oregon let me know about their product which design I think could fit into the tiny house market.

Derek says that the Greenbox is the solution to a homeowner’s expanding needs, extending living, working or storage space outside your existing confines. Produced with sustainable, regional materials, Greenbox is a viable, quick and economical way of expanding your environment. A Greenbox unit can readily be assembled in one day.

Each unit is customizable to suit a home owners needs and comes in several different sizes.

  • Plumbing, electrical or HVAC can be customized.
  • Windows are available in over 25 pre-finished colors.
  • Low VOC paints are available in over a thousand colors.
  • Color matching with paints or stains is available to match your existing residence.

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