Also see: Tiny House Design and Tiny House Map
I always learn new stuff while reading Lloyd Kahn’s blog. This week I spotted this funky little tiny house built by the folks at Living Earth Structures in Petaluma, California. These folks build all sorts of earthen structures including benches, walls, ovens, and houses. They also offer adobe and cob workshops for those who want to learn about building in this extremely low-cost and sustainable building method. Below is a video from their website.
I’m starting to think that building with earth makes more sense than any other building method. I must admit I’m terribly biased because my real professional training and education is in the ceramic arts. The main disadvantage is that they are no portable like so many of the tiny houses I write about and explore through design.
Here’s another great find from Lloyd Kahn’s blog… it’s an article on 10 Amazing Earthen Buildings.
This might seem a little off-topic at first but I’ve been getting some great suggestions from a regular reader about small scale sustainable energy. Here are a few recent solutions that might work great for those searching for ways of powering a simple and sustainable lifestyle. Thanks again Dave!
It’s always exciting to stumble upon a new tiny house construction project. This one got a great jump start with a good old fashion family barn raising. This little house will look a bit like a little red barn when complete. I’m really looking forward to watching Tarsha’s progress.
While I really prefer inexpensive do-it-yourself housing solutions it’s always inspiring to find a really well done architect designed small home. This one was designed by Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects and is a cavernous 600 square feet. While the giant opening glass walls may not be very practical and seem a bit out of place with such an extravagant interior it seems like a great design approach for someone who wants to be more connected with their natural environment. It’s definitely worth a look though.
Remote cabins often need clever solutions for securing them while the owner is away. Here’s a great solution for an isolated home. It’s a 10′ by 10′ two-story prefab house with a rainwater collection system and metal flip-up siding. It’s located in Australia. Great design and definitely has a lot of potential for sparking the imagination.
One of my readers, Mark, sent me a link to this cool little house plan. It’s only 262 square feet and is a design being sold at a mainstream house plan website. It’s a great little design concept that looks a lot like a cross between a fire lookout tower and an old water tower. I’m still suffering from sticker shock at the price of the plans but still inspired by the design. Thanks again for sending this my way Mark!
There are two tiny house plan sales going on right now I thought you might like to know about. The first are the plans for Jay Shafer’s smallest tiny house design, the XS-House. Jay lived in a house of this design for a year and if you’re extremely frugal I suspect it would work nicely for you too. For those needing a little more space than 65 square feet, Sheldon Designs is offering big discounts on all their plans.
Please note that some of these discounts are good for this weekend only.
Bill Kastrinos of Tortoise Shell Home and Kent Griswold of Tiny House Blog are teaming up to create and market a simple tiny house kit called Henry’s Place. It’s a 10′ by 12′ panelized structure for quick assembly. The prefabrication should also make this an easier do-it-yourself project.
This is a great story about a class of high school students in Canada designing and building tiny houses. Each student is coming up with a design. Three houses will be built. In the end two will be dismantled and recycled into future projects and one will be sold to raise money for the school. I’m certain this will be just the first of a series of articles on this wonderful school project.
High School Students Design/Build Project