Monthly Archives: July 2009

Murphy Bed in the 8×20 Solar House

Posted on July 30, 2009 by Michael Janzen

I’m still making small edits to the next version of the house plans but I wanted to share a better picture of the murphy bed. It’s a queen size bed mounted horizontally. This allows some space to walk around side … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Plans | Tagged free plans, google sketchup, murphy bed, sketchup, solar house, sustainable architecture, tiny house, tiny solar house, wall bed, wallbed | 14 Comments

Tiny Gambrel A-Frame

Posted on July 29, 2009 by Michael Janzen

This tiny house design was sent to me by Craig, one of my readers. Like many of us Craig has been experimenting with Google SketchUp and has had an A-Frame design burning in his head; so he sat down and … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Concept | Tagged a-frame, aframe, cabin, craig, design concept, gambrel, google sketchup, sketchup, tiny house | 2 Comments

8×20 Solar Tiny House Plans – Version 1.0

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Michael Janzen

I just put the finishing touches on the 8×20 solar house and uploaded the plans. I can see how SketchUp Pro with the bundled presentation building software, Google Layout, would be a real time saver and would really improve the … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Plans | Tagged 8x20, blueprints, free plans, sketchup, sketchup pro, tiny house | 36 Comments

How to draw 2D drawings with Google SketchUp

Posted on July 26, 2009 by Michael Janzen

The other night I realized how easy it is to draw 2D drawings with the free version of Google SketchUp. All you have to do is select Camera > Standard Views > Top to set the view from the top … Continue reading →

Posted in How To | Tagged 2d drawing, 3d drawing, drafting, google sketchup, house plans, parellel projection, sketchup, sketchup pro | 2 Comments

See these eco-pods at the Water Woman Festival

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Michael Janzen

I was recently contacted by Ray Cirino who is the creator of these clever little eco-pods. There are actually three styles but this little one is my favorite. He builds them from mostly recycled and reclaimed building materials including old … Continue reading →

Posted in Projects | Tagged cob, eco pods, ray cirino, reclaimed material, recycle, reuse, sustainable architecture, tiny pod, tree house, water woman | 2 Comments

8×20 Solar House Update… Free Plans Nearly Complete

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Michael Janzen

For the past two weeks I’ve been test driving Google SketchUp Pro and have come to a simple conclusion. Unless you’re a professional I think you’ll be able to do much more than you’ve ever dreamed with the free version … Continue reading →

Posted in Free Plans | Tagged 3d, 8x20, free plans, google layout, google sketchup, google sketchup pro, house plan, house plans, illustration, sketchup, solar house, sustainable architecture, tiny house | 10 Comments

4×12 Tiny House – $ingles Only

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Michael Janzen

Lelly at Project Rolling Freedom has been having a lot of fun with Google SketchUp lately and this is one her latest creations. It’s a 4′ by 12′ tiny house just enough space for one person. I really like it … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Concept | Tagged google sketchup, lelly, micro house, project rolling freedom, tiny house | 1 Comment

Tiny Free House Update

Posted on July 23, 2009 by Michael Janzen

It’s a bit ironic that the hardest part of building my tiny free house is making time to actually work on it. Finding free building materials is actually pretty easy compared to scheduling time. This week I took Wednesday off … Continue reading →

Posted in Tiny Free House | Tagged low-cost housing, pallet house, sustainable architecture, Tiny Free House, tiny house | 3 Comments

PVC Teardrop Bike Trailer

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Michael Janzen

You might recall that I posted a design concept a while back for an ultralight teardrop shaped tiny house trailer that could theoretically be pulled by a bicycle. Shortly after posting the idea I was contacted by The PVC Bike … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Concept | Tagged bike trailer, pvc bike, pvc bike guy, teardrop, teardrop trailer | 29 Comments

A closer look at the Sonoma Shanty tiny house plans

Posted on July 20, 2009 by Michael Janzen

The Sonoma Shanty is an affordable tiny house solution that came out of a collaboration between Kent Griswold and Stephen Marshall of Little House on the Trailer. This is actually one of the projects that was born from a meet-up … Continue reading →