Exploring, Building Small And Going Smaller with Builder Eli Spevak

Sustainable Builder Eli Spevak is a man on a mission. His projects are almost always about small living spaces, affordability, community, and twisting around or creatively using land use regulations to create interesting living communities. Everything from large shared housing projects to tiny houses, Eli is making his mark in the Tiny House Movement. While Eli seems low key, he’s actually a mover and shaker, interacting with land use planning officials, community leaders and other people focused on the increasing housing crisis. See more pictures and show notes here.

Where Renovating Becomes Rebuilding

“Here lies Walter Fielding. He bought a house, and it killed him.”

Perhaps no one sums up the renovation experience better than Walter Fielding when he and his wife have to find a new house to live in but are forced to settle on a scam-shack because they can’t afford anything else. The movie is ‘The Money Pit’ and it is yet another reason why the 80s were so darned great. All nostalgia aside though the movie brings back a number of memories from my own brush with saving a house back in 2002.

Is it better to renovate or rebuild or just build? This question is not nearly as simple as it may appear; not financially and not logistically. Granted every situation is unique there seems to be an undercurrent in the tiny house movement that prefers to build rather than save. I fear the reasoning behind such a choice though is one based more on being able to say “I have a tiny house….yeah, one of those!” rather than saying “I saved a house from certain death.” There is much to be said for buying an inexpensive house that needs love and giving it just that. It does not cramp personal style. It does not mean it can’t have a number of custom features. And it does not mean you can’t live a tiny house lifestyle. In fact, it may mean you can show others how to live a sustainable life even within the walls of (insert audible gasp) 1200 sq.ft.

Let’s first get the obvious out of the way. 200 sq.ft. will almost always use less energy than an 800 sq.ft. house. A 200 sq.ft. house will almost always keep you from becoming a hoarder whereas an 800 sq.ft. might give you some space to packrat it in. 200 sq.ft. will always look smaller than 800 sq.ft. (as it should). But is building a 200 sq.ft. house always the smartest choice to make? I don’t think so.

THE BASIC FINANCES

If building a tiny house is going to cost you nearly $50,000 yet has no real value on the American real estate market you may want to consider spending that $50k on saving a house. What? No value? What are you talking about? Well, when a 200 sq.ft. house is illegal in a number of municipalities you can’t just call a real estate agent and have it listed. No one will pay for something illegal. While you’re at it you might as well try to unload the Picasso original you “borrowed” from the Reina Sofia Museum. At least with a saved and perhaps renovated (pre-established) house you stand a chance of enjoying your life there while still maintaining a real estate value.

On the other hand, the most sought-after renovation of homeowners is a two-story addition in which the kitchen and/or living room is expanded on the first floor and a master suite is built upstairs. That sort of renovation is shown regularly on channels such as HGTV and DIY. Roughly speaking though that sort of addition can cost upwards of $200,000. In more expensive markets like Washington state or New York state you obviously can’t build a home more than 600 sq.ft for that price. But if to save a house you have to spend $200k or more to make it truly functional for you than a renovation may not make much sense at all.

House Saves, Renovations, and Restorations, all typically cost more per square foot than a new construction. With a tiny house less square feet overall means less expense overall.

A typical renovation here in eastern North Carolina runs about $86 per square foot. If I were to purchase an 800 sq.ft. house that needed some structural work followed by new drywall and then wall paint, etc. I can expect to pay about no less than $34k. I can probably have a good tiny house built for about $4k less. The thing to consider though is if my municipality will allow me to park a tiny house amidst other homes as well as what a resale value in this market might be (if any). It certainly can lead to a very frustrating “come to terms” monologue.

THE DISADVANTAGES

When was the last time you heard of someone looking for a 3-bedroom / 1-bathroom house? No. That is not a punchline. Truth is in the 1930s an entire family would use the same bathroom (if indoor plumbing was even available). In 2016 though that configuration is neither ideal nor functionally sound. Building something new allows you to match up bathrooms to bedrooms and accommodate the number of people you need to. Granted a tiny house has just one bathroom building a small house (let’s say 500 sq.ft.) you have the option to have a bath and one-half as well as run the plumbing where you need to thereby saving expense on materials, time, and renovations.

This topic truly can go on and on but it is one certainly worth exploring. Tiny houses aren’t the answer to every housing question. McMansions weren’t either. But have we explored the ideas of infill, renovation, and rescuing?

Is it sustainable to tear down one house only to build another? Is a 200 sq.ft. new construct a better investment than a 600 sq.ft. rescue? Which way do you lean, and why? 

By Andrew M. Odom for the [Tiny House Blog]

Why PAD Tiny Houses is Lowering our Tiny House Plan Prices

If you’ve shopped for tiny house plans, you have likely noticed that there is a very wide range of prices (from free to $700 or so), and an equally wide range of formats, design quality, and which details are included. Why all the differences? What gives? We can only speak for ourselves, but we want to explain why we’re lowering our plan prices as we launch the new Hikari Box Tiny House Plans.

Over the past several years, PAD has evolved from a custom tiny house design/build shop to one that educates the DIY tiny house builders of the world who want to create and customize their own spaces.  We’ve learned that most of our customers want a plan to start from, but not a plan to follow to the letter. They want a house that fits THEM, from the ceiling heights to the kitchen cabinets.  That’s why our plans don’t come with electrical diagrams or detailed interior layouts—because that is where you customize. We give you the information you need to build a house that’s safe, sound, warm and dry, but we think you know where your bookshelves should go better than we do.

Since PAD’s mission is about education, inspiration and connection more than drawing up plumbing diagrams, the tiny house plans we sell are an educational reference tool as much as a set of blueprints to be followed to the letter.  We want DIYers to have access to great designs that have already been built in real life, and been proven to work in real life.

We also want DIYers to know what they’re doing, which is why we recommend our tiny house how-to manual Go House Go with all of our plan sets. It’s also why we recommend our Tiny House Basics Workshop to anyone seriously considering building their own tiny house on wheels.

Here are the new prices of our plans for tiny homes on wheels:

• The Cider Box Tiny House Plans are gorgeous, modern and super-adaptable to individual needs. This plan set includes plans for a 20 foot design and a 24 foot design, increasing your options to build and design from, and we’ve just dropped them from $299 to $199.

• The Sweet Pea Tiny House is a homey, well-laid-out 16-foot house Dee Williams designed for a friend who wanted a home that could accommodate her plans to raise a baby. With a small tub and increased head height in the loft, it packs a lot of creature comfort into a small footprint. We’ve dropped the Sweet Pea price from $99 to $79.

• The ultra-modern Miter Box Tiny House Plans also dropped in price from $99 to $79. Fans of architectural modernism and clean lines will love the distinctive look of the Miter Box, a 16-foot long home with an eat-in kitchen that can convert to a second bed when needed.

• The Salsa Box is compact and super-portable – a 12 foot long home with just 93 square feet of living space but all the comforts of home. An ideal backyard cabin or towable vacation property, we dropped the Salsa Box price from $79 to $49.

Building a home on wheels is a science and an art. It’s like building a fine piece of cabinetry and bolting it to a trailer you’re going to drive down the highway – there is very little room for error. In the process of designing and building, you’re going to come up against puzzles and questions you didn’t anticipate, so it sure helps to have a basic grounding in what you’re doing and why.

If it were a paint-by-number scene, it would be easy to provide step-by-step instructions for every action along the way. But it’s more like painting a real live sunset: you’ve got to have the vision you’re shooting for in front of you, but you also have to know the techniques and processes that will help you create the final result you want.

You can learn all that with books, videos, or workshops, ahead of time or as you go. But you’ve got to learn it somehow if your tiny house is going to stand the test of time. Read some books about tiny house construction, and about ‘normal’ construction.  Get a set of plans and study them. Or better yet, get two or three, and blend your favorite elements together. The questions you develop about why one is different from another or whether you can alter one to include a new feature will lead you down paths that teach you what you need to know and add a richness and sense of accomplishment to your project.

We’ve seen DIYers take on the challenge of building a tiny house again and again, so we know it can be done. When you do your homework, you can build the house that you see in your mind, and in the doodles and drawings in your notebook. We want to see those doodles and drawings come to life. So take what the world of plans has to offer, fill in the gaps safely, and customize them with the confidence that comes from research and education.

Cheers to learning to make your doodle a reality!

Caretaker with Tiny House Wanted for Inn Town Campground

A brand new campground will soon be open in the foothills of the Western Sierra. The Inn Town Campground in Nevada City, California will be offering forested campsites, RV spots with full hookups and glamping tents just steps away from the historical Gold Rush town. The owners are also interested in hiring a tiny house owner as a full time campground host.

“I love the idea of someone bringing their Tiny House to the campground to be a part of the team,” said Erin Thiem, co-owner of the Inn Town Campground and the Outside Inn.

The position would be a full time job and would include an RV spot with full hookups. The owners are still planning the details, but are looking for a permanent employee and maybe someone who is more “nomadic” to share the campground duties.

The job would require the camp host to live at the campground, meet with customers and campers and be flexible with campground chores. No prior experience is required and any technical skills can be learned on the job.

Any applicants should be available by mid-May 2016.

The Inn Town Campground is a unique campground that blends both small town living and access to rural activities in the foothills and in and around the South Yuba River. Nevada City is known for its wineries and charming main street. The town is located about 60 miles northeast of Sacramento.

The campground’s deluxe glamping tents feature electricity, beds with linens, front porches and custom headboards. The campground will also include restrooms and showers near The Commons. This 3,000 square foot building will include a camp store, community kitchen, eating area, living room, RV, fireplace, reading nook, covered porch and laundry room. Fire pits, barbecues, picnic tables and a pool will also be available.

Photos by Kat Alves Inn Town Campground

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

A Downsized Slice of Solace

This customized Airstream home offers stunning Wine Country valley vistas by day, and amazing starry sky views by night.

A 1974 Airstream sits peacefully in a vineyard while overlooking forested hillsides and the Northern California wine country below. This vintage trailer is just one of more than 300 mobile spaces designed and built by Hofmann Architecture (https://hofarc.com/). The family-owned firm of 10 has been based in Santa Barbara, CA since 2010.

The owner of this 1974 Sovereign 31’ has named his home Elizabeth (https://hofarc.com/renovation-project/1979-sovereign-31-elizabeth/). He’s a global-hopping businessman whose dream was, “to be filled with peace and beauty” when he returns to his home on wheels. Travel demands take him from Ireland, Singapore and back home to the Sonoma Valley “…where I need a down-sized slice of solace.”

Custom tailgate doors in the rear create a clamshell back porch off the bedroom suite. The boutique deck offers stunning views of the tranquil Sonoma Valley. Twelve automated skylights offer a night time view of the stars. Six pairs of sunroofs open and close in pairs with six steel toggle switches.

An international vibe rings true in the Euro-style kitchen. The petina’d copper countertop provides ample food prep space. A mid-century replica SMEG refrigerator blends an iconic feel with efficient technology.

The bathroom exudes sophisticated luxury thanks to custom Moroccan Mosaic tile on the floor and up the shower walls that continue to the curved ceiling. Venetian bronze bathroom sink and shower control faucets, with copper accent bathroom accessories. A surface-sliding barn door provides simple space-saving privacy.
An heirloom Kensington sofa fits nicely in the living space to complete the vintage experience.

Interior walls feature reclaimed barn wood sandwiched over a milky white plexi-glass, with 1” slotted openings to allow a modest bit of light. Reclaimed wood has been sourced from a local Central Coast-based shop. The combined effect produces a cozy space that feels much larger. It’s a magical feat that Matthew Hofmann, the Architect and founder of HofArc, has spun into a successful niche business and craft.

Other kitchen accouterments include a vintage 1930s Wedgewood gas stove, an apron farmhouse-style porcelain sink with commercial pullout chrome faucet.
Aged steel sconces throughout the coach feature antique oil-rubbed bronze fixtures with 20th Century filament bare Edison bulbs. A powerful solar package integrates 12v and 110v electricity in a 50 amp supply distribution panel located on the front hitch.

The skin of this 40-year old beauty has been polished to a mirror shine. Four aluminum mag wheels, and a new Zip Dee awning with Tuscan Clarity Sunbrella fabric, complete an exterior that accurately reflects the ‘70s classic styling.

Other Highlights:

• Warm floor radiant heaters are sure to keep toes toasty on cold nights
• A ceramic bowl sink with oil-rubbed bronze faucetry and copper piping
• Reclaimed wood shelving with copper hardware in the kitchen
• Stonington Grey walls and Symphony Blue cabinetry
• American oak reclaimed oil-rubbed flooring
• Exterior shower sprayer helps keep dirt out

4 Small Homes for Sale Right Now

Looking for a tiny house community with homes available for sale right now? Look no further!

Check out this community of tiny houses!

Dancing Rabbit Eco-village is a community of over fifty people in north-east Missouri, where folks have come together to live in harmony with our local environment while sharing a message of ecological sustainability in a time of rampant, manmade global warming.

We have more than a dozen tiny homes of various styles on our land, and the four small houses featured below are just some of them. If you’d like to see them first hand, scope out our website to learn about the ways in which you can come by for a visit.

1. Morel

Price: $32,500
Square footage: 250
Construction: straw bale and earthen plaster

Intended for a single dweller or a couple, Morel is an excellent tiny house for someone wishing to live a self-reliant and ecologically sustainable lifestyle. The house consists of a spacious, studio style living area finished in yellow plaster and natural wood tones. A substantial greenhouse is attached to the south-facing wall, and is adorned with gorgeous stained-glass windows.

You’ll have a complete kitchen, with running water from a 700-gallon cistern that feeds both a hammered copper sink and a high-tech Berkey water filter. A snazzy refrigerator and chest freezer set, gas powered princess stove and plenty of dry storage space completes the ensemble.

Winter heating is easily accomplished with Jotul cast-iron stove rated for an 800 square foot space, with the help of the adjoining greenhouse – interior windows can be opened, allowing air warmed by the sun into the home, which cuts down drastically on cold season fuel costs. In the summer, you’ll have well designed cross ventilation assisted by an electric ceiling fan and air conditioner.

The house is designed to rely on a composting toilet, and shower facilities are shared by community members just a short walk away. (This allows everyone to access higher level amenities without each homeowner having to invest in separate infrastructure, which spares unnecessary use of materials – it also helps a great deal in avoiding mold growth.)

Just out your backdoor you will have a beautiful, well maintained garden area with sturdy fences and raised beds.

2. Bluestem

Price: $47,000
Square footage: 448
Construction: traditional stick-frame

Originally designed to serve as a kitchen space for a dining co-op, Bluestem has been converted into a sizeable dwelling for a couple or small family. It was constructed according to conventional methodologies, using mostly recycled materials and locally milled hardwoods.

Tons of storage space is available in the kitchen, along with a gas powered oven/range combination, a sink with running water fed by a cistern, and a refrigerator/freezer combo unit. A ceramic filtration system offers triple-filtered drinking water.

A large cast-iron stove in the center of the building keeps the structure so warm in winter that you may need to crack open one of your three doors to even out the temperature. In the summer, you will have a window unit air conditioner, along with ample cross ventilation.

In one corner is a small, private bathroom area designed to house a composting toilet. You will have your own humanure deposit site on the property, allowing for easy access to finished, mature compost to spread in your nearby garden with completed fencing and raised beds.

To learn more detail about Bluestem, check out this article.

3. The Bearmobile

Price: $16,000
Square footage: 134
Construction: on wheels with traditional stick-frame

If your dream has been to live in a tiny house on the open road, but you want to have the interior your own way, AND you want to cut down on your personal carbon footprint, then the Bearmobile could be perfect for you.

Eco-builder, Anthony “Bear” Barrett, designed this little home on wheels to be entirely customizable on the inside. He constructed it with high ceilings, to give it a sense of spaciousness and allow room for an optional storage loft. The structure is comprised mostly of reclaimed and recycled materials, with high quality door and windows for optimal energy efficiency.

Bear took great pains to ensure that this trailer home would meet roadworthy standards across the country, so you can rest easy if a cop pulls you over to tell you how cool your house is. If you’re interested in hiring him to complete this project to your specifications, make sure to contact him via his Facebook page.

You can also read more about the Bearmobile here.

4. The Chia Pet (Strawtron)

Price: $75,000
Square footage: 450
Construction: timber frame and straw bale

This house is a woodworker’s delight, with all-wood timber framing and joinery, hardwood floors, custom built doors and much more. The building is constructed on piers with two stories. A comfortable indoor front porch welcomes you in, and a spiral staircase climbs to the bedroom with its gabled ceiling and doorway leading to the balcony that overlooks gorgeous hills and farmlands to the west.

It has a living roof, for which reason I like to call it the Chia Pet. (You’ll understand why in summer, when scads of wild flowers transition from vibrant green to a shock of numerous colors that change as the year wears on.) Insulation is accomplished with sturdy straw bales sheathed in earthen plaster.

The southern exposure of the house consists largely of glazing, allowing solar energy to warm the house in winter, though the eaves have been positioned so as to shade the windows in summer, keeping the home comfortable year round. You’ll also have a beefy cast-iron stove for those cold winter nights. The home was designed to allow for the addition of a greenhouse on the south face of the building.

Everything is designed for convenience – you will have plenty of counter space and shelves for storage beside your electric range/oven combo and refrigerator. The home is wired for electricity throughout, so you can easily turn the downstairs space into a comfortable family room, and the upstairs bedroom is large enough to accommodate an office. Community facilities provide a place to shower, and a composting toilet will serve all of your other business needs.

Outside, you will have some space to garden while you’re waiting for a homemade pizza to finish baking in an old-fashioned wood-fired earthen kiva oven. (I can tell you from personal experience how much fun it is to have a pizza party in the back garden of the Chia Pet.)

You can check out the specifications of the house in more detail at the current owner’s website.

Learn More!

If you are interested in retiring to a small country community, or you want to raise your small children in a safe place, then our village could be the perfect place for you to pursue the tiny house lifestyle of your dreams. We call our community Dancing Rabbit Eco-village, and we have come together to promote ecological sustainability and share our message with the world.  (For the children, you know?)

We use far fewer resources than the average American, while enjoying a higher quality of life at a lower cost of living. We share four vehicles among more than fifty people, (three run on bio-diesel, and one is electric,) as well as communal facilities including showers, a computer lab, and well stocked library.

Community events happen throughout the week, like potluck dinners on Tuesdays, Women’s Group and Song Circle on Wednesdays, pizza night at the world famous Milkweed Mercantile on Thursdays, regular games of ultimate Frisbee… and I haven’t even gotten to the weekend! We rejoice in living in a place where we know all of our neighbors, and we can get to work without a lengthy commute on the highways.

Does this sound like the perfect lifestyle for you? If it does, we would love to meet you and spend some time together through our annual visitor program. You can read about us in more detail here, and set aside some time to hang out with us very soon.

Full Tilt Boogie with Roger Lehet from Unforgettable Fire

Roger is on a mission literally from God. He’s going to heat every Tiny House with what he believes is the best heating source possible: wood. But he’s not stopping there. Roger dreams of Tiny House systems – heating, hot water, electricity and cooking – all centered around his invention The Kimberly wood stove. This week it’s hot in here, and it’s not menopause! For more show notes and insight please visit here.

The Spring Guide to Conferences, Workshops, and eCourses

There are seven learning styles most commonly recognized.

• Visual (spatial):You prefer using pictures, images, and spatial understanding.
• Aural (auditory-musical): You prefer using sound and music.
• Verbal (linguistic): You prefer using words, both in speech and writing.
• Physical (kinesthetic): You prefer using your body, hands and sense of touch.
• Logical (mathematical): You prefer using logic, reasoning and systems.
• Social (interpersonal): You prefer to learn in groups or with other people.
• Solitary (intrapersonal): You prefer to work alone and use self-study.

While visual learners fair best with hands on approaches, verbal learners find more success in lecture scenarios. Physical learners can learn no other way than to just do it yet logical learners often plot and plan before ever making one physical movement. Lucky for the tiny house community there has become a huge market of workshops, conferences, eCourses that seemingly cater to each learning style. The trick is to sort through them all and find the one that works best for you. Here is a guide to some of Springs best offerings.

The 3rd annual Tiny House Conference will be held on April 2-3 2016 at the Crowne Plaza Resort in Asheville, North Carolina. A combination of hands-on training, lecture style learning, speaker presentations, and walk-through tours, this conference option is certainly the biggest of the spring months. This years conference boasts no less than nine well-known speakers including Laura LaVoie, Lora Higgins, Andrew Morrison, and Lena Menard. Also on site will be 8 tiny houses of varying styles that can be walked through, examined, and adored! Entry tickets are $300 and can be purchases on the conference website.

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company has been offering 2-day workshops for years now and has produced a number of “graduates” who have gone on to successfully build their own tiny houses. The workshops are lecture driven but are packed with insightful and extensive information including personal anecdotes and experiences of actual owner/builders. These workshops cover every aspect of Tumbleweed building and living. Spring workshop locations include Phoenix, Houston, Minneapolis, and Boulder. The registration fee is $349 and can be purchased online.

This one-week design intensive will take place in Asheville, NC on April 4-8 immediately following the Tiny House Conference. Hosted by Lina Menard of Niche Consulting, the workshop is facilitated by three instructors – Laura LaVoie of Life in 120 Square Feet, John Labovitz of Polymecca and Lina Menard of Niche Consulting – who have all designed and built their own tiny homes.

Laura and her partner Matt live in a tiny off-grid ground-bound home in North Carolina, John has parked his tiny house truck in the orchard at his family farm in West Virginia, and Lina lives in her vardo in a tiny house community in Oregon.

The 4-day workshop will cover inspiration and aspiration as participants discuss layout, size, and shape. Attendees will go on tours to see tiny houses in a community and a tiny house builder’s facility. Classroom sessions will dig into design considerations related to windows, doors, kitchens, bathrooms, and built-ins. Cost is $495.

On March 26 and 27 in our nation’s capitol, the team from Tiny House Collaborative will be hosting a 2-day workshop that will teach the basics of how to build a tiny house as well as decide if tiny living is right for you. While in Washington, D.C., participants will have the opportunity to learn from experienced tiny house builders, designers, and advocates. You can find out more about the team here.

Some of the topics being presented include:

• Intro to tiny houses & the tiny house movement
• Planning your build – budget, construction, DIY
• Tiny House Lifestyle
• Major Decisions
• Trailer or foundation built
• Framing & basic building techniques

TH Lab workshops include:

• All workshop materials
• Snacks (there are numerous lunch options nearby and recommendations will be given at the workshop)
• Cash bar happy hour with all presenters on Saturday evening (optional)
• Tours of local tiny house(s)
• Six tiny house luminaries as presenters and instructors
• Special surprise bonus for DC workshop attendees

Standard pricing is $399 per person or $700 for two people.

 

Tiny Houses, Beekeeping and Blacksmithing

Tiny house living opens up many kinds of unusual opportunities for employment and recreation.

Alan Hussey Jr. says “The romance of a bygone era, along with the curiosity and intrigue of age old crafts, shaped the person I am today. I was fascinated with the 19th century growing up: the technologies of the time and hands-on way-of-life. The craftsmanship and attention to every detail of even the most ordinary, mundane objects fascinated me — the details that today would be taken for granted or even ignored.”

Alan has taken this love of craftsmanship and has started blacksmithing. Over the centuries, this skill has been known as “The King of All Trades.” Alan’s wife Anne also picked up the interesting craft of beekeeping.

A tiny Japanese woman is taking over the world of personal organization. If you have not heard of the KonMari Method, look at any YouTube channel about decluttering and the diminutive Marie Kondo will appear. Christina tells us more about this in her monthly contribution.

Check this and much more out in Issue 39 of the Tiny House Magazine.

Click Here

3 things you need to do before you start building or living in a tiny house

Building a tiny house is probably the biggest project you’ll ever tackle in your lifetime. Here are three things you must do before you decide to take the leap.

1. Tour a tiny house in person

I remember the moment I knew tiny houses were right for me: when I first got to see a tiny house in person. You see these amazing photos and great video tours online, but nothing compares to walking into a tiny house in real life. I’ve found that for most people, actually being in a tiny house for the first time is a very clarifying experience: it either works for you or it doesn’t. 

2. Talk to someone who’s already built or lives in a tiny house

When you start thinking about living tiny, you’ll have a ton of questions. There is no one better to pick the brain of than someone who lives it every day. When you’ve built a tiny house and live in one full time, you learn a lot. Those lessons are why it’s so important to talk to someone who’s been there.

3. Find your community, your support network

Building and living in a tiny house will be one of the toughest things you’ll ever do. Many of us have never built anything before. Now all of a sudden, we’ve decided to build a whole house! The transition from a traditional home to a tiny house can be tricky too. It’s important that you connect with your fellow tiny housers so you can find connection, advice, and support from those who “get it.”

I learned these lessons years ago when I started my own tiny house journey back in 2009. I quickly realized there needed to be a place for tiny house folks to come together as a community, to learn from experts and tour houses so they could figure out what works for them. 

We’ve built that community; a place where people learn, connect and share. That place is the Tiny House Conference. This year’s conference will take place in Asheville, NC April 2^nd and 3^rd and features amazing speakers who have answers to your questions and lots of tiny houses to tour in person. I hope to see you there!

Join Us at the Tiny House Conference

Click Here

New Book: Tiny Houses Built with Recycled Materials

New Book: Tiny Houses Built with Recycled Materials

Introducing the Hikari Box Tiny House Plans

Introducing the Hikari Box Tiny House Plans from Shelter Wise: Bright, Spacious and Uncomplicated

If you’re looking for a tiny house design that’s spacious, bright and relatively simple to build, then take a look at the new Hikari Box Tiny House from Portland, Oregon tiny house designers and builders Shelter Wise.

After building numerous custom-designed tiny homes on wheels for clients over the past few years, Shelter Wise combined several of their favorite ideas into the Hikari Box design. It’s a 24 foot long house with 184 square feet on the ground floor, one 79 square foot loft for a queen bed, and one 23 square foot loft for extra storage or a twin bed.

The Hikari Box takes its name from the Japanese word for “light-filled,” letting tons light in through 14 windows, two skylights, and a glass-front door. Another Japanese-inspired detail is the tansu-chest inspired stairway storage to the queen loft. There’s additional storage in the kitchen, beneath the eat-in countertop, and in the queen loft.

Having built homes for clients and consulted with DIY builders on their own project, Shelter Wise purposefully designed the house to simplify the construction process. Experienced builders should find it a straight-forward build, and DIYers will appreciate the simplified shed roof design that sidesteps the tricky parts of gable and curved roofs, and the plumbing layout that avoids running pipes all over the house.

I got to tour the Hikari Box in person, and can say that it really earns its name. On a sunny day, the light poured in from every angle and the clean interior design really made the stylish interior fixtures, details and possessions pop. And with two lofts, an open living area and a built-in counter, there are numerous different places to relax, which can be hard to come by in a tiny house, and especially valuable for couples and small families.

PAD Tiny Houses partners with Shelter Wise to sell their tiny house plans online because we love that they design and build houses for real clients, see their houses tested in the real world, and then have the plans drawn up to share with others. We also love their focus on building energy-efficient homes. The Hikari Box even includes unique details for one of the most energy-efficient floor designs out there, that keeps your floor warmer by separating it from the metal trailer frame that conducts cold like only metal can.

We at PAD are super excited to help Shelter Wise introduce this new set of plans to the tiny house community. Visit PADtinyhouses.com to see more pictures and learn more about the Hikari Box Tiny House Plans now.

Top 10 Reasons to Join the Tiny House Movement

 

Whether you’re looking to retire or you’re just starting out in life, living the tiny house lifestyle has many wonderful things in store for you!

10. Save TONS of money

Living in a smaller home inherently leads to huge savings. You’ll spend less to heat and cool your home, as well as on general maintenance. You can have a beautiful house to call your own at a fraction of the price of a standard McMansion, whether it’s new construction or an existing home purchase, and your property taxes will be the envy of everyone you know.

Following the subprime home lending crisis in 2008, hundreds of thousands of former homeowners became renters – and they stayed that way. That means high rent prices all over the nation… Even a cardboard box in the worst neighborhood in town is going to cost you big.

But you can get around this problem by investing in a tiny home – for more details, check out this article on the costs of living in a tiny home. Remember, renting is like hitting the snooze button on homelessness.

9. Live a greener lifestyle

 

Small homes consume far fewer resources – they take less to construct, less to heat and cool, and they occupy less space.

Most of us at Dancing Rabbit Eco-village live in tiny houses, and we enjoy a tremendous quality of life as well, while we work towards a greener future for humanity. We produce more electricity than we use, and offer our surplus to the grid for our neighbors to enjoy. We share a mere four vehicles among about fifty people, as well as other shared infrastructure like kitchens, bathing facilities, swimming ponds, gardening areas and so much more.

If this sounds like your kind of thing, consider spending some time with us soon – check out our visitor page to learn more.

8. Save TONS of time

If you ask me, there’s nothing worse than spending a day off doing chores around the house like sweeping and dusting, fixing creaky floorboards, and taking that seventeenth load of laundry out of the washer. In a small home, you will cut your cleaning and maintenance down by a huge margin, so you can spend more time doing you!

7. Liberate yourself from the curse of too much stuff

How many boxes do you have in your garage that you haven’t even opened since the last time you moved? And when was the last time you used that electric cat-waxer your second cousin twice removed bought you as a wedding present?

By encumbering ourselves with so much stuff, we stress ourselves out, because we have to keep track of it, take it with us wherever we go, and buy a bigger house just so we can have a place to put it all. In a small home, you’ll necessarily have to pare down to the things you really need. That may sound like a burden, but it isn’t – its liberation.

6. Make room for nature

If you love to garden, nothing could be better than living in a tiny house because you’ll have more space for those delicious veggies and fragrant flowers. Maybe even a pond, or a meadow to have a picnic with the people you love.

5. Take your home on the road

Forget your grandpappy’s Winnebago – mobile homes have come a long way in the last decade. If the lifestyle of your dreams includes a new stretch of open road, clear blue skies and fresh scenery on the horizon, then a tiny house on wheels could be your ticket to happiness.

Even if you have a standard tiny home, remember that modern technology means that your structure can be relocated on the back of a trailer and plunked down with the help of a crane wherever your next adventure takes you. (Try that with a five-bedroom behemoth without breaking a window or two…)

4. Inspire your creativity

Living in a tiny home often means designing your space from the ground up, and that translates to complete control over your design and the layout of your belongings. Spend some time imagining what life would be like in a small house. Let your imagination run wild. You might be surprised by how keenly you can express yourself, if you take the opportunity to choose your ideal surroundings. For some cool ideas to get the brainstorming started, take a few minutes to read this excellent article.

3. Have it all your own way

Tiny homes often fall below the minimum size requirements specified in building code legislation around the country. This means that you can have your tiny home exactly the way you want it without a bunch of bureaucrats sticking their noses into your business and telling you what you can and cannot have.

This principal extends to the way in which you live your life as well. One of my best friends, Nathan Brown, was able to pursue his vision of lifestyle freedom by living in a tiny home. You can read about his story here.

2. Kiss the mortgage scam goodbye

For as long as I can remember, it’s always been my dream to trade my time for meager wages at a nine-to-five job for a minimum of thirty years so that I can hand all my money over to a mortgage lending company… They SO deserve it! And I totally trust them not to screw me over with a deceptive clause written into the contract in dense, complicated legalese that no one can comprehend without the help of an expensive lawyer. They wouldn’t do that…

Seriously though. If you’re an empty-nester looking to downsize from the family home and retire in something smaller, forget about the condo in Florida and consider a tiny house in a rural area that makes your soul sing. You’ll be glad you did. If you’re ready to begin your search for the tiny house of your dreams, take a peek at this article.

1. Connect with your loved ones

 

Living in a tiny home means that you and your loved ones will spend more time together, and even if you work each other’s nerves now and then, that will always be a good thing. Instead of barricading in separate rooms and burying your noses in a screen, you and your family will actually share your lives with one another.

You’ll get to hear about their day and what’s on their mind while you make dinner together. You’ll spend more time cuddling in the hammock, or tossing a ball around in the garden. You’ll play music, get wrapped up in a board game and lie outside at night gazing at the stars.  Life is short, so spend as much of it as you can with the people you care about most.

Want to see more than a dozen tiny houses firsthand, all in one spot? You can, at Dancing Rabbit Eco-village. While you’re here, you can learn about natural building, organic gardening, renewable energy, personal growth work methods, feminine spirituality, and so much more. Make sure to mark some time on your calendar to come see us, we would love to show you how you too can live the tiny house lifestyle of your dreams.

Paint Your Ceiling B

Paint Your Ceiling Blue | Alison Pringle of Baker Ballard Interiors had her concrete ceiling power-sanded and painted Benjamin Moore’s Blue Flower (2057-60) in a high-gloss finish. | Photographer Michael Graydon | #HHplayfuldesign

Try A Geometric Pain

Try A Geometric Paint Treatment On Your Walls | Polygons stretching from baseboard to ceiling in this home office have all the fun of a tangram puzzle, but in muted colours for a grown-up look (shown left). In this minimalist bedroom (right), intersecting circles fall in the sweet spot between statement-making and a snap to do. | Photographer: Tia Borgsmidt (left), Angus Fergusson (right) | Designer (left): Mette Helena Rasmussen | #HHplayfuldesign

Play With Pattern |

Play With Pattern | The star of the kitchen from our IKEA kitchen makeover in 2014 is the fairytale-like Zoffany wallpaper mural. | Designer Sarah Hartill | Photographer Michael Graydon | #HHplayfuldesign

Perfect The Imperfec

Perfect The Imperfect | Devoting just a few feet of wall space to a large-scale wallpaper in a vivid shade pays off in a big way. | Photographer Donna Griffith | #hallway #entryway #HHplayfuldesign

Think Outside The Fr

Think Outside The Frame | A palette of historic paint colours from Farrow & Ball comes to oversized life in a narrow staircase. | Produced by Kai Ethier & Stacey Smithers | Photographer Michael Graydon | #HHplayfuldesign