Green Shed Design Competition Winners
Pandora Park Community Garden Society, In Vancouver, B.C., recently organized a garden shed design competition. Here’s how they describe what they were going after:
“The primary objective is to demonstrate that natural, hand built, recycled, or otherwise sustainably produced building materials and technologies can be used in a contemporary aesthetic and community garden context.”
Below are some samples of the winning designs. I really like the ideas illustrated by these little structures. For example the first place design resembles what half and A-frame would look like. I like the second place design for the rain water collection feature and unusual roof. The third place design really does a nice job of including the outdoor space around the shed. For all the details visit the Green Shed Competition website.
Daphne’s Caravans
Pictured here is a collection of gypsy caravans camped out at NERO Canada. If you’d like to build one of these tiny homes yourself Daphne’s Caravans can help. They have a growing online forum that they call The Caravan Workshop where you can connect with other caravan owners and builders. They can also be hired to consult on your project. The most interesting thing they offer is the Caravan School which is essentially a 10-day building workshop intended to jump start your project.
Learn more at Daphne’s Caravans.
How to build a Tumbleweed Tiny House
Jay Shafer and the team at the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company have just put the finishing touches on a great video that shows the construction of a Tumbleweed Fencl. I especially liked seeing details like how they connect the house to the trailer and all the details about the interior paneling and exterior siding installation.
Now here’s the video showing the building of the Fencl. Learn more about buying a set of Tumbleweed Fencl Plans.
It’s also worth mentioning that Jay will be teaching his building & design workshops in seven different cities in 2010.
- Austin, TX – January 16-17, 2010 (just missed it)
- Durham, NC – March 20-21, 2010
- Boston, MA – May 22-23, 2010
- Toronto, Canada – July 17-18, 2010
- Portland, OR – August 7-8, 2010
- Boulder, CO – September 18-19, 2010
- Sebastopol, CA – November 6-7, 2010
You might also be interested to know that many of his plans have been reduced a little in price. Be sure to take a fresh look at the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company website.
Focus on the Future – Small is beautiful and eminently livable – By Michael Mehta
Back in November I posted the story of Michael Mehta’s small house on Gabriola Island in British Columbia. Shortly after that Michael mentioned to me that he was working on an article that focused on the benefits of simple living and small homes. To help with the research I reached out to you, my readers, and many people contributed ideas to help tell the story. The article has now been published in the local Gabriola Island paper, The Flying Shingle. I hope you’ll take a quick read.
Focus on the Future – Small is beautiful and eminently livable – By Michael Mehta
Photo of the Pilot light in Nanaimo Harbour by Chris Bowers
Funky Bunky
What you see below is a playhouse made by the folks at Funky Bunky up in Canada. As you can see it looks like a whimsical animation that’s come to life and I’m certain kids will love playing in little playhouses like these. But now imagine taking this funky style an applying it to a doghouse, shed, pool house, garden office or even a little bunkhouse complete with composting toilet, solar power, and a stand-alone sink.
Right now on their website all you’ll see are the playhouses but they will be building a wide variety of solutions in this whimsical style. Take a look and if this is the kind of funky tiny house you’ve been dreaming of I bet the folks at Funky Bunky will welcome the call.
