Zyl’s Little Bird Vardo

little bird in Portland

Abel Zyl of Zyl’s Vardos sent me some photos and information on his latest build. A tiny house called the Little Bird which resides in Portland, Oregon. I hope to visit it in October as my daughter is a good friend of the owner, so expect another update then. In … Read more

EcoPod Holidays Homes

The tiny EcoPod Holidays vacation homes, located in the Derbyshire area of England are not only portable vardo-like structures, but they have been built from over 50 percent waste materials including sheep’s wool and recycled glass bottles. Each of the EcoPod Holiday huts are available as vacation rentals for people who … Read more

Canopy & Stars Tiny Houses

The name of this vacation rental company in the United Kingdom might have picked the best name to describe the simplicity of staying in or living in a tiny house. Canopy & Stars have taken it a step further and offer handpicked quirky and eco-friendly small places to stay within … Read more

The Little Rustic Cabin on Wheels

Hal's Vardo exterior

I retired a few years back to help my wife, who’s health is failing. Looking for something to do to occupy my spare time without leaving her by herself, I decided to drag out my woodworking tools and work in the garage on little projects. I went to wally world … Read more

Charles Finn’s Microhomes

Charles Finn might just be the ultimate tiny house Renaissance Man. He’s a self-taught woodworker, an author, freelance writer, editor of the High Desert Journal, a literary and fine arts magazine, and his custom microhomes also allotted a full color spread in Lloyd Kahn’s “Tiny Homes, Simple Shelter” book. Charles … Read more

Whittled Down Caravan/Gypsy Wagon Video Tour

whittled down caravan

Hey all, a belated happy new year, and here’s a brand new video mini-tour of “The Whittled Down” Caravan, which made a guest-structure appearance at our Tiny House Building Workshop in Massachusetts this past November (one of five tiny shelters, structures, houses, we had on site!). It was built by … Read more

Kootenay Lake Gypsy Wagon

Inhabitat (one of my favorite sites) recently featured this rustic, but beautiful gypsy wagon (one of my favorite tiny houses) which sits in the forest near Kootenay Lake in British Columbia. The 8 foot by 20 foot wagon was built on a $100 salvaged 5 ton chassis, with 2×4 construction and curved rafters. It cost about $8,000 to build and took several years.

Most of the building materials for the wagon were recycled. The floor is locally milled hemlock tongue and groove and the windows were second hand finds from the local classifieds. The exterior shingles were cedar “seconds” split with a hatchet. The round window was ingeniously made from a 1970’s picnic table and is framed with rope for a natty, nautical style. The curved roof is covered with flexible metal sheeting and has two, curved Lexan skylights. The interior of the wagon is covered with stretched canvas, stapled into place and painted with white wash. Under the wagon is space for the storage of supplies and firewood.

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Tiny House Neighbors

tiny gypsy wagon

A couple of weeks ago Merete and Christopher were here interviewing and video taping me at my house for their soon to be released “Tiny, the Movie.” They had already spent some time with Jay Shafer and were making the rounds in Sonoma County. After we were done we went … Read more

Five Year Anniversary Winners

grand prize

Wow, what a terrific response to this milestone of five years for the Tiny House Blog! Over 200 comments telling your favorite blog posts. I just wish I could give everyone a prize, but unfortunately I can’t. Listed below are the prize winners and I am in the process of … Read more

Vardo Inspiration

vardo

My post for today is still preparing for the traffic he might receive so I am postponing it for the time being. Cheyenne sent me some great Vardo inspiration from several sites so I thought I would give you some Vardo eye candy in todays post. I have covered George’s min vardo before here. He has a great blog with some cool photos I’d like to invite you to spend some time on it if you have interest in vardos and other hand made things. http://paleotool.com/

vardo
Photo Credit George

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“Pee-Wee’s” Gypsy Wagon for Sale

This beautiful gypsy wagon, which was used as a prop in the 1988 movie “Big Top Pee-Wee” has been available for sale since the middle of last year. The wagon, restored by Gary Votapka, was originally purchased for his land in Montana, but it is still sitting in a California neighborhood waiting for its next owner. (Sold)

The vardo was in terrible shape when Gary purchased it for $10,000 and towed it from Barstow to his home in Fallbrook, Calif. The wagon had been sitting in the sun for over 20 years and gallons of desert dust and sand had settled onto the floor. Since the wagon had also been used as a prop in a movie with Pee-Wee Herman and Valeria Golino, none of the drawers opened and the cabinets were facades. Over the course of four years, Gary, his wife and son restored the gypsy wagon (by using a DVD of the movie) to its original colorful state and added a few workable cabinets and a comfortable bed.

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Tumbleweed Giveaways and Holiday Sale

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is expanding their reach via Twitter and Facebook and to encourage you to follow them via one of these methods they are having a giveaway of some of their books and posters every couple of hours till the end of November. To be included in the … Read more