If you live in the San Francisco Bay area and you’re looking for a tiny home, you just may be in luck.

This tiny house was built by Derek in 2007.  He and his wife have lived in the home for over a year but they have plans to expand their family and would like to move to something a little bigger.

The home is hand-built by Derek and includes a wealth of recycled materials.  The siding, trim, windows, and door were custom made from recycled Cedar.  Inside, the floors are made from salvaged Douglas Fir and the paneling is salvaged from old-growth redwood fencing.

The home also features a Dickinson Marine fireplace, stainless steel refrigerator, a fold-down eating table for two, walk-in closet/bathroom with toilet, sink and shower, and sleeping loft.

The house is plumbed for a RV hose connection and also has a 50 AMP service connection.  They are asking $34,000 or best reasonable offer.  The home is available in May.

Additional information can be found at the Craigslist listing. Credit goes to ThisTinyHouse for bringing this to our attention.

One of the most frequent questions I am asked regarding tiny homes is how much does it cost to build one.  Jay Shafer has stated that both of his personal Tumbleweed ran around $15,000 in materials.  I have seen similar figures quoted by a couple of the do-it-yourselfers.

Will Pedersen, who is just finishing up construction on a Tumbleweed Tarleton, has kept fairly close notes of his costs and provided a detailed break-down to Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. Will used materials that are readily available at local lumber and hardware stores.  However, his windows, door, and countertops are custom made.  To-date, he’s spent roughly $13,400 U.S. ($18,200 Canadian).

A larger view of his costs can be viewed here. (Courtesy of the Tumbleweed Tiny House website.)

Pictures of Will’s Tarleton being built are available on TinyHouseBlog.com.

In the process of researching compact appliances for my own tiny kitchen, I discovered a couple of companies who are offering some fantastic combined kitchen units that would be perfect for the smallest of tiny houses.

I hadn’t realized just how many ready-made, combined kitchen units there are out there.  The smaller-sized units range from 24″ – 60″ in width and come in a variety of different voltages.  Most units feature a sink, two burners, and a small refrigerator.  The size of the unit determines how much counter and storage space there may be.

Below are some of the most well-known manufacturers of kitchenettes:

• Avanti
• Summit
• Acme

Most units feature electric ranges and AC appliances, but there are some options for gas stoves and DC. (Especially if you check out RV suppliers.)

If you’re shopping for a unit for your own tiny kitchen, the following online retailers provide a wide range of sizes and models:

• AJ Madison
• Compact Appliance

You’ve probably heard of the All Terrain Vehicle, but have you heard of the All Terrain Cabin?  The All Terrain Cabin or ATC is a concept first conceived by Canadian designers for the express purpose of being a small home.  They cleverly used the standard ISO shipping container as the starting point, and began working to create an impressive looking and functional home that takes up only 480 square feet.

The ATC is very versatile.  It can be transported in a variety of ways ranging from train, truck, ship or even helicopter.  The helicopter option, in particular, means that the All Terrain Cabin is quite literally a cabin that could be placed almost anywhere.  This means that the ATC could be placed in locations that are simply unreachable to its larger, traditional cousins.  Part of the brilliance of the concept is that the ATC can be transported in major ways that parallel how our modern society currently moves goods in this global economy.

Since this is a tiny home that is easily moved and placed, the ATC’s versatility extends beyond the just concept an ISO shipping container.  The longest sidewalls of the ATC actually expand out to give extra living space.  Having one wall drop down, much like a serving tray on an airplane,  accomplishes this clever little feat.  This dropping wall effectively becomes a deck, considerably increasing the space available for users.  The other long wall can expand out much like a camper trailer, which provides even more space.

The ATC concept is dedicated to allowing its owners to take it anywhere.  This means, of course, that they can take it off the grid.  The ATC has a bio-diesel engine that users an inverter to change DC into AC current.  Further, the ATC has taken a very environmentally friendly approach to the treatment of its water usage. and includes a composting toilet and a mechanism for catching and using rain.

So who is behind this slick concept?  The ATC was designed by built by BARK, which is a non-profit out of Vancouver, British Columbia.  The team has already toured their concept around to numerous cities, and if you’re lucky, you might be able to buy one soon.  For more information on this intriguing tiny, modular and easily movable home, just go to www.barkbark.ca.

You may have noticed that in the last few weeks I’m having increasing difficulty trying to keep people advised of new free tiny home plans as they become available.  That’s because a growing number of people have begun to develop their own designs and make them available to the public free of charge.

Not everyone seems to have the aptitude for developing their own construction designs.  (Including yours truly.)  Because of this, the purchase of plans has been one of the more costly points to entry living in a tiny home.  (With possibly only the cost of a trailer, if purchased new, the only thing being higher.)

The growing availability of free plans are a big step toward making small homes accessible to the majority, which makes me very excited.  But it still leaves me with a challenge on how to best communicate this information.  If things continue at the same rate they are currently, Coming Unmoored may start offering a weekly roundup of links to new plans.

Here are a few of the latest to appear:

• 8′ x 16′ Tiny House Plan
• Earthbag House Plans
• New designs added by Joseph Kenyon

Justin Peer lives in London and his dream is to build his own tiny home on wheels for £5,000, using as much recycled, second-hand and found items as possible.  He just wrote me last week to mention his new blog for the project.

“My dream,” Justin writes on his site, “is to own my own house, somewhere in the mountains and to live a life the way I wish to, unencumbered by debt or mortgage, doing a job I enjoy and with the time and money to travel and do other things, such as voluntary work, when I choose to do so.”

“None of us really want to work 48 weeks a year, we’d all ,I’m sure, prefer to work half the year and enjoy the rest of it rather than doing a 9-5. However, putting a roof over our heads is the thing that takes more money than pretty much anything we’ll ever do. A house is, for most people, the single biggest thing they’ll ever buy. Taking a mortgage out means paying many, many times the actual cost of the house to be able to borrow the money over 30 years or so. House prices have gone up to a crazy extent, particularly here in London. If you could take away that mortgage and own your home outright, what else do you have to pay for each month? Bills, food, transport, plus whatever fun things you like to do. Think about how much you earn, and how much you pay in rent/mortgage. Now, imagine what you could do with the extra money not having to make that big payment each month. Imagine what you could do with your life.”

So far Justin has collected a trailer, several reclaimed doors and windows, and some solar panels and batteries for the project.

You can follow the ongoing story of his tiny home being built here.

Each Friday Coming Unmoored runs a weekly roundup of tiny homes featured on the web and recent news stories that may be of interest to small home enthusiasts.  (Please note: if you would like to submit a link to the weekly roundup, please email it to: Stephanie.Reiley@gmail.com)

Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!

Tiny Houses Featured in the Past Week:

• Read-Nest
• Will’s Tarleton
• 8 x 16 Free Tiny House Plans
• Earthbag Tiny House Plan
• Caregiver Cottage
• Tiny House Inspiration
• Tiny Garage Conversion
• Little House on a Trailer
• Vivid Green Pavilion
• Coming Unmoored Floating Home (Okay.  I may be a little biased on this one.)
• Sheep Wagons

Recent News Stories on Tiny Homes and the Small Home Movement:

• What’s So Bad About a Cottage? (The Boston Globe)
• Living in a DollHouse (GoLightWeight.com)
• Driving the Tiny Home Movement (Iddictive.com)
• To Save a Venturi House, It is Moved (New York Times)

Would you really like to have a different small home experience?  Are you looking for something that wouldn’t just look different, but would feel different?  You might be interested in a Yurt.

A yurt is an adapted version of a shelter from Central Asia used by nomadic tribes for thousands of years.  The circular, tent-like shape is held into place by tension and compression.  This may sound simple, and on one level it is very simple.  However, this simple and elegant design has a myriad of benefits.  The aerodynamic shape flows around the curved sides of the yurt, and over its domed roof.  The structure of the yurt gives it a great deal of natural strength and thus safety.

The simple yurt has a lot going for it.  The structures are lightweight and inexpensive, yet durable.  The Pacific Yurt Company (out of Oregon) has taken this design to a new level.  Pacific Yurt began setting their yurts up on wood platforms that are supported by a post and beam system.

An additional major design change over the traditional yurt, is that The Pacific Yurt Company has added a lattice wall that runs the circumference of the outer fabric wall.  This lattice system is attached to the rafters and center ring overhead, giving the structure considerable strength.  Part of what makes the yurt such an attractive concept is its extremely minimal impact on its environment.

The pricing on yurt’s from Pacific Yurt is extremely competitive and is a true contender for those on a budget.  A 115 sq. ft. 12 foot diameter model cost about $4,500, and the largest 700 sq. ft. model cost about $9,800 dollars.  There are six different sizes in all.

This is definitely a different approach in small homes, and there is no denying it has an impressive price point.  The yurt has some additional benefits that one may not find in other inexpensive small homes, such as lots of headroom.  Some of the larger yurts have ceilings as high as 13 feet. Additionally,  all units have skylights.  The Pacific Yurt website www.yurts.com has a nice photo gallery that even shows several yurts linked together to form a very unique looking “yurt collective.” 

The small home movement is all about re-imagining what is possible concerning how we live.  The ancient yurt may fit in very well in our modern world.

In researching possible options for remodeling the kitchen in my small house, I came across Fagor’s CX-5 Cooking Center.

This integrated kitchen unit is only 50 inches wide and is designed to be integated with either a 27″ radiant or gas cooktop.  In addition, it features a stainless steel exterior, two large-capacity side drawers, and a central drawer for storage.  While this is probably a little too industrial-looking for my tastes, I can easily see this working well in a home with limited kitchen space.

I especially liked the design of Fagor’s matching stacked, stainless steel dishwasher which has modules to store tableware, flatware, and cutlery.  I wish more appliance manufacturers offered designs like this.

There is also a 24″ wide, 24″ deep, stainless steel refrigerator with freezer on the bottom to complete the look and efficient use of kitchen space.

Hopefully these designs might provide food for thought for those of you out there designing your own small kitchens.

Some ideas just immediately strike you as being great ones.  This is the case with GreenPods modular homes.  These homes just have a “cool factor” that is missing in many small homes.  GreenPods are very similar to what their name indicates.  They are small homes (the “pod” in the name) that are very focused on being green (the “green” in the GreenPod name).

The GreenPod vision is to build energy effective homes that have an eye on indoor air quality as well.  Considering indoor air quality as a major factor in determining design is a very refreshing development.  Medical science is discovering that indoor air quality, while always deemed important, is actually vital to our health.  The degassing from all sorts of building materials, such as carpet, is toxic to humans.  The GreenPod concept treats this seriously, and should be commended for doing so.

Not surprisingly the GreenPod concept also factors in sustainability and strives to keep the homes environmental footprint low.  The GreenPod team is working with designer Suzanne DeVail, who has produced numerous organic, anti-microbial fabrics specifically for use in GreenPod homes.

The Washington state based GreenPod company has small homes that range from as small as 300 feet to as large as 800 square feet.  GreenPod notes that it is possible to combine more than one POD into a larger home.  There SoloPODS come in eleven different designs, each with their own character.  The smallest is the Lopez at 372 square feet and a cost of around $60,000. The largest models is called the Orcas, and has a distinctive barrel roof.  The Orcas is 744 square feet and costs about a $175,000.

Another interesting model, the Ludlow, is $95,000 and is about 731 square feet.  The Ludlow is a really interesting option for those looking for a green small home that it has a great looking design. This model has lots of light exposure and a very competitive price.  If you really want light exposure, check out their Mercer Pod, which has a very grand look that comes across well beyond its 650 square feet.

Perhaps most interesting of all of GreenPods offerings is the Floating Pods.  These Pods are constructed in conjunction with P & T Fabrications and definitely have that cool factor.  The Floating Pods incorporate the design characteristics of the SoloPODS but, well, they float!

GreenPod is creating some impressive homes with some truly impressive interiors.  Their combination of design and focus being green, make them a true contender for anyone thing about buying a tiny or modular home.  There website is loaded with great photos and more information.  www.greenpoddevelopment.com