tiny homes (512)

Single Mom Converts Schoolbus Into Tiny Home

“Reality: Tiny Home Living 

As I sit listening to the rain fall on the well-sealed roof (roofing tar, folks, it’s a miracle worker) with Mazzy Starr streaming on my Pandora via shared wireless, my feet are propped up on the stove and I sit on my daughter’s bed/the couch, I can honestly say I think it’s going to be alright.

The Hardest Part: driving the bus home, and then up the steep driveway and into this spot. Scary is the right word to describe the overall feel of that event. Other feeling words: anxiety, panic, distress. And then a sense of accomplishment and desire to never repeat the experience.…”

From Anonymous

https://tinyhomebusconversion.wordpress.com/

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Links to Tiny Homes for Homeless Websites and Articles

Thanks to Anonymous for this comprehensive list:

Above: Quixote Village (Olympia, Washington) photo by Leah Nash for BuzzFeed 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/timmurphywriter/tiny-homes#.ysVkEKDKo

Dignity Village

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity_Village

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2013/10/dignity_village_residents_figh.html

Quixoteviille Village

https://quixotevillage.com/

https://www.simplesolarhomesteading.com/quixotecottage.htm

https://quixotevillage.com/blog/

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/20/garden/small-world-big-idea.html?_r=2

Opportunity Village

https://www.opportunityvillageeugene.org/p/plan.html

https://www.opportunityvillageeugene.org/p/emerald-village.html

and here is a small house building company

Backyard bungalows

https://www.backyardbungalows.net/

https://higherperspectives.com/emerald-village/

Read More …

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A Building Permit in Northern New York State for $32

I think this is a good enough comment to bring front and center:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post https://www.lloydkahn.com/2015/03/11/the-near-impossibility-of-building-your/

“There are still places where community is good and bureaucracy is limited. In northern New York, we have a small cabin, 14X28, on 44 acres. We bought it as a prefabbed shell, and are finishing it inside as we can. The building permit to set it on a gravel pad was 32 bucks. No problems with a composting toilet, and the inspection to hook up the power, after I did the wiring and ran underground cable up to the road, was 50 bucks. Installing fiber-optic internet was free.

9 miles away is Potsdam, with two universities, and 10 miles further away is Canton, with two more universities. St. Lawrence County was a favorite destination during the back to the land movement of the 70s, and a lot of countercultural folks are still there, still trying to live well and lightly on the land.

It’s beautiful there (part of the county is in the Adirondack State Park, and the county is bordered to the north by the St. Lawrence River. Montreal is a couple hours away, and you can make a day trip out of going to NYC, if you don’t mind getting home late.

The land is still remarkably cheap, though not as cheap as it was 20-30 years ago. Taxes are high, but in unincorporated areas, with a modest home, they aren’t terrible. And what’s more, those high taxes pay for a lot of good stuff you don’t get in low tax states.

The climate is harsh, of course, but that’s one reason the place isn’t overrun with people. If, like us, you have a place to go, or can travel during the coldest months, it’s a perfect climate.

Best of all, the people there are the nicest, kindest people I’ve ever run across. I know that sooner or later, I’ll run into a jerk up there, but in three summers, it hasn’t happened yet. An example: when it came time to hook up the power, it turned out they’d mailed the paperwork to another address. We had to go down to the National Grid offices in Potsdam to get it straightened out. We got into the parking lot, and the guy in charge was outside waiting for us, with the paperwork in hand, ready to be signed.

The same thing happens constantly there, with folks going out of their way to be kind and helpful.

Anyway, there are still Good Places.”

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The Tiniest Home in Toronto

“With a footprint of just 29 square metres, (312 sq. ft.) the house is officially the smallest in the city.…the home was shoehorned into the space between two existing properties by Arthur Weeden, a contractor…The tiny parcel of land was originally marked out for laneway access but somehow the curb stones were never lowered to allow vehicular access, rendering the gap useless.

Weeden pounced, building a pint-sized home, barely an arm’s span wide, for him and his wife. They lived there together for 20 years, content in the tiny space, tending to their vegetable garden and bunking down for the night in the single rear bedroom behind the kitchen.…”

From Godfrey Stephens

https://www.blogto.com/city/2013/04/this_is_the_smallest_house_in_toronto/

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100 Wild Huts

“100 Wild Huts is an experimental challenge I’ve set myself to build 100 small survival shelters on any piece of ground that harbours enough natural resources for the build. I intend to sleep rough in each shelter for one night and blog about the experiences. I intend to experiment with the huts form, structure and materiality in the hope that in due course this site will become a useful resource for budding adventurers and outdoor enthusiasts alike!”

Kevin Langan

Edinburgh, Scotland

https://100wildhuts.blogspot.co.uk/

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Expedition Camper Vehicles

“Hi again Lloyd,

I would be stoked if you threw my name in the hat of those who build cool, small spaces for that TV show…

I just finished another adventure vehicle…

https://pauljensencustom.blogspot.com/2015/07/fuso-recap.html

It is a 2003 Mitsubishi Fuso that is one of the original expedition campers…It has been to more countries than I can name, from Antarctica to the arctic…Around Australia and lived in full time for two years.…Pretty hard miles when the new owners got it and hand it over to me for a change…I was given a lot of creative space and the results are something I am especially proud of.…Have a look…”

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Tiny Homes in Netherlands

“Dear Lloyd Kahn,

For your book of small homes. Here is our tiny house parked in Plugin City that’s in the City of Eindhoven.

It is next to the skatepark Area 51 so if you want to come and take a look, bring your skateboard 😉

If you want to know more you can find us at https://www.waterland-huisje.nl

Regards, Reinoud Boland”

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