Tiny House Design

Sheldon Designs has come up with a very cool cabin cost calculator that should help owner-builders figure out how much it will cost to build one of their cabin designs. They are also having a Valentines Day and every house plan they sell is 50% off until midnight on February 15, 2009.

Try the Cabin Calculator and then visit the Sheldon Designs for the 50% off Valentines Day Sale.

Another place to find tiny house plans and design ideas is the Cherokee Cabin Company. The house designs range from 144 square feet to just under 800 square feet and the plans range in price from $25 to $40 plus shipping. Plans include drawings of the floor plan with electric details, foundation, front elevation, right side elevation, left side elevation, rear elevation, and a scaled building or wall section. Plans are suitable for submission to your local building department but like with all stock plans you may want to consult local building codes for specifics like foundation footing depth. These plans do not include a material list.

Pictured above is the Whitehorse II. It’s 236 square feet on the first floor and has a 142 square foot loft. The porch is 52 square feet. It’s a very simple traditional design with a small kitchen and bathroom downstairs. The sleeping loft is assessable via a ladder. You’ll also find photos of some completed homes on the Cherokee Cabin Company website that have been submitted by people who have built these tiny homes. Photo credit Cherokee Cabin Company.

Here’s a nice little turn key (manufactured) tiny house option. It’s a tiny cabin made by a company that builds park model homes and campground cabins. They have a wide variety of designs to choose from too: 175+ park models, 50+ cabins, and 25+ lofts. Pictured below is the floor plan for one of the smallest cabins with a bathroom and kitchen. It looks like it’s about 130 square feet.

Cavco Cabins come in a variety of finish levels from fully insulated and plumbed units just like a real house to a line of basic cabins with built-in bunk beds and no plumbing. I first spotted these on Kent’s Tiny House Blog where a guest blogger, Christina Nellemann, wrote about a short stay in on of these cabins at a campground McArthur-Burney Falls in northern California.

In fact it looks like on the Cavco Cabins website you can find retailers and campgrounds in many states. I did a quick search on ‘California’ and found dozens of campgrounds that have these little cabins for rent. So if you’d like to experience tiny house living you might try spending a weekend in one of these little cabins. In fact it might be the easiest and least expensive way to give it a try.

You might even want to bring a mental list of all your stuff and then go through the exercise of imagining your stuff in the tiny space. Who knows by the time you get home you might be motivated enough to have that big yard sale and lighten your load. Sometimes it takes getting away from your stuff to help you realize what it does for you and to your peace of mind, kind of like taking a vacation from your stuff to gain perspective. Photo credit Cavco Park Homes & Cabins.