Posts by Evan Kahn (433)

For a student without a lot of money, the idea of being able to avoid rent by building a cabin in the woods may sound like a far-fetched dream, yet for a young Jacob Witzling it was the perfect solution. Earlier, we visited some of Jacob’s incredible cabin projects where he lived later in life but in this feature we go all the way back to where it began; a beautiful and secluded woodland cabin that Jacob constructed for an insane figure of only $800 and which he lived in during his college years in Olympia, Washington…

• From www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/…

Kitchen, dinning, and living room.

…Lobelia is the name of our 864-square-foot, two-bedroom, straw bale home. Named after a native wildflower, Lobelia was built with many reclaimed materials, including all framing lumber, most doors and windows, and even the kitchen cabinet.

The straw bale exterior walls are protected by earthen plaster inside and out. Outside, the hip roof and wood shingle skirt, made from pallet wood scraps, along with a coat or two or raw linseed oil help protect the exterior plaster from the elements…

• From our latest book Small Homes: The Right Size.

The wilderness seaside cabin is 43 miles from the nearest road and is on the westernmost point of land on the ocean side of Vancouver Island. It is 20′ × 24′ and framed entirely from beach wood. All the wall and roof sheathing boards are split from cedar on the site, as is the roofing, which is 3′ long. It was built 1987.

• Bruno is featured in our book Builders of the Pacific Coast.

I finished building this sauna in June 2017 with some help from a few friends. All the wood is reclaimed apart from a a few lengths of dimensional timber. The round larch posts are leftovers from previous jobs.The floor, roof planks, internal and external cladding, benches, rafters, tie beams, wall plates, fascia boards, and even the door are made with reclaimed scaffold planks (96 of them!) that I bought from a scaffolding company. The banister and spindles are off-cuts from a job I did many years ago.

Only new items are the (old-looking) hinges, the insulation (aluminum-polyester blanket), the thermometer/hydrometer, and some stained glass. The wood burner was beautifully crafted from an old gas bottle by Ed Osborne from Parp Industrie in Devon.

The dragon heads up in the fascia boards have hollow eyes with embedded red stained glass. When the late evening sun hits the back of them, they shine and make the dragons look alive. Totally unnecessary detail but it really puts a smile on people’s face the first time they see it…

The platform is 3.9m long by 2.2m wide and the interior is 2.6m by 1.8m. It accommodates 7 people in comfort or up to 11 if they are very friendly…

I call the style “Euro folk fusion”. It’s based on the very rich (although a bit forgotten) European wooden building tradition. It’s one part traditional Finnish sauna, a Norwegian wood cabin, a Slovakian log cabin, a Spanish horreo from Asturias region and a splash of Swiss alpine chalet.

All the materials including wood burner, stainless steel flue, glass, screws, hinges, insulation, and timber cost me just over £1000.

–Jesus Sierra
www.sierraecocarpentry.com

• Two of Jesus Sierra’s creations are featured in our new book Small Homes: The Right Size.

Standing amongst the sea of green that is the forest of Olympia, this whimsical cabin appears to have fallen onto the land directly from the pages of a storybook. Built by the inspiring Jacob Witzling, a math teacher by trade, the cabin was designed to be beautiful yet unassuming, nestling perfectly into its deep wooded landscape…

• From www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/…

We bought Shelter, Homework, and Builders of the Pacific Coast near the beginning of the design process. They were an inspiration and provided many ideas…

• From our newest book Small Homes: The Right Size

Built on a Subaru Brat.

Jay got the idea of the tiny wood-burning stove from Bruno Atkey.

• www.jaynelsonart.com
• Jay was featured in Tiny Homes on the Move and Small Homes: The Right Size.

Built for only $17,000 this young couple’s tiny house is certainly an incredible achievement. The home, constructed by Asheville, NC couple David and Catherine, was built mostly using reclaimed or recycled materials and is filled with clever design elements to truly make the home their own.

An ideal parking space for the tiny house on wheels has been created in the yard of a home in a quiet neighborhood and the couple have spent time creating an outdoor area to relax and expand the living space of the house while also building gardens to grow some food.

• From www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/…