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Travis Gives You His Tiny House Tumbleweed Lusby Build Video Tour


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Here’s a video walk around with Travis and his tiny house on a trailer.

The house is 8′ wide and 24′ long. Right above the hitch is where the LP tanks are stored along with the hot water heater.

Right next to the water heater is where the water inlet is located so you can hook a hose up to there just like you would with an RV and have access to water.

Then just below that area is where the power supply is, and again- just like an RV- you can plug this into an RV park or a generator and power many of the appliances inside.

This tiny house weighs approximately 6,740 lbs and it’s supported by two 5,500 lbs brake axles. The front porch is large enough to sit and relax in and keep you covered during rain.

Once you walk inside the kitchen is to the right with the dining table to the left. In between the entrance door are two storage compartments on both sides. This is where Travis keeps his food and other supplies.

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Travis Tiny House Lusby Build

Photo Credit YouTube/travis162002

The storage on the other side is his closet where he keeps his clothing. He has a 700w microwave and a mini refrigerator along with a cutting board that slides out.

I think he did a beautiful job with the cabinets and woodwork. He chose an RV gas-based stove/oven and created a slide out trash can to the left of it.

When you walk towards the back and passed the kitchen you’ll find a little room with a couple of chairs and a television. It’s his TV room. Alternatively, this can be a little bedroom or an office.

The bathroom has an RV toilet, regular vanity, medicine cabinet, and a full-size shower along with a good vent fan. From here you can easily get upstairs to the sleeping loft with a full sized bed and convenient light switches.

On the opposite side of the loft is currently set up as storage but can alternatively be set up as a sleeping area as well and it has plenty of ventilation set up. The ladder is stored right above the kitchen in between two shelves. I’ve never seen someone store the ladder like this before. I guess you could hang cookware on it but then it would be annoying to use.

In case you were wondering, yes- this house was built using the Tumbleweed Lusby tiny house plans by Jay Shafer. It’s one of my favorite designs because of the extra room that I’d use as an office/study.

Travis is also going to shower you his ceiling fan which keeps this little house on wheels super ventilated. It’s only a 20″ fan but works really well in there according to him.

One thing that I’d change to this design is to simply use a larger sink because since there’s no dishwasher I think it’s nice to have a decent sized sink. Although I guess I could adjust to smaller cookware too.

What did you like best about this house and what, if any, improvements would you make if it was for yourself?

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 31 comments… add one }
  • John Mauldin
    April 11, 2012, 4:25 pm

    This is a killer house! I am impressed! The vent is an excellent idea as well as the tip on the brand of heater, procom which is readily available at northern tool, my kind of store!

  • RMB
    April 11, 2012, 4:29 pm

    The great thing about this plan is that, done right, it can make a tiny house a viable option for people with limited mobility who would never get up a ladder to the loft.

  • Teri
    April 11, 2012, 4:33 pm

    Thanks, Travis, for a very nice comprehensive video. I like the time you took showing us your Lusby. I love the slide-out trash can and cutting board!
    Some questions:
    1. What was the little curtain area in the bathroom, opposite the sink wall?
    2. How long a shower can you take with the instant hot water heater?
    3. What was the brand of the 20″ ceiling fan?
    Thank you!
    Teri

    • April 13, 2012, 12:49 pm

      Great questions Teri, I’ll see if we can get him over here to answer those for us. I believe the hot water heater will continue working as long as you want you’ll just be using up more propane.

      • Teri
        April 13, 2012, 5:26 pm

        Thanks, Alex!

  • shelli barnety
    April 11, 2012, 4:46 pm

    Loved the video. Lighting was great. Love the shutters and the second loft area. Never seen the second loft before.

    • April 13, 2012, 12:49 pm

      Thanks Shelli I’m glad you liked it!

  • Pat Taylor
    April 11, 2012, 5:29 pm

    Wow! Beautiful and so functional. The quality really stands out! Thanks for sharing your handiwork. Very inspiring. I love thinking about how living so modestly cuts through all the silly pretenses we’ve created in our “modern” lives. Back to basics & less alienation from nature and each other!

  • April 11, 2012, 7:33 pm

    I love it!! Especially all the storage room.

  • Kerry
    April 11, 2012, 7:38 pm

    Looks really nice and comfortable and particularly roomy. Only thing is that extra room for watching tv looks very cramped the way travis has set it up. The tv is going to be soooo close to the chairs? Personally i think i’d put a sofa or bench seat on the far wall, and the tv to the right of the door, just to give a bit more distance and save my eyesight!

  • Lea Bradley
    April 11, 2012, 9:20 pm

    Great Job! I have been leaning toward the Fencl, but now seeing yours, I think the Lusby would be better for Me & my 10yr old. I love your floorplan!

  • April 11, 2012, 10:51 pm

    I like the ladder like he has it… but know in all honesty that if I had a tiny house, the ladder would have to be permanently in place. I’d rather give up some shelf space than have to move a ladder every night.

    I’d also have a permanent “sofa” bench with a thick cushion downstairs in any tiny house. If I was sick, I wouldn’t want to climb up and down a ladder very often, so I’d want a place to lay down without climbing.

    I really appreciated seeing the detail of the bead board walls. Though I think I’d run the bead the other way (up and down) the bead board makes sense. So does the heater, and I’ve made note of it for the house I hope to remodel into a small house soon.

    • April 12, 2012, 10:29 am

      Mary- good point. Even though something takes just a few seconds to move around the convenience of not having to is valuable. Especially if you keep any of your stuff up there and want to get up and down throughout the day. Thanks for all the ideas!

  • Stephany
    April 11, 2012, 11:10 pm

    I love it, ceiling fan and everything.
    Something I would lov to have would be a pull down ladder for the loft and a push up ladder for the outside stairs.

  • Patrick Hennebery
    April 12, 2012, 1:44 am

    Great job. I especially like the exterior siding. In my tiny homes I have been using LED battery lights with motion detectors. They are $8 each and work well for closets and anywhere you may have forgotten a light. My 108 sq.ft. Caravan will be finished next month. Keep up the good work.
    Patrick

    • April 12, 2012, 10:27 am

      Thanks Patrick, great idea on the sensor LED lights, I’ll have to check those out. Can’t wait to see your finished 108 sq ft caravan. See ya! Alex

  • Norbert
    April 12, 2012, 10:01 am

    Travis;
    Awesome tour. I like the layout. I would have added a small skylight for natural lighting. I know that Dee Williams design has shown some with skylights. Good idea in the venting at the gable end with the fan. I would have probably used LED lights inside to cut down on energy use. The puck kind. I like the sitting room, it is simple. The flat screen TV and cable is a good idea. Smart idea with the shutters, it gives a good accent to the outside. Thanks again for the tour.
    Norbert

    • April 12, 2012, 10:28 am

      Glad you liked it Norbert.. I agree with your skylight ideas and I believe Dee has an entire window in her sleeping loft which is awesome as long as you don’t mind waking up with the sun 🙂

  • Joyce Bryant
    April 13, 2012, 2:00 pm

    Thank you so much for the tour. You made it easy to understand the dimensions of your place. Beautiful quality work.

  • Teri
    April 13, 2012, 5:49 pm

    I checked out the heater @ Northern Tool and found this: Not for sale in California or Canada. Check your local regulations on installation restrictions and requirements.
    I’m a Calif. girl… bummer!

  • Eric
    April 14, 2012, 11:41 am

    Hi,
    Cute house!
    Forgive my ignorance, but where does the waste water and sewage go in a house like this?
    Thanks for the help.

  • Judith Savard
    April 14, 2012, 3:03 pm

    Loved your tiny house. You had some great ideas. The venting in loft area, ceiling fan, placing the ladder over the kitchen (I would have to have another ladder because I would hang things off of this ladder being in the kitchen area.) You did a great job on the tour. By the way the entry door was awesome. You are great at your craft. Thanks again for sharing info. 1 more thing specs on trailer really helpful. One day I will have one to live in.

  • Nelene
    April 15, 2012, 11:55 am

    I love it. I’m wanting to build one for myself, it will be in my son’s back yard, which is where I will live. However, I’m scared to get started, never built anything in my life before.

  • sesameB
    April 16, 2012, 12:50 pm

    This is so sweet, so sweet. I could easily live in this cabin, however, I have my own here in rural south central sunny Arkansas.

    “Ruling Out Dogma
    Nobody knows what’s best for you better than you.”

    This past weekend a free copy of this DVD – IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline –Colin Gunn $17.95, was sent to me free by director himself of The Exodus Mandate Project. Today I watched the DVD and was further informed about this timely issue in our society. Since graduating from high ‘skool’ myself, I have never attended my high school reunion. After high skool, I travelled the North America continent, visiting and staying a length in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I had a lively time. In later life, very late in life, I went to college and finished Henderson State University not-so-recently. I have never liked public ‘skooling’ back then and now. Years ago, I read John Gatto’s books, and donated them to the local library when I lived in Bismarck, ND in an efficiency apartment. I also read, Escape from Childhood John C. Holt (Author), his other books years ago.
    This DVD – IndoctriNation: Public Schools and the Decline –Colin Gunn sits alongside all of my small house books in my tiny home here in Arkansa.

    The Exodus Mandate Project is offering a one-year emergency plan to rescue Christian children from the godless, pagan public schools and to place them in K-12 private Christian schools or Christian homeschooling. This rescue plan, the “Call to Dunkirk ,” is named after the World War II event of 1940 in which 340,000 British and Allied troops were miraculously rescued from the beaches of Dunkirk in the face of the German Nazi War machine. State-run public schools have become destructive to our children’s Christian faith. They no longer educate but rather indoctrinate. Not only morally corrupt, public schools are unsafe because of the violence and crime that occurs in them on a regular basis.

    Barefootin’, drinking spring water and living tiny in rural south central Arkansas (I have no children in the public school system, EVER.)

  • April 16, 2012, 7:19 pm

    It looks great! Amazing job! Are you going to use it for camping?

  • Cathy
    June 30, 2012, 7:24 pm

    Thank you for sharing the video of this Tiny House. I love this design and all that you have done. I have some of the same questions as Teri, so will wait for replies and not be redundant, but was wondering if you can close the outside shutters when traveling to protect your windows. Also are the windows single or double paned? Thanks again for the tour. I love this whole concept!

  • Charmaine
    July 16, 2012, 7:35 pm

    I am just starting to consider a nomadic life style as a retirement option,it would still be a while before I can get there.
    The Lusby design is the house on wheels design that I like the best – so far. I had already considered an on-demand water heater, but the additions of the ceiling fan, vent, and the RV range were brilliant design ideas!
    I see now how these designs can be modified just here and there for excellent results for the owners needs. It makes me want to get started sooner than later.

  • Patrick
    November 10, 2012, 7:16 pm

    Great house. One question. With the bathroom vent being that low do you have any condensation issues?

  • Randy Ober
    May 28, 2013, 1:35 pm

    Alex,
    Nicely done, but…
    I neither heard nor saw any means to keep drawers nor cabinet doors closed. What happens when you’re driving down the road and hit a bump? Does everything you have stored come crashing to the floor? Also your ladder when stored? Does it bounce around? This was brought to mind because of experience while sailing.

    Randy Ober

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