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 entry is 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

• Tiny House Roundup on Coming Unmoored (Friday, May 29, 2009)
• Simple Living News on RowdyKittens (Monday, June 1, 2009)

Jay Shafer left Tuesday May, 26 2009 on his Coast to Coast tour pulling the newly built Fencl Tumbleweed Tiny House on a cross country open house. This is the first completed Fencl built from Jay’s plans; visit Tiny House Journal to see the construction process.

Jay will have 14 open houses and and several workshops along the way. Here is the schedule:

• Tue May 26 – Reno, NV 6:00 pm
• Wed May 27 – Salt Lake, UT 6:00 pm
• Thu May 28 – Cheyenne, WY 6:00 pm
• Sat May 30 – Boulder, CO 5:30 pm
• Tue June 2 - Omaha, NE 6:00 pm
• Wed June 3 - Des Moines, IA 12:00 noon
• Wed June 3 - Iowa City, IA 6:00 pm
• Sat June 6 – Chicago, IL 5:30 pm
• Mon June 8 - Indianapolis, IN 6:00 pm
• Tue June 9 – Cinncinati, OH 12:00 noon
• Tue June 9 – Columbus, OH 6:00 pm
• Wed June 10 - Pittsburgh, PA 6:00 pm
• Thu June 11 – Philadelphia, PA 6:00 pm
• Sat June 13 – New York, NY 5:30 pm

For more information see these blog posts:

• Jay’s Fencl in Boulder – Tiny House Blog
• Jay’s Fencl in Cheyenne – Tiny House Blog
• Jay’s Fencl in Salt Lake City – Tiny House Blog
• Jay’s Fencl in Reno – Tiny House Blog
• Happy Trails – Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
• Cheesecake, beer, and a tiny rolling home – Project Rolling Freedom

Community is the topic of the current issue of Small Living Journal. As people downsize their homes they tend to find themselves spending more and more time in their communities.

Small Living Journal – Issue 6: Community

It seems that more and more home builders are recognizing that green is a good thing. Here’s an example of a tiny manufacured home designed and build for off-the-grid life. It even included rain water collection off the butterfly roof and photovoltaic panels. One of the more unique features is that this house can be set-up in one day.

Read more about PowerPod at Coming Unmoored

A couple weeks ago I posted a design on Tiny House Design called Two Sustainable Sheds which proved to be a very popular idea. After digesting all the feedback I came up with a slight variation called the Tiny Dogtrot House. A dogtrot house is typically two small cabins connected by a breezeway. I just posted it online and I hope you’ll take a look.

Tiny Dogtrot House

I was contacted recently by the folks at the Pavement, a free magazine for homeless people in London and Scotland. They wanted to do a story on the Tiny Free House I’m building out of pallets. The article is in the current issue and provides basic tips on how to construct a tiny house from pallets. You can read the complete article online at www.thepavement.org.uk.

This is an interesting concept, it’s a Chateau for a Homeless Artist. It’s the brain child of James Westwater and will initially be offered as guest living space in an artist in residency program. It measures 4′ by 4′ but 8′ and provides shelter from the heat of the day and rain. This will require you stretch your imagination to appreciate this out-of-the-box thinking.

Homeless Chateau up and running

I’ve noticed more and more discussions online centered around the question, what is a tiny house?

I think a home is what you make it so a trailer can make a great tiny house. Tiny houses like Tumbleweeds, Tortoise Shells and Sonoma Shantys are built like houses and will probably stand up to the elements better over the years but little trailers are far more portable. Here’s a story about the restoration of a 1950s trailer.

Tiny trailer meets 50s spaceship

Here’s a cool idea for a tiny house community; a tiny underground house community. I’m particularly fond of tiny underground house concepts but we don’t see too many of them.

Save Mother Earth: Live In The Environment Friendly Earth House

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
• Small House Style

Tiny House Builders

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