Guest Post by Stew MacInnes of Maximus Extreme Living Solutions

My name is Stew MacInnes, I am the owner of Maximus Extreme Living Solutions, based out of Ogden, Utah.

My company manufactures self-contained living units, which in lay terms would probably best be described as eco-friendly, tiny homes that are on massive amounts of steroids! My work history and background would have probably suggested that I ultimately would not have ended up in this role as an owner of a manufacturing company. I have worked for more than twenty-one years in the real estate industry as a Principal Real Estate Broker and the Branch New Homes director for (at that particular time) the second-largest Coldwell Banker franchise in the United States.

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Images via Facebook/Maximus Extreme

I encourage you to read the rest of Stew’s article and look over the rest of the photos below:

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Would you consider living in this 550-square-foot small houseboat?

Affordable Floating Homes is a division of First Mate Builders and Olympia Construction. Mike Auderer designed and built this wonderful humble home on wheels from scratch so he can downsize from a four-story Victorian home according to Thurston Talk. It’s a two-story houseboat with all of the accommodations of the home as you’ll see in the photos below.

So far it has been featured on sites like Inhabitat and the OregonLive. In addition, it’s one of the first houseboats to earn the Built Green Certification.

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550 Sq. Ft. Floating Cottage/Houseboat

Images via Olympia Construction

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This is the third installment in my series, “How We Created a Delightful Christmas in our Tiny House.” See my first and second posts for the first five ideas.

The holidays sneak up and fly by when we keep a frenzied pace of checking off lists and rushing around for the big day. Growing up, I remember my Grandma, Mom and Aunts saying things like, “I’m done. Now I can enjoy.” Christmas was a chore until the work of shopping was done.

Simplifying our lives has helped us to take a different approach. Like our daughter, Ella, said, “I like the suspense and preparing for Christmas. The actual opening and tearing up of presents is sort of a letdown.” Savoring every part of the process with rituals and traditions, rather than rushing through, helps us to feel content once we are finished tearing up paper on Christmas morning.

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Create Your Own Rituals and Traditions From Faith, Friends, and Your Own Heart As You Slow Down

Images via Nehemiah Horst/Tiny Home Builders

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I got to interview Laura LaVoie of 120SquareFeet.com and feature her as one of our guests on here by transcribing the interview as well.

Laura lives with her husband Matt in an off-grid tiny cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. They use a composting toilet and a really unique showering system.

They built their home with no prior construction experience what so ever and left a big house in the suburbs of Atlanta to live this dream. Pictured below is their Tumbleweed house they built with the help of their encouraging friends.

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Images via Laura LaVoie of 120squarefeet.com

I encourage you to read the interview transcript or listen to the podcast on YouTube below:

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It might be the number one comment here at tiny house talk: “I want a small space, but I don’t want a loft. I’m looking for a single story design.”

Friend of Tiny House Talk and designer Dan Louche has created a fantastic tiny house without a loft and it is available on his website. Alex has spoken to Dan about the tiny house he built for his mother, which is the same design. I wanted to ask him a few additional questions about designing and building a single story home on wheels.

What was your reason for designing a single story tiny house?

The first house I ever built was our single story Tiny Retirement model (affiliate). It was for my mom. She had been living in a mobile home that had started to deteriorate and so she needed to move. I loved many of the tiny houses that were available but I knew a loft wouldn’t be an option for my mom. So I worked out a design without one that could still accommodate her lifestyle.

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One of our readers Peter Christiansen brought this shipping container home in Gainesville Florida to my attention. It was built using recycled 15-year-old shipping containers that otherwise would have been melted down because their useful life cycle was over.

There’s a total of 12 used containers that he has used for his home. Some of them serve as a porch and most others as part of the home. Not exactly tiny or even small.. But definitely green thanks to its use of reclaimed materials and solar power technology to power the home. It took 9 months to build the house. The owner is getting a LEED Platinum certification for the house because he saved so much CO2. The house has so many solar panels that it actually creates more power than it uses. In fact, his panels also power some of his neighbors’ homes.

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Watch the video tour and interview with the owner below:

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Guest Post by Jane Dwinell

Designing and Building Your Tiny House

11/13/12

Well, we did it! We built our tiny house and have been living in it for 5 weeks (half of that time it was still under construction — not recommended…). I’ve been thinking about our experience and what we learned — and here it is.

Think about your life

So, you want to live in a tiny house. The first thing you should know is that a tiny house is, well, tiny. As in, very small. As in, there are not many places to put things or do things.  Know what activities are meaningful to you (and what things and space they need), how you’ll be spending your time (working out of the home, working at home, not working), where you’d like to park your tiny house (in town, in the country, in a city), how often you plan to move (never, yearly, every few months, every few weeks), and how long you plan to live in your house (always, seasonally, temporarily until you can afford something bigger, have kids, etc.).

If you love to entertain, dance, play a large musical instrument, or participate in an art or craft that requires room, tiny house living may not be right for you. If you’re a person that craves silence and privacy, and you live with someone else, tiny house living may not be right for you. I just had a friend visiting who said, “This is the most amazing house, but I would be totally claustrophobic.” Know thyself.

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I encourage you to read the rest of the article below:

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Last week I showed you Jane’s tiny house photos.

She and her partner custom designed and built it and they are now living in it full-time.

Jane is also the author of Freedom Through Frugality which is available on her website.

Today she sent me a message enclosed with a video tour of her house that I wanted to share with you.

In it Jane shows you her food storage, water storage, kitchen, living area, expandable table, bathroom and bedroom.

Photo Credit YouTube/NorseHorse

If you want, watch the video below:

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