Tiny Homes (like Tumbleweed)

[Lilak Tygress]

I LOVE the sink/fridge/stove!! Hubby seems to think we can make it cheaper though.

I have seen the drop down IKEA counters, thats kind of what got me looking for folding tables and chairs to make them compact and portable.

We live in Seattle, so line drying is not going to be something we can do.  Line washing maybe with all the rain... LOL.

As for books... ebooks.  You can download pert near any book to your iPhone, Palm or whatnot.

Oh, and I've always dreamed of living in a barn! It would have to be red though, because barns are red.  If a barn is painted white, then its a shed.

[mandanak]

If you're looking for sustainable, easy-to-heat options, this is not exactly moveable (as in, not portable AT ALL )  -- BUT, we stayed in an Earthship in New Mexico, and it was pretty much the coolest thing ever. (minus the sort of bizarro name.) SO COOL.

They're made of recycled and/or mostly natural materials (tires and sand and cardboard, cement and cans/bottles--for tiny windows, adobe, etc), get all their heating and cooling from the sun and the earth, all their power from wind and solar, all their water from the rain, and are pretty much off the grid.

AND, the one we stayed in, their flagship example ("The Phoenix") was 5000 square feet, and had an indoor jungle in the living room, plus birds flying free in the attached greenhouse -- where they also grew a bunch of food in the garden like tomatoes, broccoli, and BANANAS. We had coffee in the jungle while it was snowing outside, and we were perfectly warm. It was all handmade and an amazing labor of love AND work of art. 

Houses: the ultimate craft! )

Here's a picture of the living room (all the couches were repurposed furniture; though the slipcovers all matched each other, underneath they were all different:



Here's the greenhouse, doubling as home heater with all that south-facing glass (and yes, that's SNOW outside!):



Here's what the tire/dirt/adobe walls look like, in an unpolished state (this is in the underground part of the house, where cool air comes from -- and a storage area that doubles as basement/garage):



And, here's the inside of the house, looking all pretty: this is the view from one of the bedrooms into a bathroom, with the sun shining on the bottle/cement wall. Pretty!



Cool, huh?
The guy who designed these sells books that outline exactly how to make your own Earthship, ranging from a simple round 200-ish square foot dwelling, up to and beyond the 5000 square foot Phoenix. When we spent the night there, we watched a short documentary of some people building their own basic 200 square foot model; it took them something like 2-4 weeks and cost $2500.

An Earthship info home page: http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthship.htm

Looked like a lot of work, but the concept (and from what we could tell, the execution) is super cool.

Food for thought! )

[angeli]

Wow.  That's a really huge step to take, I look forward to reading more about your little adventure.

[CohesiveChaos]

when I was in high school (grew up in NM) we (a group of classmates & a teacher) went to Taos and helped build an environmentally friendly house that used straw bales as insulation and then had numerous other features like the glass bottle windows, et. al.  It was very neat, though at the time it was very experimental (mid 90's)  I hadn't thought much about it since then but find it very cool that the experiments from the 90's are sustainable and still being built  

[Wildfyre]

Oh I've ALWAYS wanted one of those! Hubby won't go for it though.

Have you seen these? Just eye candy really.. far to expensive, and not on wheels. http://www.freespiritspheres.com/

If you need good information and inspiration for a tiny roving "house" check out this guys web site - or better yet, his book. I just bought his book for my step dad. It's mostly about house trucks.. but it is really helpful info for any kind of tiny home. http://www.housetrucks.com/maindex.html

I envy you

Oh, another thing is there are lots of great books and websites on tree houses. While it's not on wheels, the same tiny space and super efficient living applies... so they have a lot of good pointers. Also lots of stuff on keeping it light weight, which will really help your fuel bill when you have to move your home

[Persephone Hazard]

Good luck :-) It sounds like an amazing thing to do. Not for me, though - I need my real, tangible books and my vast wardrobe. But it's a great idea!

[cmouse01]

Ok, some of these ideas seem a bit "out there" for me.  But in looking at the larger Tumbleweed houses ... I'm in love!  DH and I have been talking the last couple of years how our 2600 sq ft house is just WAAAY too big for the two of us (and the dog).  We'd really like to downsize drastically.  Our biggest problems at this point are 1) the housing market stinks so it would be tough to sell the current house and 2) we love our lot - we'd definitely have to get someplace with land.  Oh, and I suppose 3) we have oodles of stuff that we'd have to get rid of first.
But ... since we built our current house, I'm sure we could build one of those 700 sq ft jobbers pretty inexpensively and maybe have enough in the "budget" to purchase a nice hunk of land besides!

[nightal1031]

Okay, first of all let me just say how excited I am about how interested everyone is in these houses! I'm in college studying architecture, and they're really pushing the earth-conscious initiative on us.
A few things that might help you out:
1. a cistern. collecting rain (were you the one who lives in seattle?) can really make a difference! of course, you shouldn't drink it, but we use so much water every day. add it up for a week and be surprised! i'm living in south carolina right now in one of the top 3 worst drought conditions in the country. we definitely are aware of the water we use!
2. as for space issues, theres a place here that sells these mobile unit bedrooms, which are probably horrendously expensive, but they have some excellent ideas for having storage and sleeping, even a small office in a small area. you can definitely get some ideas from here!  http://www.tumidei.it/home_eng.htm  http://freshome.com/2008/09/19/bedroom-ideas-for-kids-tiramolla-loft-bedrooms-from-tumidei/
3. the tumbleweed homes are adorable, but you will use so much less energy if you have more windows (skylights, etc.) allowing natural light into the home will not only save energy, but it has been proven that natural light makes you feel better on the inside, and sleep better as well.
4. don't forget to garden and eat seasonally! shipping vegetables across the globe is awful for the environment, and you will feel better eating fresh and delicious vegetables that you grew yourself

good luck with everything! i can't wait to see how this turns out!

[southern5footer]

I can't wait to see how this turns out! So fun!

[MattR]

Hi!  I'm Lilak Tygress' hubby.  Here are some more details on things we were thinking of:

Washer/Dryer Combo (Splendide 2100XC Vented)
18" Dishwasher (or possibly, table-top)
On-Demand LPG Water Heater
Small (3-4 cu ft) Refrigerator/Freezer
Toilet with in-wall carrier (more expensive but much smaller)
Very small modular stairs
11 Windows & 2 Skylights (to open up the small space)
Bathroom door that has shelving on it and slides out
Love seat that doubles as storage AND a bed
TV that is rotatable/slidable among both downstairs and lofts
Small electric heater (micathermic from Soleus)
Recycled/surplus tile (from Habitat for Humanity ReStore)
Either bamboo plywood or recycled stone kitchen countertop
Storage along the sides of the bed in the large loft (for clothes)
Metal or asphalt shingle roof

I'll upload the sketches/plans of stuff when I get a chance!  I think the difficult parts are going to be the love seat/storage/bed and the sliding bathroom door/storage cabinent/shelves.  Oh, and the dining table/folding chair set (though we at least have a photo to go by for that idea).  You can expect a TON of photos of everything as we start building!


~Matt