Guest Post by Nicole Young
I hate clutter with a fiery passion. Every time I visit my in-laws’ home I cringe and try to subdue the urge to straighten and purge. Worse, according to my husband, is when I get home and try to start donating and tossing things around our own- already minimalist- home.
You see, every visit sparks a fear that one day our home will be overrun with useless knick-knacks, long forgotten children’s toys, and other junk. Many of my friends ask me for advice on clearing clutter from their own home, so I’ve decided to write down my best general advice and put it out into the world.
Have a Storage Unit
You need a dedicated space to store valuable, but infrequently, used items. If you don’t have a basement or spare space in the garage you will probably need a storage unit. When utilized properly, storage units will be invaluable. When utilized poorly, however, it will just be an expensive junk room you have to travel to.
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Have you ever wondered how to build a tiny house on a trailer? You’re not alone..
Dan Louche of Tiny Home Builders has been creating how to videos on exactly how to build a tiny home of your own. His latest design is called: Tinier Living. It’s a smaller version of his popular Tiny Living plans. Since this is his third build, he’s been documenting every part of the construction process in video so anyone (including you) can learn how to do the same thing. Dan just finished installing metal roofing on the house and added video footage on exactly how to do it.
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So here’s a photo of what the house looks like right now:
Photo by Dan Louche
If you want, watch a time-lapse video of Dan installing the metal roof onto the house below:
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I was excited to find out that Clothesline Tiny Homes was featured on HLNTV earlier this week.
That’s right- Shane and Carrie were on national television just the other day giving America a tour of their tiny house.
If you missed it you can watch their segment right here on Tiny House Talk. Not very long ago Shane and Carrie decided to design and build their own mortgage-free dream house.
It’s modern, sleek, and precisely created for their own needs. It’s unique relative to most other little houses out there because it was built on a gooseneck trailer which is similar to a 5th wheel travel trailer.
This allowed them to create an extra spacious sleeping area as opposed to the upstairs sleeping lofts that can sometimes feel cramped for some.
Photo Credits Clothesline Tiny Homes
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This little loft apartment in Paris is available as a vacation rental through Airbnb.com. It’s located between la Bastille and Père Lachaise with 645 square feet of open space on the 5th floor. Just two blocks away you can jump aboard a bus ride to the Louvre museum and Metro Charonne. There are also plenty of restaurants, bars, and food shops nearby. Inside there’s a full kitchen, bathroom, wireless internet, and even a washer and dryer so you can feel right at home.
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Just scroll down to take a photo tour of the small space below..
Nothing fancy and pretty simple, wouldn’t you say? Below is a view from the loft.
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This video based post is going to show you how to build your own rustic lantern hanger that you can use in your tiny house, cabin, or current home. Derek “DEEK” Diedricksen of RelaxShacks.com is going to show how he did it for just $2.00 using recycled materials, some creativeness, and a little bit of labor.
Here’s what you’re going to need:
- Piece of wood to act as hanger
- Wood to create border
- Scrap plywood and paint
- Lantern to hang
- Hammer and nails
Pretty simple right? So let’s get started!
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Play the video below and Deek will guide you on how to do it. Let me us know what you come up with afterward in the comments or on your own blog.
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I think in terms of thoroughness and an interesting/clever approach, Kevin Harrington’s 8′ by 8′ by 8′ cabin layout was tops.
His also seemed to get the most by way of response and praise from others as well.
I actually liked aspects of ALL of the submissions, truly, (Remi, Rachel, and the rest, all had some great ideas!) but it was so close between Kevin Harrington and Hunter that I’d also like to mail Hunter a copy of Gerald Rowan’s “Compact Cabins”, and the limited-press TINY version of Lloyd Kahn’s “Tiny Homes, Simple Shelters”.
But Kevin Harrington, congratulations!….I’ll mail you a copy of my book “Humble Homes, Simple Shacks”, a copy of “Eco-House”, Shelton’s Davis’ “Adirondack Pallet Chair” pack, and the long-sleeve work shirt from The Jamaica Cottage Shop of Vermont.
This contest was a lot of fun to put together and judge, and perhaps Alex and I can work on another one soon….
-Derek “Deek” Diedricksen
P.S. If you want to make it to my upcoming hands on workshop near Boston, MA it’s this November 2-4, 2012 where we’re building two structures… One 8x8x8 cabin and a micro shelter on a trailer as well! Click here for more information if you’re interested in attending.
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Over the years we’ve all been watching as Austin Hay began building his own mortgage-free tiny house.
He started when he was a freshman in high school when he was just 15 years old. Austin had only taken one woodworking class before.
Besides that, he had watched his dad build a home so he really didn’t have that much experience with carpentry. Now in his senior year in high school, he’s finishing up his 130-square-foot dream home on wheels.
Kirsten Dirksen of Faircompanies.com has put together yet another video for all of us to enjoy. You’ll get to listen to Austin as he explains all of the features of his tiny home and I’m glad to announce that the house is nearly 100% complete.
“It feels great every day that I accomplish something. Even just a simple ladder,” says Austin.
Using a portable indoor heater, his little house heats up in about an hour during the winter. He plans on using two propane tanks: one for his water heater and the other for the heater.
Throughout the entire project, he’s been collecting the trash generated from it and it’s added up to just three and a half garbage cans of disposal. Not bad when you consider the national average of 8,000 pounds of garbage generated from the construction of a 2,000 square foot home.
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I encourage you to watch the complete tour below: [continue reading…]
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By Laura LaVoie
I had a couple of things I was thinking about writing for Tiny House Talk this week, but every time I started typing the words just weren’t pouring out as I had hoped. So I thought I would just tell you a little bit about what it has been like living in our tiny house since May of this year.
There was a lot of anticipation when it came to moving into our tiny house. Because of our circumstances, it took us three years to build the house itself. We also had to take care of some things from our old life before we could move into our new one. The biggest change for me came by quitting my full time job. Even though I was very much ready for a change and quite burned out on my job in general, it is still terrifying to leave behind that kind of stability for the unknown. I had worked with everyone for 8 years and it was tough leaving that family behind regardless of opportunities that I faced by moving on.
Reducing my living expenses was the most important thing that I could do to be able to make this transition. Without utility bills and rent I don’t have to make as much money to keep up with my other bills and expenses. It is a rewarding feeling.
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There are lots of things I have learned about myself moving to our tiny house on the mountain:
- I can live independently. I wasn’t sure how this whole freelance writing thing was going to go. And don’t get me wrong, I am not independently wealthy by any means. But I am happy to say that I’m doing pretty well. I didn’t want to work for someone else anymore so I was able to make that change. I am a better person because of it.
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8×8 Tiny House Design Contest Submission by Anthony
To keep things simple, the house would be 8 feet by 8 feet. Having lived in Michigan most of my life and hoping to someday moved back by finding a patch of land and building an off the grid shack starts to complicate things.
Michigan winters are long and COLD, so the walls of this house would be 6 inches thick instead of the regular 4. This not only helps with the temperature, but also the weight of snow that would build up on the mostly flat roof.
For this house, I would start with a insulated cement slab elevated 3 inches off the ground level. Then I would build an 11 foot south wall, 10’6″ north wall, angled east and west walls, and a 9 inch thick roof consisting of 2×8’s, plywood, and rubber pond liner.
The entire structure would be insulated with spray foam and interior walls would be Kydex. Also, due to the amount of snowfall in Michigan, the door has to swing inward, and the floor in front of the door has to be somewhere you aren’t going to step later if you don’t want wet socks.
To solve this problem and instead of wasting nine square feet like most people would with a three foot wide door and not using the space in front of it, I chose a two foot wide custom made door that opens into the bathroom.
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More 8×8 Tiny House Design Submissions:
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