For many, the idea of building a tiny house on wheels is a wonderful pipe dream, however young kiwi furniture maker Annelies Zwaan has turned that dream into reality by building her very own cottage-in-the-woods style tiny home. Despite having gained many skills working with timber as a furniture maker, the learning curve when it came to building her own home was still steep. With the help of YouTube and some instruction videos, she was able to follow each step to completion…
This cosy forest-den certainly won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but this house which was constructed almost entirely from reclaimed materials and cost only 12 dollars to build has served as a comfortable home for David Gell for over 5 years now. Originally, the home was designed and built by an architecture student, who was studying tent design and wanted to experiment with creating super-affordable housing using reclaimed materials…
Gypsy vardo wagons have become something of a symbol of freedom. The home of the traveller, yet home none-the-less. For Frenchy, a young woman from Wellington, New Zealand who works in performance arts and frequently travels, building her own Gypsy vardo–style Caravan was the ideal housing solution…
A young family is making a last-ditch effort to save its cherished “hobbit house” from the bulldozers after planners deemed it had to be razed.
Charlie Hague and Megan Williams used natural materials to lovingly build their roundhouse tucked away in southwest Wales. But the pair, both 27, applied for planning permission only after moving in with their newborn son, Eli, in 2012.
Though many local people did not even know the small building was there, planners ruled the house did not fit in with the surrounding Pembrokeshire countryside and decided it had to go.
Kirsten Dirksen is a filmmaker with Fair Companies, a bilingual media operation that she and her husband Nicolás Boullosa run out of Barcelona. Kirsten is a former TV producer for MTV and the Travel Channel who now focuses on “…community and access to tools on sustainable culture.” She has produced almost 600 videos, an amazing body of work when you consider that it’s the editing, not the shooting, that is so time-consuming. I don’t know how she does it.
We’ve had a bunch of people shoot film (OK, OK, video) around here and they generally take a long time to get set up, then follow a preconceived series of shots and questions.
Kirsten walked in the first time and within 5 minutes, was shooting. We were comfortable with her. She winged it, seeing what we were doing, following us around. On one of her visits, her two little long-haired girls explored the garden and chickens and Nicolás shot photos.
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One thing I love about this video is that she recognized what Lesley is doing in her life and with her garden, her art, and her attitude towards a home. Often that gets missed in people coming here to see me. Read More …
Underhill is an incredible hobbit-home eco-cave house built into a hillside. The off-the-grid house is cleverly constructed to resemble a cave. With no electricity in the house, the stone, wood and rustic features truly make you feel like you’re stepping back in time.
To build a reciprocal roof, we first install a temporary central pillar on which the first chevron is placed. The height of this pillar depends on the roof pitch.The following rafters are then placed to support the one on the other. The last chevron place above the penultimate and below the first one. They are then attached to each other and the central pillar is removed. If only one of the rafters breaks, the whole structure collapses. Read More …
SunRay Kelley continues to invent, design, and build a plethora of buildings and vehicles. I asked SunRay and Bonnie to send us the latest, and here are videos of his campers and electric reclining bike. I don’t know of any vehicle that combines diesel, solar, and electric power like the RV shown at the right.
“…They live and work in this 120 sq. ft. cabin in the mountains of Asheville. Inside you’ll find a storage loft, sleeping loft, open living/dining area, bathroom with composting toilet and manual pump shower, and a kitchen…”
Stefan’s home measures just 215 square feet and his main aim when building it was to create a comfortable home while keeping the building costs down. While the home is sustainable, Stefan does not consider himself a dedicated greenie or tree hugger. He simply did what he had to given the circumstances. Repurposing materials to create a home is at the heart of any sustainable living endeavor. The tiny home recently built by Stefan Cook of A Biggish Tiny House is a prime example of repurposing and salvaging building materials done right. He’s a resident of Christchurch, New Zealand, which experienced devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Stefan salvaged the materials left behind by the devastation to build his own tiny home and recently gave a tour of it at Living Big in a Tiny House. Read More …
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.
