Lina and her cat, Raffi, are used to tiny dwellings, so they thoroughly enjoy this cozy Vardo-inspired Lucky Penny tiny house in Portland, Oregon, that Lina designed and helped build herself. The tiny home is a whopping 100.3 square feet, 14 1/2 feet long, 8 feet wide, 10 1/2 feet high. The “lucky penny” nickname comes from the fact that most of the interior and exterior are copper-colored, including the small refrigerator.

The front cedar porch folds up flat to allow transporting the home from one place to another.  As you enter the home, you will see a chest of drawers to the left, equipped with storage for jewelry, change, and receipts.  The top 3 drawers of the chest hold Lina’s wardrobe, the 4th drawer her shoes, and the bottom drawer contains Raffi’s litter box!  Lina cut a hole in the side of the bottom drawer with enough space for Raffi to squeeze in and out to do his business, while maintaining his privacy.

The open skylight running almost the entire length of the house provides more openness and brightness, allowing Lina and her kitty to enjoy the trees, birds and sunlight pouring through it.  The Tansu Japanese step chest that Lina found on Craigslist stores many items, while also allowing easy access to the upper loft where additional storage is located.

Young Lady’s Lucky Penny Tiny Home

Images © Tiny House Giant Journey

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This Santa Barbara shipping container home is built by IPME from two 40-foot shipping containers joined together. When you see what this small container-dwelling holds, I think you may be amazed.

A fully functioning kitchen allows a full-sized refrigerator, range, microwave and butcher block for added countertop space.

The living/dining room area contains a dining table that seats six, a sectional sofa, coffee table and desk.

Santa Barbara Shipping Container Home

Images © Central Studios/IPME

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If you’re like me you might also like thinking of ways to build tiny or build small while still meeting minimum local building and zoning codes. This small home with a big garage (floor plan) seems like it might be able to do just that.

I like to think of these ideas or designs as ‘loopholes’ towards building smaller than normally allowed by finding creative ways to do it. Now they might not always work, or even work at all, but there’s always a chance it can if you try to work with your local codes to get it right.

One loophole towards building tiny or small might be to do something like this, especially if you like having lots of garage space on your property. Pretty cool, right?

Small Home with a Big Garage (Floor Plan)

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Just hitch your portable tiny house to your vehicle and tow it anywhere you want to go! It’s even registered as an RV, which has its pros and cons.

Of course, the major advantage to a “mobile” home like this is that you can travel and have a place to stay. However, because of its RV status, Darren Macca and partner Ann Holley had to make some concessions with appliances and the method by which the home was built.

RV appliances are more expensive than say, similarly-sized apartment-sized appliances, but without knowing if they would always have access to a power line, they had to forgo the less expensive route. You can see some of the highlights in the video below.

Couple’s Portable Tiny House on Wheels + Airstream-like Office

Images © YouTube/Faircompanies

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This is an inspiring story about an ordinary man who builds a tiny house for a homeless mother, Irene McGee, who’d been sleeping outside on the dirt. It’s a micro house built with love for someone who was obviously in desperate need of a miracle. And this man was that miracle worker.

He decided he would build the micro house right on the street on a parking lot for her. In the video below you can enjoy and see how he built it. You can actually learn something about building from watching too! As to where and for how long they were able to keep it, I don’t know.

But the point of the video (below) is to inspire you to take action and do something like this too if you feel called to. The man, Elvis Summers, spent $500 to build it. He put wheels on it so they can move it every 72 hours to comply with local police. Either way please enjoy and if you like it re-share with your friends below. Thank you!

Man Builds Tiny House for Homeless Mother Sleeping in Dirt

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Now this is a tiny house that really makes full use of recycled materials! Jeff and Brad used their self-taught knowledge to build two of these in Portland, Oregon.

The exterior walls are made up of tomato sauce cans from a local pizza parlor. These make the houses fire retardant, which apparently makes the local insurance companies very happy!

The window flower boxes outside are made of recycled upside-down range hoods; the porch swing is an old converted Dairy Queen plastic chair. Inside, many features are from recycled materials, too.

Mother and Son Living in 364 Sq. Ft. Tiny Home

Images © Faircompanies/YouTube

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This 400 sq. ft. ADA shipping container tiny home was built by students at the Construction Careers Academy at Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, Texas.

This is an ADA/Handicap accessible container home so it’s ready for anyone that needs a home that’s wheelchair-ready. Inside you’ll find a modern interior with stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, granite countertops, knotty pine cabinets, and more. The dimensions are 40′ x 13′ and the home is going on auction with a starting bid price of $36,000 as of May 16, 2015, at 11:00 AM (Update: sold). Learn more here.

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400 Sq. Ft. ADA Wheelchair-Friendly Shipping Container Tiny Home on a Foundation♿️?

Images © Northside Independent School District

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