Tiny House Living

Tiny House Living is a weekly newsletter that covers the world of Tiny Houses and the people that choose to live this simpler life. Each e-zine entry will be a short summary that links to the original article. Subscribe by Email to Tiny House Living and stay up-to-date on the news and events in our community. You can also Follow us on Twitter.

Other Simple Living Round-Ups

• Coming Unmoored (Friday, May 8, 2009)
• RowdyKittens (Monday, May 11, 2009)

I grew up in Northern California and actually remember when Real Goods was located in Ukiah. They’ve been selling the greenest products for years and are experts in everything from passive and active solar, to construction techniques, to living off-the-grid, to organic gardening. Mendocino County is the perfect place for an organization like Real Goods. There many remote and hidden homes tucked way off-the-grid and plenty of folks who have escaped the San Francisco Bay Area in search of a simpler life. It’s where I was born and dream of returning.

Many years ago Real Goods moved it’s store to a spot just a few miles south of Ukiah to a tiny town called Hopland that shares its main street with Highway 101. Hopland was once a major hop growing center but now its mostly surrounded my vineyards. Just as you drive into town from the south is Real Goods, which is much more than a store now, it’s a sustainable demonstration community for alternative energy technology and simple living.

My friend Kent Griswold lives about 45 minutes south of Hopland and stopped by there the other day to photograph all the tiny houses they’ve built during workshops. They now have an amazing collection tiny homes that show off a variety of different green building technologies. Visit Tiny House Blog to see all Kent’s Real Goods tiny house photos. If you ever plan a trip through northern California be sure to stop by Real Goods. Photo credit to Kent Griswold.

Recently FLYP Magazine put together an article on the small house movement and interviewed both Greg Johnson the cofounder of the Small House Society and Tammy at RowdyKittens. Visit Coming Unmoored and RowdyKittens to learn more and to find the FLYP Magazine article. Image credit to FlyMedia.

My friend Kent Griswold took a drive over to Jay Shafer’s place to photograph the latest Tumbleweed Tiny House under construction. These photos are hot off the press. There are now over 30 pages of construction photos of this tiny house and I suggest starting with the most recent photos and work your way backwards.

This is also the house Jay is planning on taking on his coast-to-coast tour. He’s going to take this tiny house from San Francisco to New York and is scheduled to begin May 25, 2009. Visit Tiny House Journal to see more tiny houses under construction. Photo credit Kent Griswold.

I was so excited to see another free house under construction. There is so much construction waste around us I don’t know why more people don’t build free houses. Actually I do understand… it’s extremely time consuming. What you save in dollars you spend looking for stuff and cobbling together what you find.

But that doesn’t seem to be slowing down this group of students. Their school budget got slashed so instead of taking it lying down they are scavenging free building materials and building themselves a tiny house.  I’ve been extremely impressed with their progress. This is another tiny house project definitely worth watching. Visit The Scrap House blog.

You’re going to build what??? is one of the many blogs I’ve been following recently. It’s justin Peer’s tiny house construction blog and he’s really starting to make progress. His budget is just £5000 so he’s using as much recycled and reclaimed building material as he can find. He’s already collected quite a few of the things he needs like photovoltaic solar panels, batteries, windows, a trailer. This is definitely a project to watch.

This is a very simple design concept that isn’t exactly new, but worth sharing. Basically it’s just a cluster of habitable sheds. Each one would serve a specific function or set of functions like office, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.

In many communities tiny out-buildings like these don’t require a building permit to construct, so as long as they meet the definition of a shed. This might be a great solution for someone looking to increase the functionality of their existing home or to quickly provide a place to live on a remote piece of property. Just be sure you understand your local zoning rules before building a shed cluster.

To learn more about this shed clusted design concept see the complete article on Tiny House Design.

Gregory Johnson put together a 10-minute video that provides a nice overview of the Small House Society. It explains how the organization serves the small house community and the growing number of people that are discovering more freedom by choosing to live simply. Visit the Small House Society to watch the video.

Project Rolling Freedom is an exciting new project just getting kicked-off and is all about downsizing and increasing personal freedom. I’ve been especially impressed with the new tiny house designs on their website. In the near future they have plans to sell blueprints and provide seminars. Photo credit to Project Rolling Freedom.

Below are a few of the best tiny house and simple living websites:

• Tiny House Blog
• Tiny House Design
• Shedworking
• Natural Homes
• Tiny House Journal
• Small House Society
• Small Living Journal
• Coming Unmoored
• Rowdy Kittens
• This Tiny House
• Constructing a simpler life
• Gypsy Rose Tiny House
• Green Hamlet

Tiny House Builders

• Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
• Tortoise Shell Homes
• Little House on the Trailer