Could tiny homes be the adorable, affordable and sustainable housing that our planet needs? Photo courtesy of Zack Giffin Since 1950, the average size of a new single-family home in the US has more than doubled from around 950 square feet to over 2,000 square feet–and new constructions in Canada, New Zealand and Australia are similarly supersized.
But as house prices rise, wages remain stagnant and rampant consumerism threatens our planet, more people are starting to question if bigger is better. In recent decades, tiny homes have emerged globally as innovative, affordable–and quite frankly, adorable–housing options for aspiring homeowners.
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Tiny Houses Plans 1. Tiny Houses Plans 2. Tiny Houses Sweden. Tiny House Videos. Sol Duc Cabin. Project Details Built for a client who fly-fishes for steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula, this steel-clad 350 sf cabin on stilts can be completely shuttered when the owner is away.
The cabin’s rugged patina and raw materiality respond to the surrounding wilderness while its verticality provides a safe haven during occasional floods from the nearby river. The overall design responds to the owner’s desire for a compact, low-maintenance, virtually indestructible building to house himself and his wife during fishing expeditions. Composed of two levels, the cabin’s entry, dining and kitchen areas are located on the lower floor while a sleeping loft with minimal shelving hovers above. A cantilevered steel deck extends from the lower level, providing unimpeded views of the river.
Constructed primarily of unfinished, mild steel and structural insulated panels (SIPs), the cabin is supported by four steel columns and sits lightly on the site. A tiny home tour: living in 89 square feet. 10 tiny homes for retirees. Tiny homes are all the rage, from TV shows to new tiny home communities sprouting about the country.
These micro-homes — generally 400 square feet or less, and can be either on wheels or a foundation — are also gaining popularity with retirees. "A tiny house is very easy to clean and maintain, creating more time to enjoy retirement and less on household chores,” said Steven Harrell, owner and founder of Tiny House Listings. Another major lure is price. “By downsizing to a tiny home, the potential savings from real estate profits, lower utility bills and tax liabilities can mean a smoother financial transition to the golden years,” said Todd Nelson, business development officer at LightStream, an online lending division of SunTrust Bank.
According to Zillow, the median sale price of home in the U.S. is $208,226. John’s Tiny House in the Woods. John, one of my readers, shared his tiny house project with me.
It’s based on one of my free tiny house plans, the 8×16 Tiny Solar House, but instead of mounting it on a trailer and putting a lot of glass in the tall wall he built it on a foundation and added a 6′ by 16′ porch. In this configuration, it looses its passive solar capacity but it sure makes a nice little cabin in the woods. The cabin is off-the-grid and will have a photovoltaic solar panel array up a nearby hill where more sun makes it through the trees. Thanks again for sharing this with us John! Unit 77. A park model home in Bellingham, Washington.
Shared by Laura Faber. Designed by West Coast Homes. Tiny Houses That Are Cooler Than Mansions. Whoever said bigger is better must have never stepped foot into one of these tiny, but totally awesome houses.
That, or they had already bought a mansion and didn't keep their receipt. The houses below are really quite amazing. I was already on board with the smaller home thing when I realized there'd be less cleaning, but now that I've seen what you can do with such little space, I'm very much into it. I won't say tinier is better, since it's subjective, but smaller is definitely super! Backyard Studio. Here are pics of my tiny house.
I hope you enjoy! A tiny backyard guest house in Emeryville, California. Could America End Homelessness Quickly By Doing This? Last weekend, (November 15th, 2014) in an effort to keep people off the street, a community of tiny houses for the homeless opened in downtown Madison, Wisconsin.
These homes were built by a coalition of homeless people and members of the group, Occupy Madison. With help from the community Occupy Madison has built nine tiny houses, a day resource center, laundry facilities and a community gardening space in the village. Each tiny house is 96 square feet and is made of recycled and reclaimed materials. They include a bed, a toilet, solar panels for electricity and propane heat. Each house costs around $5,000 to build, the money was raised with private donations. While there are millions of vacant homes int he United States at this time, many believe simply using these homes for homeless people may not be a doable solution. The Shack – An Incredible, Tiny Off Grid Retreat. For a beautiful example of just how small you can go when planning your off grid home and still have a nice, comfortable living space, check out this tiny cottage retreat on 27 acres of West Virginia wilderness.
“The Shack” was built by Broadhurst Architects of Rockville, MD as a weekend getaway for a family from Washington D.C. It serves as a comfortable step up from camping on the South Fork Mountain property until the family gets around to building a larger weekend cottage. It’s the perfect size for a couple or small family to enjoy all the comforts of home, in the beautiful outdoors, on a small footprint. The little structure is completely off the grid, with no electricity, septic system, or running water. The main room houses a wood stove for heat, which is also used to heat water in the tiny kitchen area of the cottage. With the all white interior and plenty of exposure to the outdoors, The Shack appears larger than it is. Images via Broadhurst Architects. Get Off the Grid: Hide and Seek. Gallery — Full Moon Tiny Shelters.
How You Can Simplify More Than Just Your Stuff. I’m excited to announce the launch of The Power of Simple Living: 140 Inspiring Quotes to Simplify Your Life (And Get What You Want).
I’m eager to teach what I’ve been learning and experimenting with in regards to simplicity, life and gaining our freedom back. This is part of that mission as a book that I’ve been working on that’s designed to help people like you and me who are hungry to simplify their lives in search of more personal, spiritual, and financial freedom. And I’m here to show you that, and more. Pin by Jeff Newcum on Tiny Homes. Tiny House. Design Idea & Image Galleries on Dornob. Tiny House Map - Home. Living trend: microhomes. People's architecture office inserts plugin houses into shangwei village. Tiny-office Archives - Tiny House Swoon.
Small home Archives - Tiny House Swoon. Cottage Archives - Tiny House Swoon. Less Is More: A Tiny House Movement Infographic. On August 22, 2014 I was contacted by the folks over at Custom Made about a tiny house movement infographic that they created for us which shares how less is more. And how in many ways we’re going back to square one with tiny homes. It’s obvious that the word on simple living is growing and I believe it’s because it just makes sense. People from all sorts of backgrounds are editing their lives to make it easier for themselves to live simpler, happier lives. The best part is that there are so many benefits you can experience when simplifying. I think this infographic represents just about all of that. Images © CustomMade.com Please enjoy and re-share the full infographic below: Image © CustomMade.com If you found this infographic as awesome as I did please re-share it using the social and email buttons below. Simpler living: the ‘Tiny House Movement’ - Wanderer's Blues.
About a year ago I was a complete stranger to the phenomenon of the ‘Tiny House Movement’. You could say I was more than bewildered when I found the blog of an American couple that used to live the life of gadgets and luxury, but then decided to completely change course when unemployment struck and costs rose. 9 reasons you should retire to a tiny house. There's a reason that the word "mortgage" means "death pledge" in old French.
If you haven't paid off your house, and retirement is looming, downsizing to a tiny home might be a great way to escape your heavy financial burden. In fact, 68 percent of tiny house owners have no mortgages, reports Senior Planet. If you move to a tiny house, you can downsize your mortgage or pay it off entirely. Although tiny houses have been advertised for as low as $10,000, it's important to note that the average cost of a mid-range tiny home is between $20,000 and $40,000. TINY HOUSE MOVEMENT, iResearch Reporter, Basic, iRR Search. Small & tiny home ideas. Nate and Jen’s House on Wheels: Living Simply and Free in a Tiny Home. My friend Nate originally bought a camper that he dismantled to build the tiny house on a trailer you’re about to see. The trailer is 8’3″ by 24’10″ and he used 2x4s instead of 2x8s for floor joists to decrease the home’s weight.
Top 5 Biggest Barriers To The Tiny House Movement. I was driving into work today when the idea came to me for this article. Why does it have to be so difficult to achieve the life so many of us would love to live? There are no simple answers to our reasons, but we need to face them head on. Since I don’t like to focus on the negatives too much, my next post will be on some of the possible solutions and approaches to overcome these barriers. UPDATE: Here are the solutions to these: Part 1 and Part 2 Land. Why Hasn't The Tiny House Movement Become A Big Thing? A Look At 5 Big Barriers. © Sustain. Tiny House Cost vs. Traditional House Cost. Are Tiny Houses the Key to Fighting Homelessness? This post first appeared in Yes! Magazine. On a Saturday in September, more than 125 volunteers showed up with tools in hand and built six new 16-by-20-foot houses for a group of formerly homeless men.
Urban Nomad 2.0: One Year in a Microhouse - Culture. We've done a bit of microhousing (and micro-driving) coverage of late, and here's some more. Inspired by the Urban Nomad movement of the 1960s and 1970s (which focused on diminutive, movable dwellings in cities), a Glasgow School of Art design student named Alec Farmer has built a tiny home in which he'll live for the next year. Using the instructions written by [Ken] Isaacs in 'How To Build Your Own Living Structures', I have created a replica of this 50 year old design, and plan to live in it, in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland, for one year. Recession Proof your Life with a Tiny House? Archive Tiny Transition and Downsizing E-Course. The next session of the Tiny Transition and Downsizing E-Course (brought to you by Mariah from Cometcamper.com) is coming up soon, so you’ll want to sign up to save your spot in this fun and challenging e-course.
If you’re thinking about moving into a tiny house, small camper, or other little space, this e-course would be a perfect fit. Or maybe you’re just looking to live a simpler, decluttered lifestyle. The class is filled with people from all walks of life and with unique goals – some moving into tiny houses, some moving into the RV lifestyle, and some just downsizing one step at a time. 25 Brilliant Tiny Homes That Will Inspire You To Live Small.
We The Tiny House People (Documentary): Small Homes, Tiny Flats & Wee Shelters. How You Can Simplify More Than Just Your Stuff. The Advocate Tiny House Project. Pure Salvage: 10 Eclectic Tiny Homes Built with 99% Scrap. The DIY Tiny House Built and Occupied by a Family of 4. Small eco-house plans - HOUSE PLANS.