16 Excellent Tiny House Resources
One of the most popular articles here at Natural Papa has been my post about Our Tiny House Experiment. From talking to other people who are looking to either live in a low impact way, or to simply save money, I have found that the tiny house concept is one that really resonates with them. And thanks to the power of the internet, resources for how to make the transition to a micro house, how to build your own, or how to live in one, are only a click away.
Small House Design: Seattle Tiny Homes Offers Complete Tiny House On Wheels Plans
16 Great Tiny House Websites
Tumbleweed Houses
“My decision to inhabit just 89 square feet arose from some concerns I had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because I do not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space. My houses have met all of my domestic needs without demanding much in return. The simple, slower lifestyle my homes have afforded is a luxury for which I am continually grateful.” – Jay Shafer, Tumbleweed Houses, author of The Small House Book
[See my review of the Small House Book, by Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed Houses]
Tiny House Design
“In a nutshell, tiny houses give you back freedom in the form of time, money, and peace of mind. Why? How? Simply because they cost less to own, clean, heat, cool, etc. The less money you spend on your home the less you have to earn or the more you keep in the bank. The less time you spend cleaning and maintaining your house the more time you have to for the things you like to do.” – Tiny House Design
Tiny r(E)volution
“Tiny r(E)volution is a media-mentary on our goal to downsize, minimalize, prioritize, and proselytize, the plight of the Tiny House. Along the way we’ll be sharing our personal stories, our tales of discovery, and lot more information.”
“Is your dream to build your own tiny house? Then this is the right website for you. Our tiny house floor plans will be perfect for you. Generally speaking, houses are expensive. The bigger house you have, the bigger costs you have to pay. That is the reason why we focus on smaller, more affordable houses. First of all it is easy to build and even easier to maintain. Secondly it is nice to have a beautiful separate residence. Most of the small house floor plans offer porches, outdoor fireplaces MN and other important facilities, so the best place you can build your tiny house is in the country.”
This Tiny House
“This Tiny House is a girl-blog adventure, with a silent partner in crime. The girl is the author, obsessed with small spaces, efficiency, and living lightly on the earth. The boy is an outdoor explorer with a day job.”
The Tiny Life:
“The Tiny Life is a resource for those seeking information on tiny living, which encompasses simple living, tiny houses, and environmentally responsible lifestyles. We seek to provide more than just information on tiny houses, we aim to have discussions on living life…tiny! We refer to our site as a tiny lifestyle blog.”
Tiny House Blog
“The goal of the Tiny House Blog is to discover the different options available for a person looking to down size into a tiny house or cabin.”
Tiny Free House
“I’ve embarked on a little experiment. I’m building a tiny house that’s cross between Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond and a Tumbleweed-like Tiny House on wheels, the only difference is that it will cost nothing.” – Tiny Free House
Coming Unmoored
“This is the rather eclectic blog of a late-thirty-something woman in the process of overhauling her life in the wake of a short-lived and spectacularly disastrous marriage to the “Perfect Guy”. If you don’t already know me, perhaps the most important thing for you to know, at this point, is that in the last two years I’ve radically downsized my life from a high-consumption lifestyle in Tucson, Arizona to a small floating home in Portland, OR.” – Coming Unmoored
TinyHouses.net
“Once you start looking, tiny houses are everywhere. A tiny house, a little house, an itty bitty house, a mini house: any way you describe it, little houses and hideaways are dear to our sense of proportion.” – TinyHouses.net
Tiny Spaces Living:
“Tiny Spaces Living is a blog for people live in small spaces who want smart tips and ideas to enjoy, improve, and maintain their tiny home.”
The Field Lab
“Have you ever thought to yourself, “How would I do it if I had it to do all over again?” Usually this thought only pops into your head when you are about to die or your life is in ruin or perhaps during a midlife crisis where family and job stress suddenly takes its toll. This feeling is usually accompanied by mounting debt and an overwhelming feeling of being trapped in the life you have chosen. Tension in the world, an unstable economy, high fuel prices, and mind numbing popular culture may also add to this feeling of utter futility.” – The Field Lab
Tiny Pallet House
“As hurricane Gustav plowed across Cuba headed for the gulf coast of the United States memories of Katrina and the potential displacement of thousands got me thinking. I wanted to do something to help. It occurred to me that someone else might find what I now about building with shipping pallets useful in the coming weeks and months. So I setup this simple micro-blog to make it easy to show others one way to build with pallets.” – Tiny Pallet House
Tiny Houses on designboom
“the size of a home varies around the world; while some families live in one room huts, others have gigantic homes which seem to never end. whatever the case, homes tend to grow with their owner’s prosperity. since 1970, the size of the average new american home has grown by 50 percent. this growth trend is similar in most western countries. however, for every trend there is an counter-trend. in the case of home size, more and more people are choosing to live in small homes” – designboom
Tiny Home Builders:
“Tiny Home Builders is a family owned business located in DeLand Florida. We design and build tiny houses on trailers. This gives the homeowners the flexibility to move their house to the perfect location, even if that perfect location changes. A tiny house can be built with all the amenities required to function as a stand-alone house, or equipped more sparsely to be used as an office or studio. For those looking to build their own tiny house themselves, we also offer guides, consulting, and plans. All of our plans have been used to build tiny houses and have been perfected in the process.”
Jay’s Tiny House
“For 30 years I’ve wanted to build my own off-grid, energy efficient home and I’ve been drawing various designs for it on envelopes since I was at school. My grand design is a little smaller than most people’s idea of a home and this is a test run to prove to myself I can actually build a house. Start tiny, then move up in size once I have the skills established.” – Jay’s Tiny House
The Tiny House Project
“The Tiny House Project will bring together a group of artists to help us explore how we, in America, live. Nine artists will create a neighborhood of tiny homes in order to ask some very interesting questions about the choices we make. Do our choices bring us joy? How do they shape our connections with the people around us? In what ways will our choices change the lives of future generations? The Tiny House Project is a public art experiment, and everyone is invited to participate.”
Tiny Texas Houses
“My goal is to show people what can be done with a concept I call Salvage Building, thus what you see is 99% Pure Salvage. That means that everything from the doors, floors, windows, lumber, porch posts, glass, door hardware, and even the siding has been saved and re-used to create houses that we hope will last for a century or more. I believe that there are presently enough building materials sitting on the ground to build much of the next generation of housing. All it takes to make it so is pure human energy, spirit, and the desire to build something that will last for several lifetimes.” – Tiny Texas Houses
“Our homes are built to the same specification as that of a traditional home. We use 2×4 structure which allows us to use the same appliances as that of a standard home. This certainly helps to give you that cozy, “homey” feel, and is a step above the flimsy products used in other tiny homes and RVs. Each tiny home comes complete and equipped with a (rather spacious) full kitchen complete with fridge, stove top of choice to poach your free range eggs while enjoying the sunny morning view of the rippling water on lake Kalamalka … Just kidding … That part is up to you. You’ll be finally able to convince your family to come camping with you, as each Tiny Home is equipped with a full shower and a non-smelly-environmentally-friendly, decomposing toilet! No more runs to the back of a bush in the middle of the night.”
Vermont Tiny Houses
“Learn how to build a Vermont Tiny House from the ground up. Start by learning about what simple tools, building materials, and building practices are needed to complete a tiny house. Build 300 or less square feet of functional space that can be used as additional private space away from your main home.”
“EcoCabins is excited to witness the simple living paradigm shift happening all around us. As the Tiny House Movement spreads across the world, we cheer it on and remain an integral part of its progress. We proudly build unique tiny houses of EcoCabins original design and other popular designs. We also educate and consult with local, regional, and national zoning authorities on how to affect changes that will make living in a tiny house legal in more places. We will continue our efforts to champion the tiny house way of life and we invite you to check out our innovative tiny house designs.”
Tales of a Tiny House
“The tiny house on wheels concept really appealed to me so I built one! I’ve spent a little over a year building my very own little home – and am now living with friends and family – being able to share myself and my time instead of just working to get by.” – Tales of a Tiny House
“An award-winning micro home designed for the heart of the city. It’s gorgeous, it’s smart, and every cubic inch is pristinely engineered from bed to front door.”
Small House Society
“The Small House Society is a voice for the Small House Movement. The movement is the result of concerns about what we are doing to the environment, and what the environment is doing to us (wild fires, flooding, hurricanes), as well as a shifting economy. Some people just desire to live simply so that others can simply live.”
Tiny House Listings
“Tiny House Listings is the web’s central place to buy, sell and rent small house properties that are under 1,000 square feet in size. The site was started by Steven Harrell. Steven is a tiny house enthusiast and lives in a 36′ houseboat with his wife Rhiannon and chihuahua “Mako” in Wilmington, NC.”
“When we decided to build a tiny house, we began researching and discovered that there was no YouTube-based series that showed a build from start to finish. So we thought we would make one! The build is still in-progress and we’re making videos as we go. We designed every inch of the house from scratch to be sure that it would meet our needs.”
RelaxShacks
All about small/tiny house design, small cabins, yurts, log cabins, houseboats, off-grid living, salvage construction, dumpster diving, thrift living, and diy crafts and woodworking.
The Tiny Project:
“The Tiny Project is my attempt to live a simpler, more conscious, debt-free life, and in doing so helping to set and example and educate the community about alternative, affordable, more sustainable ways of living.”
“For those contemplating making the move to a tiny house, you might want to add yurts to your list of potential tiny home designs, as living in a yurt can offer a number of benefits over other tiny house designs, depending on the situation, not including the obvious feature of living in a round home instead of a square one. Here’s a great primer on yurts, written by a guy who has years of experience in both building and living in them.”
The Floating Empire
“The blog of the design, construction, and launching of the vessel “Floating Empire”, an electrically driven boat utilizing recycled and repurposed materials and a mix of modern and 18th and 19th century technologies to reduce carbon footprint. The vessel is a tiny house barrel barge, simply built of castoff materials and easily available parts, providing an easy living space for an individual or couple”
Got any other tiny house websites we should be reading? Leave the links in the comments!
{Update: there are more sites on here than the original 16, but I am leaving the title of this piece the same}
Great stuff! I follow This Tiny House and Coming Unmoored already… also check out RowdyKittens (http://rowdykittens.com/).
.-= Jessica´s last blog ..Green Living Gets Real =-.
It is so nice to see conservatism come into popularity.
Fantastic round-up! I discuss tiny homes on my blog too.
.-= RowdyKittens´s last blog ..Just Do It! Challenges of 2009 =-.
Wow, my bad. How could I miss Rowdy Kittens?
rowdykittens is a HOOT!
Is a tiny house possible if you have a husband and 3 boys? Who are very active? As they age, it might be more possible than with girls… but the thought of a tiny house with my 3 rambunctious boys makes me feel so claustrophobic (even though I really, really like the idea of a tiny house, and we will downsize soon)…
I think it’s definitely possible – but your definition of ‘tiny’ might be bigger than others. Or you may find that the boys need a tiny house of their own to play in? Anything smaller than the average American single family house would be an improvement as far as environmental impact, I believe.
I’ve wondered about the feasibility of a tiny house with a 3 kid family, too. I’m thinking maybe they can stay in the conventional house and I just need a tiny house for myself in the backyard.;)
omg! i think u are about to become my best friend! i love your writing lol mr perfect 🙂 and what a brilliant, helpful idea 🙂 came JUST at the right time – downsize, mid-life crisis etc BIG 🙂 will be following you – thanks!!!!
I think too many people make the mistake of not being selective because they dont want to be perceived as a pest. Do you agree?
I always liked those designs, but I wasn’t aware it’s so many of them! I followed all the links and the idea of opensource architecture is really great, unlike other links pointing to forty-something thousands dollar houses.
Thanks for sharing!
.-= Serge´s last blog ..How much water does it take to make one latte? =-.
Amazing experience shared! By browsing your linnk “16 great…” I fell on this video: http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/121 Where the architect lectures about the ugliness of places that are not worth saving in America: huge stop lights/malls on the way to nowhere. Tiny housing is definitely one way of scaling down the needs of energy sucked by these structures that not only are a sore to the eye, but also lead to a kind of internal sorrow of man made “modern deserts” that are currently named “parking lots”
I’m a huge fan of the TED talks – and Kunstler is a great no-punches-pulled kind of guy. Thanks for the link!
Love this post! Its a great way to get back to the basics of life, family etc, when we’re not so focused on having “more”. The tiny house is like the Lap-Band surgery for your life, forcing you to consume less and in turn allow you to live more!
.-= Danny´s last blog ..Surfing the Arctic =-.
these exact words are what I’v been trying to tell EVERYone! keep spreading the word of living smaller! stace.
Canadians live in the colder northern regions in Straw Bale home and Solar and wood heat – virtually free! while their Yankee counter-parts pay for oil and gas in the south! Smaller practical Straw Bale survival size homes in Canada are built and the folks that live in them swear by them! Whole books and complete plans can be had on this net! Look up “Straw Bale” to expand your mind! Look at what the Europeans call spacious – in Denmark, for example, or even a Paris apartment! You won’t see any Mc Mansions there! I need to be solidly attached to the earth and have storage space for my pressure canned garden preserves for winter survival here in Canada, so your plans seem a bit tight for me. Good luck! Keep on publishing! Especially space -saving ideas i love them, and if i get the chance to build another place will certainly borrow them, if not for my current smaller dwelling!
A small mini basement will provide solid, non-movible foundation that will supply storage and even temperature. If used as an extra room, an egress window will be needed. It is always better to use a mini basement for utilities, access panels, pipes…if you can’t go out or up; go down!
http://www.tinygreencabins.com is another tiny house website
It is so nice to see conservatism come into popularity. Especially after the extreme excesses of the past decade. Builders couldn’t build 4000 square foot homes fast enough. Of course so many of them sit empty now.
look at http://www.littlegreatcampcabin.com
Cool, I’ll head over and check it out!
Lots of tiny houses at http://www.tinyhousetalk.com/tiny-houses
Excellent, I’ll check it out!
http://www.tinyhouselistings.com is a new website where you can browse tiny houses for sell and rent.
Awesome – I’ll add it here soon!
I think I have room in my garden for a tiny house so I shall get my husband on it pronto, how nice to have two homes and he is a builder so it should be right up his street.
Pingback: Finding Happiness: Living Large in a Tiny House | Pursuit Of Less
Ooops, almost a year later and I forgot to say THANK YOU for including me in your list! Better late than never?
Nice compilation of sites! I’ve only been to a few of these, but am gonna explore the rest now.
Hello
My name Don Kreischer, I wanted to tell everyone about a project that I and now a good friend kilely are embarking on. In recent years I’ve see many movements in which I thought were / are great. However the mini houses have long been a favorite. I recently traveled to Honduras in an effort to sell some property I bought 8 years ago. My business in the states was getting worse and worse. I didnt know when to say enough is enough and give it up. But what would I do then ? So I decided to sell this property on the island in north Honduras. ( Roatan ). More like paradise than any place I’d ever been. It’s an old british colony and the has the second largest barrier reef on the planet. Diving, snorkeling, fishing, tropical fruits and weather. It has it all !! In addition they speak English because of it’s British roots. The island is still relatively umknown or undiscovered at this point. Simply paradise. I’m getting off track. I went down to meet another Floridian to try and make a deal. They day I arrived he had a family emergency and had to return stateside. So here I am, I though well I will just enjoy the week and try to enjoy myself. one night I was driving through West End ( a hip spot with restaurants, bars and shops ) and I got to talking to a woman named Kilely ! I explained my current situation and she said ” why don’t you sell mr a small piece? ” I told I could take her to the property in the next couple days and show her. So here is where the magic happens. We drive out to the land. We get out of the car. She says ” I LOVE IT “. Why wouldn’t she ? It’s views are spectacular, overlooking the carribean sea. Beautifull turquoise waters !! We are up on a hill with incredible breezes, etc. The list goes on. Now I’m asking myself, why am I selling it ?? Then I quickly remember my dwindling business in the states. She says how much for this piece right here 10′ X 18′. That’s ten feet by eightteen feet! I said what are you gonna do with that ? She said ” build a tiny house “. Have you ever heard of one she said ? The blood rushed from my face. I had heard of them and I have even built some. But I never connected the two together. Meaning my property and the mini houses. This was my answer. I had always tried to figure out what to do with my land. But between build house, hotel or nothing I just couldn’t figure it out. But this was it. A mini community. An Eco community. Low impact housing, using all the natural resources the island offered. Wind, rain and solar. This was big !! Plus it is witting reach for many people. Low cost getaway or permanent houseing on an island in the carribean where people spoke English and they ( you ) lived among like minded people. Kiley was my new hero. She had great ideas and her passion for such a place was inspiring. Her one demand was we have a mini yoga building with a view ! I happily excepted her demand ( request really ). Kiley is the first buyer of many I’m sure. If you would like information about this unique adventure. Please contact Don at 352.278.8355
Greetings everyone,
I am with the design team for Blake’s Tiny House and we have just posted our design iterations 2.0 @ http://www.blakestinyhouse.com. We are trying something with the Tiny House movement by looking to foster an open and online design development of a tiny house. At our website you can download a SketchUp model or grab an image and feel free to sketch, manipulate, or redesign Blake’s Tiny House. We would love to see ALL of your thoughts and comments and will post them to our blog if you return them to us. Please join us in Blake’s journey!
Here is the direct link:
http://www.blakestinyhouse.com/new-design-development.html#/news/
Cheers!
Thanks for the list, there were a couple of links I had not seen before. I’m building my own small house with the help of some friends. Feel free to watch my progress at my blog if you like.
Thanks.
Pingback: Tiny Homes – Eco Cute Overload | InfiniteSpectra Blog
Roatan, Honduras is one of my favorite places…the tiny house concept would definitly sell there.
Don’t forget about tiny houses as a way for disabled people to have an independant life. It is much easier to get around (when going the 20 feet to the kitchen is a daunting and painful task, you don’t want to do it and you don’t eat. But if it is 5 feet away, then life is much easier!)
i want to subscribe to your site but it isn’t taking my info /or sending me a link….ronelda
I thought I would throw in a link for my site.
http://dreadnaughtdarling.com
I am a tiny house blogger. You have a great list! Thank you!
Hi Derek!
Any chance you’d be willing to make this “17 Excellent Tiny Houses Resources” and add us?
http://SmallHouseLife.com/ is a new site that is rapidly growing due to the overwhelming community support of interested readers.
While not ‘tiny’ necessarily but more > “Dreaming of a small house? Ready to right-size? Small houses can live BIG with creative design and proper planning. Come along as we redefine how we live.”
Please let me know.. Dee 🙂
hey… my computer just blocked an attack from tiny revolution site. Blackhole kit, it said. I seriously doubt the people at tiny revolution are responsible, but they may not know that their site is being used for something like this. If you have an email contact for them, please give them a heads up. Thanks!
Great site. I have a link to this site.
we love tiny homes as well and love this blog site.
-Larry
Hi! I see you have an overabundance of sources for tiny house information, but I thought I’d throw mine out there. I’m close to done with the exterior and hope to move in by May 🙂 http://littleyellowdoor.wordpress.com/
Pingback: Tiny House Living | BuildDirect Green Blog
My wife and I are building a custom designed Tiny Home on a gooseneck trailer and just about finished. We started it about 10 weeks ago and will be moving in this coming week. Our blog is at http://clotheslinetinyhomes.com/ and we are working on putting a pricing page together for anyone that would have intrest in ordering one. We will have a lot of options from a dry-in model to a complete finish.
I have a question, being that I’m actually dirt poor, and disabled besides, so much so that I can no longer work an am on disability, how can I get a tiny house for myself? I cannot afford to buy one. I live on very little, an I cannot physically build it myself, nor do I know anyone who can or would do it for me. what can I do? I’m desperate to get out of a very bad liveing situation! Any ideas for me
Anyone?
We have enjoyed a tiny house (camp) in Washington, VT for 25 years. Sitting on 15.5 south and west facing acres, our tiny house house one big room and a loft. It is wood stove heated and out house served. Water pumps into the kitchen sink and there’s a small gas stove/oven and gas lights. It’s a magical spot but we’re consolidating. We’re hitting retirement age and getting ready to sell. If interested, contact PatriciaLebau@gmail.com
Interesting website! Here are some small cabins built by the Amish in Kentucky: http://www.amishcabincompany.com Energy efficient cabins made in an off-grid Amish facility that fit into the small house, green building movement, using Amish craftsmanship that is well-known for quality construction. Delivered pre-built and fully assembled. With enough of a clearing above and to the sides, they can literally be taken up the side of a mountain by dozer, and off-grid solar power options are now readily available. Linton
Great resources, thanks for sharing Derek. I have been following some of the resources you mentioned in your list and the others I haven’t explored before. Doing so right now. I am a lone voice in my community advocating small and tiny homes. It is ridiculous the way some folks build huge homes 90% of which they hardly use. My partner often comments on the fact that our family of four does not need more than a few square feet as the two kids are always attached to her and I am sitting close by working on my computer.
Great listing. I’d add a few:
Deek at Relaxshacks.com has a lot of unique ideas.
For just plain practical advice, look at thefloatingempire.com, which is the blog of a couple who built and moved aboard a shantyboat made of recycled materials.
Great stuff, guys
Steve
Excellent, I’ll add them to the list shortly. Thanks!
Hey! Thanks for listing us as one of your 16 resources. We’d like to let everyone know we are now celebrating our first full year on the water aboard The Floating Empire. We’ve just posted a summary of things that worked and things that didn’t.
Thanks so much for the service you’re providing.
Mungo
Hello, I am a blogger with a tiny house fundraiser, check out my inspirations at Thanks for the amazing resources.