Who lives in a "tiny house"?

[Pinetop Hunting]

Who lives in a small cabin or converted storage building on their homestead? Anyone?

[AngieM2]

I don't, but TNHermit has a thread in Survival & Emergency Prep forum where he's building one.

I have been studying on them for years.

cindylu will be in one before very much longer, she hangs out in Singletree forum.

And there may be some information on them in the Construction forum.

And you should see the nice cabin/guest house LisaInIdaho showed in the Country Families forum.

Are you thinking of building one, living in one? Building it yourself? Using a storage cabin and converting it as from Home Depot? I have photos of two in the Prospect TN area.

[kasilofhome]

I did and I hated it BUT it was NOT made for humans it was really made to house animals and at riding lawnmower--but the guy did not pick it up and I had it put on my property for living ---6years rough.

Now, Hermit-well he is doing one that has a kit area, bathroom- it is being done right and will make all the difference.

[BigHenTinyBrain]

We lived in a tiny cabin and our nearest neighbor lived in a VERY tiny cabin, for years and years. So small that she could cook dinner from her bed, if her bed was folded down in place. Probably her cabin was about 15x12, with a half loft. She loved it. I don't think I could do it again, but for many people it is a great idea.

[melwynnd]

I'm not sure it counts as tiny, but we live and run a business out of our 488 square foot cottage. One gets good at seeing space that isn't being used and turning it into some kind of storage.

We lived in a 5th wheel camper for almost two years before we bought this house, so it seems big by comparison.

[highlands]

We have a tiny cottage. It is highly crafted to be exactly what we need and is wonderful to live in. By crafted I mean it isn't just a box but rather there is a lot of built-ins and thinking to make every cubic foot matter.

Our cottage is 252 sq-ft and made out of masonry (brick, stone, concrete). Even the roof is ferro-cement so it is nearly indestructible, low maintenance, stays cool in the summer, and easy to heat in the winter burning less than 0.75 cord of wood due to the 100,000 lbs of thermal mass inside the insulating envelope. We have a full bath with shower and bathtub and three bedrooms folded into that space as well as the dining room and central room where the kitchen is. It even has a pantry space (we can a lot of food).

We've lived here for seven years and love it. It is just right for us. Everything has a place and everything is in its place. Our cottage is just for us, not farm animals, not work, etc - at least that is the theory. Occasionally there is a pig in the bathtub... Other than that the cottage is our quiet indoor space. We spend most of our time outdoors farming, building, etc.

We built our cottage in about two months to close in and then the rest of the year to finish off to move in. Total cost just barely over $7,000 for materials. No labor cost since when I say, we built, I mean, me (father), my wife, our then 14 year old son, our 8 year old son and our two year old daughter did all the work. It was a great family project. Now we're building a butcher shop. Homeschooling fun.

You can read about how we build our cottage here:

http://SugarMtnFarm.com/home/cottage/

and here's a picture:



We joke that it is our little house in the big woods.

Why 252 sq-ft? Not because of any fad, I didn't know about the "Tiny House Movement" when we built ours. Rather it was what we could get done in time before winter hit. We had been planning to build a larger house but things happened. Our son asked, "What if we build something small, small enough to finish before winter." So I sat down and designed a new house in three days that was what I thought we could accomplish with money in hand in the two months before snow would be too deep. That was the beginning of November in 2005. We finished the structural element in about 30 days and then closed in doors and windows so over the winter we were able to work on the interior. This is the same reason a lot of settlers first cabins were so small - It was what they could accomplish with the limited time and resources. Then later they added on as needed. You can see this in the structure of many old foundations.

[Pinetop Hunting]

Looking at a 16x44 with 16x12 loft. Vinyl windows,wood heat,A/C,full bathroom and laundry area,2 bedroom,etc. knotty pine wall coverings and hardwood floors,well insulated.

Like an Amish built building except customized to be a cabin

That's a lotta room for a cabin in the woods. Lol

[MichaelZ]

I like the idea. Easy to heat, maintain, etc. But with 7 of us, our 1200 sq. ft (plus half finished basement) seems small enough. Add 2 dogs and 1 cat to that mix as well.

The original Finnish homesteaders of this area would fit a family in a 20 by 20 log house and some even smaller log homes. Winters are long and cold around here so more people in less space helped in that regard.

[Pinetop Hunting]

It's only my wife and I with an 11 year old child every other week. The one we are thinking of having built would be 900 square feet with loft. That should be plenty I'd think. Total cost of the building and all property improvements fully finished and furnished ready to go with well,power,bathroom,laundry area,driveway with gravel and compketely turnkey would only be 25k and completely paid for. Awful hard to resist. I'm not into the whole mortgage thing anymore. Lol

[Pinetop Hunting]

Also wood heat and only needed 5 years until we finish our main 32x32 log home paying out of pocket. Surely it would work as a decent home for a few years.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

Originally Posted by Pinetop Hunting

Looking at a 16x44 with 16x12 loft. Vinyl windows,wood heat,A/C,full bathroom and laundry area,2 bedroom,etc. knotty pine wall coverings and hardwood floors,well insulated.

Like an Amish built building except customized to be a cabin

That's a lotta room for a cabin in the woods. Lol

Odd dimension. Almost like a railroad car.

[LisaInN.Idaho]

Walter, do you have any pictures of the inside furnished and completely done?

[suitcase_sally]

About 85 sq. ft. plus a sleeping loft. You cook outdoors.

[Pinetop Hunting]

No pictures. It'll be like a mobile home shape but cabin style with a 12x16 loft in the rear.

[Pinetop Hunting]

Sally u live in that?

[DAVID In Wisconsin]

I spent two comfortable years in a place that was 12 by 20 that I built myself. You quickly get rid of things that you don't need and find out how little you really need. Also try to find things that serve more than one purpose. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Good luck!

[highlands]

Originally Posted by LisaInN.Idaho

Walter, do you have any pictures of the inside furnished and completely done?

I've never done a post that was a tour of the inside - on my to-do list. But the interior does appear in the background of a lot of other articles, often incidentally. It is by no means completely done. We got it finished to the point where it is highly habitable, far better than our old farm house, and have been working on some other projects.

See these posts to start with:

http://sugarmtnfarm.com/tag/cottage/

[suitcase_sally]

Originally Posted by Pinetop Hunting

Sally u live in that?

No, I was just kidding. It's actually DH's hunting blind. but if push came to shove, I could live in it.

[jwal10]

I lived in an old chicken coop for 6 years until I got married and finished the cabin. It was 8'x12'. No problems. We live in less than 400 sq. ft. Off grid. The town cottage was a 14'x24' carriage house that I added 6'x24' bath/kitchen onto. We loved living there. We always have a storage building/garage also....James

[Rockwell Torrey]

I spent 5 years in 350ft. Best years of my life.