While doing some research for a post on boondocking I ran across this music video I had to share it with my readers, even though it is a bit off topic. I also want to say this is not an endorsement of the big box marts of any flavor.

Staying the night in a Walmart parking lot isn’t exactly boondocking because it’s allowed. Boondocking is spending the night where camping is not allowed, in other words it’s no-so-legal free camping. It’s also important to mention that staying the night at a Walmart is only legal where local laws permit overnight camping. If you want to learn more there’s a Yahoo group about Walmart RVing.

And now, enjoy Living at Walmart by Pat Pepin.

Julia, Katie and I took a short vacation last week and visited Monterey, California which included a day at the Monterey Aquarium. Katie is almost 4 years old now and had a great time. As we left the aquarium she was a Hammer Head shark… she said.

We didn’t want to stay at a big impersonal hotel and tried looking for rentals on airbnb.com first but found nothing in the area in our price range. Luckily Julia stumbled across a small hotel online called The Centella Inn, located in nearby Pacific Grove.

The Centrella Inn was built in 1889 and in addition to the main building they have five cottages which appear to have originally been neighboring homes that had been added to the hotel over the years. Luckily the homes have been well preserved and had many original features. Here’s what the bedroom looked like.

We stayed in cottage #1 which turned out to be a 10′ by 40′ shotgun house. You’ll notice another tiny house, cottage #2, that looks like a mirror of the house we stayed in, which was in fact is a nearly identical copy of cottage #1.

The house has three rooms. The main living space had a front door that opened onto a quiet side street and a side door that opened onto a narrow private garden. This private outdoor space was connected to the rest of the hotel via a larger shared courtyard which was dominated by a giant redwood tree. The other two rooms were a small bathroom featuring a claw foot tub and a bedroom. The bedroom also had a door that opened onto the private garden area.

We don’t vacation often and when we do it’s typically a short trip to a nearby location like the California coast. When we head back to the Monterey coast next time, this tiny house will definitely be on our list of potential places to stay.

From time to time little houses like this pop up on my radar. This time it was from a google alert I have setup with the keywords remote cabin. It’s a little cabin with a 384 square foot lower level and a 3/4 sleeping loft. It sits on 5 areas in Alaska and has some rustic amenities like an outhouse and no running water. But with views of Mt. McKinnley and the Talkeetna Mountains and a cost of $75,000 is seems like a small house real estate example worth sharing.

The original post on craigslist will disappear in a short amount of time so I’m including a screenshot of it here. If it’s not on craigslist anymore it may no longer be available.

On Sunday mornings Julia, Katie and I listen to Breakfast with the Beatles, a weekly radio show on KOZT, and dream about moving back to Mendocino County. Julia was surfing the Mendocino County craigslist looking at real estate for fun and found this very interesting tiny house on a bridge. It’s off-the-grid and probably not exactly a legal dwelling but it does sit on 27+ acreas near Philo, California. I’ve posted tiny houses on bridges before on Tiny House Living and just had to share this lucky find with you all. Have a great Sunday!

Since craigslist posts disappear quickly I saved a screenshot of the original ad.

Alex, the fellow behind Shedworking, is running a little shed design competition. He recently moved leaving his old shed behind and now needs a new backyard shed to serve as headquarters for Shedworking. You don’t have to be a designer, everyone is welcome to participate and he’s accepting illustrations or written descriptions. For complete details visit Shedworking.

Just for fun, and to help spark imaginations, I’ve posted a simple Google SketchUp 3D file with 10 sheds (tiny houses). Feel free to download the file and create you’re own original drawing or build on one of the houses/sheds already started in the file. I’m still working on my submission and will post it here on Tiny House Design sometime this next week. Continue reading to download the SketchUp file and see all 10 designs.

Download 10 Sheds SketchUp File

Go get Google SketchUp

Oh and if you were wondering if there was a prize, I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think so… I’m pretty sure this is just for fun and possibly some fame among tiny house enthusiasts and shed-workers worldwide. Check with Alex at Shedworking for all competition details.

I just put the finishing touches on this week’s issue of Tiny House Living, the weekly tiny house newsletter. In this issue I’ve included Kent’s Sonoma Shanty, a tiny house slumber party, a remote cabin called Yonderosa, two tiny shipping container houses, a man shed, a bit about Small Living Journal Issue 5 and my tiny teardrop bike trailer design.

Tiny House Living – Issue 7

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Bill Kastrinos at Tortoise Shell Home is looking for some help with naming this new design. The prototype for this new design is actually currently under construction. I helped out by drawing the illustration to make it easier to imaging how it will look when its complete. If you’d like to help name this new tortoise please visit Kent’s website, Tiny House Blog, and post your Tortoise Shell Home suggestion in the comments box.

Here are some photos Kent took the other day of the actual prototype under construction. As you can see this house is much longer than most tiny houses, about 26-feet, has a full bath, and even a little bedroom.

I really like the ingenuity of the fellow behind the website naturalhomes.org. This is the website dedicated to houses built from natural materials like cob, adobe, straw bale, stone, dirt, and so on. You’ll find examples of natural homes from all over the world. Some are big but many are tiny houses. Oliver Swann, the fellow behind the website, has been busy putting together all sorts of cool ways of exploring the world of natural and tiny homes. Here are a couple of good examples of what I mean.

Tiny House Map

Tiny House Slide Show

If you haven’t visited naturalhomes.org recently be sure to check it out. You might also want to follow naturalhomes on Twitter. I do and Oliver always posts good stuff.

Greg’s tiny house is for sale. In addition to being a turn-key tiny house, this house has the added celebrity of being featured in so many tiny house media stories. Greg is the co-founder of the Small House Society and often the person the media contacts when looking for more information about the tiny house movement. Greg also wrote a book about the life lessons learned while living in this house called, Put Your Life On a Diet: Lessons Learned from Living in 140 Square Feet.

You could built a comparable tiny house for less money but it would take you hundreds of hours of your time. So for some people the price will seem to be a bit much; for others it is a great deal. To get an idea of what other people have spent in time and money building similar tiny houses visit Tiny House Journal. If you’re interested in buying Greg’s tiny house learn more about the Mobile Hermitage at Greg’s website, Resources For Life.

This is a bit of a rare occurrence. Jay Shafer is selling his Vardo. If you’ve ever been to one of Jay’s monthly open houses you probably noticed this micro house sitting next to his much larger 89 square foot Tumbleweed EPU.

He’s asking $5,800 (or $4,800 without the stainless steel heater). If you’re a good with a hammer and saw you can build one yourself in about 100 hours and spend about $3,500 in materials. But if you’d rather have a turn-key micro house buying Jay’s little Vardo might be a much better deal, and if you hurry you can have it right away.

The Vardo would probably not make a good full time house, there’s no bathroom, but it’s perfect for a cozy home office or camping trailer. It’s so small most cars can tow it too. If you’d like to know more visit Kent’s Tiny House Blog for all the details. Visit Jay’s website to learn more about Tumbleweed Houses.

(update: this house has sold)