Just wanted to let you know that I’m on my way to the Vermont for the Yestermorrow tiny house fair this morning.
I’m so excited to get to hang out with 30+ other tiny house enthusiasts along with the likes of Dee Williams, Jay Shafer, Derek Diedricksen, Brian Levy, Lee Pera, Abel Zyl Zimmerman, Peter King, Dan Louche, Mariah Coz, Tammy Strobel, Logan Smith, Abe Noe-Hays, Gwendolyn Hallsmith, Lina Menard, Sam Harrington, and more. I’m so excited!
I’ll do my best to update the blog and our Facebook while I’m there and Yestermorrow will be doing the same thing here.
Photo Credit Four Lights Tiny Houses
[continue reading…]
{ }
Last year, in a Podcast conversation with Andrew Odom of Tiny Revolution he asked me why we built our tiny house on a foundation rather than wheels. I chuckled because the answer was actually quite boring and practical. Our tiny house is on a mountain and there is a significant slope to the land. We built it on a post a pier foundation to avoid two things: the house rolling down the mountain and having to bring heavy equipment up the mountain to level a spot and pour a slab.
We chose this location because it is where we wanted our tiny house to be.
I won’t lie – the foundation was the single hardest thing we did during our tiny house build. It was a pain to figure out how to build it in three dimensions. Not only did we need it to be square and level but it also needed to be plumb. We agonized over this process and in the end we have a very well-built house that is pretty solid.
Photo by Laura M. LaVoie
The steps for building our foundation were:
- Map the footprint
- Figure out the slope (which goes in two directions)
- Use a two-man auger to dig the post holes
- Place Sonotubes and measure the height and level of each pier
- Mix and pour concrete
- Set anchor bolts
- Measure and cut 4x4s for the highest posts
- Assemble the structure and decking
Photo By Laura M. LaVoie
We had a friend help us with the auger because no matter how tough I pretend to be that huge machine was not something I could handle. Once the holes were dug, though, Matt and I were on our own.
Read more about our construction below.
[continue reading…]
{ }
Now here’s a tiny cabin with a twist that I wanted to show you. It’s best built on stilts so you can make the best of use of the fold out porch area.
We’ve already seen ideas like this being used on tiny houses on wheels. Joe at Tennessee Tiny Homes is doing it along with the folks over at Molecule Tiny Homes, for example.
Don’t miss other tiny homes like this – join our FREE Tiny House Newsletter for more!
Fold Out Porch on Tiny Cabin
Photo Credit Roderick James Architect
Learn and see more below:
[continue reading…]
{ }
Wanted to show you this tiny house that anyone can rent in Canada.
It’s in the Nelson, BC area and is available through Airbnb.com.
Tiny House for Rent in Canada
In this location you’re just 15 minutes to Whitewater Ski Hill.
It’s a hand built cabin with all of the comforts of home within just 200-square-feet of living space.
Photo Credit Airbnb.com
See and learn more below: [continue reading…]
{ }
When an architecture student in China became frustrated with his dorm room he decided to design and build his own 75 sq. ft. tiny house.
It’s a micro home that somehow packs a kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and patio. Hard to imagine at just 75-square-feet.
Student Designs and Builds Micro House
To me the design is a mashup of several tiny houses I’ve seen around the Internet.
It’s got the interior wood that I really like. And most of the furniture transforms much like in many RVs and even like some of the transforming apartments we’ve seen lately.
But unlike many RVs this micro house is all about quality. See for yourself below…
75 SQ FT Tiny House in China
See the rest of the photos of this tiny house below:
[continue reading…]
{ }
I recently asked my own Facebook community for some inspiration about topics for the various blogs I write.
One question that intrigued me was this one:
“I’d be curious to know where folks think “tiny” ends and “small” begins. I dream of downsizing to a smaller space, but I don’t think I could live in a tiny house for an extended period.”
This is an interesting question so I thought I might look into it a little more.
Photo by J. Andrew Flenniken
Read below for more thoughts on small versus tiny.
[continue reading…]
{ }
Have you seen Chris and Malissa’s Tiny Tack House before? Their tiny house is AWESOME.
One of my favorites because it’s a couple’s tiny house and Chris is a photographer. The latest tiny house that Chris has gotten to photograph from what I understand is Yan’s tiny tack house, shown below.
And Chris Tack’s photos are always amazing. To build this one they used a set of Tumbleweed Fencl plans. And they made some modifications to it. They even set up a pull-down screen and projector for movies.
When you walk in you’re greeted by a beautiful fireplace. To the right, there’s a little nook to hang out in with storage above and below. Vaulted ceilings and windows make it feel spacious.
Please don’t miss other exciting tiny homes – join our FREE Tiny House Newsletter!
Yan’s Tiny Tack House
Photo by Chris Tack
Yan’s Tiny Tack House
[continue reading…]
{ }
The Convenience of Modern Living…
…and why I don’t like it.
We just spent the last two months living away from our tiny house with Matt’s mom for the holidays. Two months was an awful long time to spend in someone else’s home and while I was grateful for her hospitality I was also quite ready to leave Michigan and go back to Asheville.
There were a couple of things that I had started taking for granted living in the tiny house. They are opposite what most would expect but they were troubling to me.
- How easy it was. I immediately missed my chores. I loved the simplicity of emptying our gray water bucket into the artificial wetland each day. I had become accustomed to breaking up my work day by going outside to handle my daily chores about 10am. As soon as we got to Michigan I felt unbalanced. I suspect that conventional life has become much too easy. Technology allows us to be hands off. As things are becoming more convenient are we becoming more disconnected with our own lives?
How important is this? Photo by Laura M. LaVoie
[continue reading…]
{ }
It is funny for me to turn on HGTV and see a small house about the size of my own called an “Extreme Home.” For me, and I am sure for most tiny house dwellers, these little spaces are just “home,” not extreme at all. On Thursday, December 6th HGTV aired a segment on tiny house bloggers Tammy Strobel and Logan Smith along with their tiny home designer Dee Williams.
The segment, only a few minutes long, was a quick look into the way tiny house owners live their daily lives. The integration of their environment to their daily activities is most notable and I think is one of the most fascinating things I notice about people who chose to simplify their lives in this way. None of us just slog through life waiting for the next thing to happen to us. We are people who take control of our world and face it deliberately. They focus on Tammy leaving her corporate job to pursue writing. I believe that this drastic lifestyle overhaul is what allows many of us to live our dreams.
Want more kind of like this? Join our FREE Small House Newsletter!
Photo Courtesy of RowdyKittens.com
I encourage you to read more about tiny houses featured on HGTV below:
[continue reading…]
{ }
