Hermitage for Sale
May 22, 2009
Mobile Hermitage For Sale!
The Mobile Hermitage, pictured here, is one of the homes that helped start the Small House Movement back in 2003. The Mobile Hermitage is now being offered for sale at a price of $30,000.
This home is owned by Greg Johnson, founder of the Small House Society, and is one of the very first Tumbleweed Houses ever built.
This is the same home that was featured on National Public Radio, Public Television, Better Homes and Gardens, and even the Oprah Winfrey show requested to have it on the show. The sale of the home will help advance the Small House Movement and make way for an exciting new development in smaller, simpler, more sustainable living.
It is approximately 60 square feet, and has a kitchen. For more info, please contact Greg directly.
Living Large in Small Spaces
April 23, 2009
This is an excerpt from my new book.
This is a six part post. Part 1 | Part 2 … more to come.
The Airstream
I have been living in houses of fewer than 100 square feet for nearly twelve years. The first of my little abodes was a fourteen-foot Airstream. I bought it in the summer of 1997 for three thousand dollars. It came as-is, with an aluminum shell as streamlined and polished as what lay inside was hideous. The 1964 orange shag, asbestos tiles, and green Formica would have to go. I began gutting, then meticulously refurbishing the interior in August, and by October, I was sleeping with an aluminum roof over my head. The place looked like a barrel on the inside, with pine tongue-and-groove running from front-to-back and floor-to-vaulted ceiling.
I settled in on a tree-lined ridge at the edge of a friend’s alfalfa field. It was a three-minute walk to Rapid Creek Road and a ten-minute drive from there to Iowa City. I carried water in from a well by the road and allowed it to drain from my sink and shower directly into the grass outside. I carried my sawdust toilet (i.e., bucket) out about once a month and took it to the sewage treatment facility in town. My electrical appliances consisted of a fan, six lights, a 9-inch TV/VCR and a small boom box. A single solar panel fed them all. It seemed that this simple existence would provide all I needed.
Then December came. I had reinforced most of the trailer’s insulation, but some areas remained thin. I spent over a half-hour each morning, from Christmas until Valentine’s Day, chipping ice and sponging up condensation from my walls, floors and desktop. This went on for a couple of winters before I began construction on the tiny house I have since come to call “Tumbleweed”.
The Small House Book
by Jay Shafer
Price: $36.95 
Small Cool Contest
April 21, 2009
I think that if smaller houses are really going to catch on, then they will first have to be understood as not merely sustainable and affordable, but as cool. Maxwell Ryan and the other folks over at Apartment Therapy are helping to make this clear with their 2009 Small Cool Contest. A couple of friends alerted me to the competition via Facebook just hours before submissions were due. Now my house is among the finalists.
To cast your vote (or simply to see a lot of very swank little spaces) visit http://contests.apartmenttherapy.com/2009/small-cool/.
Fencl Build for Coast to Coast Tour
April 10, 2009
This summer, beginning on May 25, 2009, Jay Shafer will drive a Fencl Tumbleweed Tiny House from San Francisco to New York. Along the way, Jay will stop in 14 different cities, making the house available for you to see. In addition, Jay will host Tiny House Building and Design Workshops in Boulder, Chicago, and New York along the way.
This is a photo journal of the construction of the first Fencl, which is being built on the property where Jay and Tumbleweed Tiny House Company reside.
The picture above is the construction site and shows a lot of the building supplies delivered and covered to protect from the rain.
Here you see the framing of the sub floor, foam insulation is installed next and then plywood completes the sub floor.
The plywood has been installed and the sub floor completed. The house is now ready to be framed for the walls and the roof.
The walls are up, and the sheathing is attached, the roof has been framed and the loft constructed. Tyvek is being installed and roofing is the next step.
The underside of the loft above the kitchen and bathroom.
Roofing almost completed.
The electrical wiring is in and basic plumbing in the bathroom has been installed. The roof has been insulated and the walls will be insulated next. The shower will be put into position and the framing of the bathroom wall will be completed. Plumbing for the bathroom and kitchen has yet to be completed.
Jay has the Thetsford Aqua Magic Style II toilet, shower, and Surburban RV 6 gallon hot water heater available to install, plus the Dickinson stove has arrived for the heating of the Fencl.
Awaiting sunny weather to complete the exterior.
Jay is looking for a buyer so, if you are interested, please contact him. Check back often for updates on the progress and completed pictures of the Fencl before the tour.
Small Living Journal
March 24, 2009
I’m excited to announce the launch of a new bi-weekly webzine called the Small Living Journal: the focus is on the small home movement.
The brainchild of Stephanie Reiley of the Coming Unmoored blog and a group of small living advocates, designers, and bloggers. The initial writers are Stephanie Reiley, Greg Johnson, Michael Janzen, Tammy from RowdyKittens, Hillary from ThisTinyHouse, Amanda from Constructing a Simpler Life, and Kent Griswold.
The first issue is an introduction of the members and how they became interested in the tiny house movement. The next issue on April 8 will focus on downsizing.
Go and check this out. I think you will find this another useful resource in your quest for living small. Be sure and sign up to the RSS feed or join the email list so you don’t miss an issue.
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