Tumbleweed "Box Bungalow"

Jay Shafer is a it again, proving that he is no one hit wonder.  His latest innovation is what he calls the Box Bungalow.  These tiny houses are similar in square footage (less than 120 sq. ft.) to his other tiny homes on wheels, but these are not on wheels.  The interior layouts of the new box bungalows are all pretty similar to each other, but the external appearance varies as he has several different designs, all of them in the craftsman style.

It appears that you can buy a basic unit for about $11,000.00, then you can buy separate bathroom and kitchen units for about $2,000.00 each, slide them right through the door, and place them as you wish inside (I have no idea how the plumbing, wiring, and drainage are handled).  Pretty clever.  It is my understanding that these units are being mass produced somewhere in New York, and are for sale at a few locations around the northeastern U.S.

Another unique innovation is the stainless steel soaking tub in the bathroom, which multi-tasks as the shower and bathroom sink too.  I think this is custom fabricated specifically for these new units.  If I had one suggestion to make regarding these new tubs, it would be to figure out a way to make the step-in height lower, perhaps by means of a swing-out or fold-down front.  It looks to me like getting in and out of the tub requires a lot of flexibility, something that some of his prospective customers may lack.

Take a look and enjoy.

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Modern Looking 400 Square Foot Home

Breckenridge, a company that produces a variety of mobile homes, "trailer homes" if you will, briefly made a unique mobile home that "broke the mould" so as to speak, and actually looked cool.  They called it the "Glassic Soho", presumably because it had a lot of glass and it was "hip." They marketed it as a vacation get-away, but it looks to me as though it could make a very nice full time home for a person or couple that only requires one bedroom.

Exterior View

Jay Shafer's Video on the Politics of Small Homes

There is a lot of chatter on the small homes front today.  This interview with Jay Shafer, founder of Tumbleweed Tiny Houses, and Guru of tiny homes in general, is definitely the lead story of the day.

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Tumbleweed Lusby For Sale On eBay

UPDATE:  BIDDING ENDED MARCH 28, 2011.

Check it out.  I met the woman who is selling this at one of Jay Shafer's workshops in NYC.  The house is finished and ready to move into.  Currently located about an hour from San Francisco, but able to be moved to the place of your choosing, or left right where it is. You can get all the details at the link below.

Walt Barrett's Micro-Home Video

Some of my readers may either know, or know of, Walt Barrett.  Walt is an enthusiastic member of the tiny and sustainable house movement, as well as sustainable living in general. As tiny homes go, they don't get much tinier than this.  This video shows that building a micro home is pretty simple and that it can be easily handled by two people in a pretty short time period.  All materials are easily obtained at any D.I.Y. home store.

It is my understanding that Walt has made considerable improvements to the design since this video was made, including an additional module containing a kitchen and bathroom.
Hey Walt, if you read this, can you tell us how we can learn more & give us a link to the latest video or other information?

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High Quality Bungalow Cottage on Wheels

Bungalow Cottage Exterior.

Todd Miller is an Oregon based architect who founded The Oregon Cottage Company.  It appears he's been bitten by the tiny house bug.  The photos and plan depicted here show what he calls the Bungalow Cottage, which seems to borrow heavily from the Fencl model designed and produced by Tumbleweed Tiny Houses (featured in my 02/25/2011 blog post, see the Fencl post by clicking here).  It is significantly different in it's interior layout than the Fencl however, and some people may find this variation suits their sensibilities better.  The unit is 8' x 20' and has about 130 sq. ft. of habitable space, plus a sleeping loft and a storage loft.  I like the way the loft ladder slides in a track and folds so that it can hang vertically when not in use, thus minimizing it's interference with usable space.

 

He also sells complete plan sets for $250.00 to anyone interested in building this design themselves.  You can learn more about this model and his other work by visiting;

Clever 12' x 24' House Design Video

Michael Janzen from Tiny House Design ( tinyhousedesign.com ) of California came up with this clever and efficient design.  It's 576 sq. ft. with a full loft, or 432 sq. ft with a half loft.   It would be very inexpensive to build due to it's diminutive size, basic shape, and simple foundation.  I asked him yesterday if he'd finalized the design, but he said that unfortunately he's put this one on the back burner for awhile.  Perhaps posting it here today will help move it back to a front burner so he can finish it up and make those plans available.  Many people, myself included, find this to be a very appealing design.