Tiny House Online Resources

Though I was born and grew up in New Jersey, I have lived the majority of my adult life in Israel. Let's call it ten years.  Things here are different from things in the states (What a statement!). There are no Tiny Houses here (Though there are other alternative buildings here and there, Cob, Strawbale, Yurts etc). If I was in the states I would probably go to a Tiny House workshop to get some hands on experience and expert advice from leaders in the field.  And I will go to a workshop one day, but not any time soon.  I'm busy here right now with other things, and besides, my economic situation right now makes flying to the states unlikely. So I'm left with the Internet, the glorious, glorious Internet.

I am very proud of the links I have put together, which you find all along the right side of this Blog.  First on the list are what I think of as the General Tiny House websites. These websites show examples of Tiny Houses all over the world, have articles about Tiny Living, ask and answer questions about Tiny Houses, and help create the Tiny House community.

Next on the list are Blogs created by people who are currently building or already completed building their Tiny Houses. These Blogs document their builds from design to construction.  Some are more detailed than  others.  These are a really great resource, helping people to see what it looks like to put these houses together from scratch, and to learn from the mistakes of others.

And next we have the Tiny House Companies.  These companies offer plans for their Tiny House designs, build custom houses, and offer educational information about Tiny Houses in the form of workshops, books, videos, and online courses.

I also recommend searching for "Tiny House" on facebook. There are a number of groups like Portland Tiny Houses that have hundreds of members offering a great knowledge resource.  It's one of the quickest ways to get answers to your Tiny House questions. There are even people there offering their properties as homes for Tiny Houses and Tiny House builds.

I probably will by house plans at some point, but I want to wait till I have all the money for the build first.  In the meantime, I have begun to play around with Sketchup to help me envision my future Tiny House in 3D.  And I owe it all to Michael Janzen at http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/ . He has designed a number of Tiny House models in Sketchup, and offers them for free on his website. He also has made a number of videos on youtube that show how to design Tiny Houses using Sketchup.

My current goal is to add a Gambrel roof to one of his Tiny House Designs instead of the regular triangle roof, as it offers more head space/comfort to the sleeping loft.




Lamar Alexander of Simple Solar Homesteading came up with a design closest to what I want to build. Here is a short video he created showing off his design. The house is built on a 20' trailer and has a Gambrel roof. My interior design won't be the same. But still, from the outside, it looks right on the money. Unfortunately, Lamar's computer went bust along with all his data, so he is starting from scratch with his design. He says he hopes to be finished within the year. I should mention that he sells his house plans for $2.00 each, which sounds great, though I haven't purchased any of them so I can't attest to their quality.

   Here is an example of the exterior and interior sleeping loft of the average Tiny House.

Most Tiny House owners say they are more than comfy, but I want to be as comfortable as possible.

This is April Anson's Tiny House with Gambrel Roof

Notice the Semi-Octagon shaped Gambrel Roof like a barn

It provides more space than the average Tiny House.



Well that's it for today! My next post will be about "My Dream Tiny House" and all the elements involved.