This is the story of a cluster of tiny turf houses in Iceland.
They’re built using natural and local materials like turf and lava stones along with imported wood.
Please enjoy, learn more by watching the video, and re-share below. Thank you!
Images © Exploring Alternatives via YouTube
This is the story of a young man who started building his own mortgage-free tiny house at age 18.
Now, at age 21, Josh and his girlfriend Lindsay are almost done building it and getting ready to move in.
In the beginning, he started the project with a summer job to save money for the trailer and building materials.
Three years later, he’s almost finished! And Josh is proud to say that he’s kept the project debt-free.
He also decided to start his own tiny house construction company called Red Door Tiny Homes. He offers tiny house framing plans and building services.
Images © Exploring Alternatives via YouTube
This is one man’s fantastic school bus-turned-DIY-motorhome.
From the outside, you can see vestiges of the house’s former life as a vehicle for transporting students, but the exterior of the bus has been painted burgundy. The body of the van has been enveloped in wood-siding to give a more “house-like” look and feel. The coolest part of this bus transformation? It runs off of vegetable oil!
When you go inside, you’ll find beautiful fir floors and an entirely wooded home. The roof has been cut off of the bus, allowing for a 2×4 construction house with a taller ceiling to be built in its place. The bus includes a wood stove and right next to the home’s heating source is a door that leads below the bus where he can load wood from the outside to fuel the fire. During the winter, he heats his house and water with an antique-looking oven, but during the summer, he has a smaller stove and oven that runs off propane. He has a typical RV water tank system, with grey water going into one tank and black water into the other. His stand-up shower has a beautiful pebble floor and a skylight for brightness. Watch the video below for more details!
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Images © Exploring Alternatives via YouTube
A handful of Biome off-grid yurts have been installed throughout Gatineau Park in Québec, Canada, as an accommodation solution for outdoor enthusiasts who want to extend their stay in the park.
These contemporary yurts have a propane fridge and BBQ, a solar panel, and a wood stove. The structure is made with a wooden trellis, weatherproof canvas, and a dome skylight at the centre which provides ample natural light. During warmer months, the dome can be lifted with a metal crank rod to allow fresh air to enter, and heat to escape.
Mat and Danielle from Exploring Alternatives think this yurt could be an interesting tiny house alternative based on its (relative) portability and affordability, as well as the fact that yurts are considered a temporary structure in many municipalities. The interior design and floor plan could easily be adapted for a more cozy, homey atmosphere instead of the current utilitarian setup. You can see a video tour and photos of the yurt below.
Images © ExploringAlternatives
After owning a conventional home and feeling stressed by the pressure of paying a large mortgage on her own by mortgage arrangers, Natalie, a Canadian woman in her mid-thirties, decided to build a tiny house on wheels.
Starting with plans from Tumbleweed, she adapted the design for extreme winter weather by installing spray foam insulation, a heat recovery ventilation system, electric in-floor heating and a propane heater. Natalie built the house with the help of a contractor and the whole project, including labor, cost approximately $36,000 CAD (although the roof still needs to be shingled).
The tiny house is currently parked in a suburb of Montreal, Canada where she has been living in it for a year and a half. She plans to live in this house forever and, with a little bit of work (i.e. taking down a portion of the backyard fencing), she can take her home wherever she goes.
Images © Exploring Alternatives via YouTube
This van dwelling story is a guest post by Mat and Danielle – share yours here!
We’re Mat and Danielle – two Canadian, minimalist nomads who are exploring long-term travelling, house sitting, and living/working in our 2002, Ford E-150 conversion van. We’re sharing our ongoing lifestyle experiments on YouTube and on our blog: Exploring Alternatives.
We started travelling 2.5 years ago after selling our house and quitting our jobs. We travelled to Costa Rica, California, Australia and Thailand for almost a year, using our savings and the money we made from the sale of our house. Then we secured online work that allowed us to keep moving for another year, so we travelled to Iceland, Germany, Spain and the United States.
We officially moved into the van several months ago and are travelling across Canada. We’re working in cities/towns during the week, and camping/hiking on the weekends. We stealth camp, sleep in Walmart parking lots, park in the driveways of friends and family, and camp in provincial parks.
Images © ExploringAlternatives.ca
