Tiny home may not be much but it could mean the world to some.
“If you ride along in Wheeling, you see a bunch of homeless people. In the winter time I’m sure they are freezing and I know the Salvation Army helps but I know some of these people want their own home,” said Howard Scott, owner of Scott’s Home Construction in Wheeling.
The average tiny home measures 8 feet by 20 feet and comes equipped with a loft for a bed. The humble abode Scott’s Home Construction plans to build would be energy-efficient, meaning it would be cost-efficient — perfect for their target clients.
Alaskan Campers are hard-sided pop-up slide-in campers made in the U.S. for the past 50 years. This one is matched to a 1-ton Ford F350 4×4 utility bed pickup. The roof raises hydraulically to provide interior standing room while camping. Read More …
I met Mike B. when we started working on the Tiny Homes and Tiny Homes on the Move books. Amazing builder, snowboarder, traveller. This guy does it all, one of the most inspiring people I know. Here is a newly released video by GoPro and him detailing the build and trip to Alaska.
John’s house truck was featured earlier this year when Tiny House – Giant Journey came across John and his house truck in southern CA. My friend Jesse who lives on the Mendocino coast had photographed him the other week and told me John and his truck were coming my way. Here are a few pics of the exterior while he was in Bolinas (was not able to get inside at the time.) Read More …
My name is Erin, and I live on this boat, Jenny, outside Bristol in Southwest England. I am a printmaker and relocated here about a year ago. The boat is about 6 feet wide by 42 feet long, around 300 square feet of interior space. There is a real sense of community in houseboat living; we all look out for each other.
–Erin MacAirt
This is Sneak Preview #6 from our forthcoming book, Small Homes, to be published in October, 2016.
I fall in love with buildings from time to time. It happened again last week when I spotted this little Airstream. Everything looked right. Bambis are single-axle, lightweight (3,000 lbs.), superbly designed tiny homes. New ones start at $44,000. (Ouch, yes, but how much do homes cost these days?)
It’s brilliant inside. There’s kitchen, bath, 2 beds, table with benches. Spacious-feeling even though it’s less than 8′ wide, around 110 sq. ft. interior space. The interior of this one was designed by architect Christopher Deam in conjunction with Airstream. (There are wonderful architects in this world.) Read More …
The size of your home has a tremendous influence on your cost of living, environmental impact, and general well-being. The demand for space-efficient housing continues to grow exponentially as people of all ages discover that a smaller home might be the key to a larger life.
That’s why leading designers, builders, developers, realtors, policy makers and community members will gather for the Build Small Live Large 2015, a unique, one-day housing summit, to share what’s working, what’s new, and what’s next. Alan Durning from the Sightline Institute and tiny house pioneer Dee Williams will lead off the day with inspiring keynote speeches about how building small can lead to broader community action and how positive change really does begin at home.
Join us to learn how to build and rent out a backyard apartment, see successful examples of cottage clusters and small house communities, and become inspired by space-efficient and energy-efficient designs. End the day with an energizing look at the beautiful and inventive small spaces in the “Best of Small” Design Slam, and network with pioneering builders and designers of small houses throughout the event! Find out more at: Build Small Live Large Summit 2015.
–Dee Williams
Portland Alternative Dwellings
Build the life you dream … TODAY!
Peter Pavlowich’s Casual Turtle Campers were featured in Tiny Homes on the Move(pp. 26–27).
Shelter guys,
Hey I thought I’d pass along a few shots of the another recent build. This one was for a gentleman here in Colorado — the model I call the Terrapin. We went with a pretty full interior arrangement on this one. He opted for no painted surfaces (which I usually do), so we incorporated several different species on the cabin’s interior — oak, birch, cedar, and beetle-killed ponderosa pine — so it wasn’t a one-tone wood overload. It weighed in at 1,300 lbs, max headroom around 5′9″, and it goes down the highway just great. Read More …
Cyrus Sutton and his girlfriend Anna Ehrgott dropped by the Shelter office last week. Cyrus is a surfer, director, photographer, and all-around amazing person. His girlfriend Anna Ehrgott is just as an amazing person as Cyrus: a great surfer, she started her own surfboard bag company, Sagebrush Bags (made with recycled coffee bean sacks), and is an amazing photographer.
I met Cyrus the other year when we were working on Tiny Homes on the Move; he had just built a van for a trip down the West Coast in search for surf (featured in the film Compassing, below). He just sold the van recently to the owner of one of the local surf shops and happened to be in town for a week. Cyrus recently got the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van and has plans to do some conversions soon. Read More …
My husband and I were touring along the Lost Coast road in northern California the other day when we spotted this tiny home on the move. I thought you might like to see it too. Shame we didn’t get to see the inside.
My name is Andrew Campbell. I live in Plain WA, and was staying in my new gypsy wagon in Port Townsend last week when I ran across a copy of your book Tiny Homes on the Move. Lo and behold on the cover was a picture of Steve and Katy’s bus. Steve works with me here in Plain in my wood shop. Anyway he said I ought to send you some pics of my gypsy wagons. The red one I built two years ago and the blue one I built for my oldest son to live in when he goes to college in a couple years. We will camp out in it in the meantime and use it for guests to stay in. Will send more pictures and info, if you are interested. I have no website. Just finished the blue one so no great pictures yet, but that can be arranged any time if you are interested in more.
Love your books, love what people are doing with small spaces. Started my woodworking career building boat interiors, so I love fitting out small spaces.
Americans have historically measured success in square feet. A big house was something to work for. But a growing number of Mainers are choosing to drastically cut their living space — on purpose. They’re part of what’s known as the “tiny home” movement, and they’re living in spaces of 500 to 600 square feet, or less. Why do they do it? We sent Sara Gatcomb to find out.
Jay Nelson’s work has been featured in Tiny Homes and Tiny Homes on the Move. Foster Huntington’s Toyota Tacoma camper was featured in Tiny Homes on the Move.
From Foster:
The car is a Suzuki SJ410. It’s the predecessor to the Samurai and has a 1-liter 4-cylinder enqgine.
The camper is made out of marine plywood and thin copper sheeting. The camper has a sleeping space that’s just over 6 feet long over the cab.
Jay Nelson designed and built the camper in two weeks with some help from some friends.
We’ve been approached by a film maker who is interested in telling the stories of people/a person who specializes in converting vehicles into tiny homes that move. Ideally, we’d like to find someone who does this for other people and makes a living/makes a business of it.
Vans, house buses, house trucks, trailers, or sailboats or houseboats. Please contact me if you know of anyone in this category: lloyd@shelterpub.com
In 1973 we published Shelter, which turned out to be station central for people interested in creating their own homes. Now, in the 21st century, we continue this dialog here online on shelter, carpentry, homesteading, gardening, and the home arts with this blog. We hope you will join us and contribute.
