Smaller House, Larger Life
“Making the choice to live small in a yurt or tiny house is no quick decision. However, if you want to reduce your carbon footprint, connect closely with the people you live with, be one with nature, cut down on material possessions, or want to live a more green and sustainable existence, the lifestyle might be perfect for you. Intrigued? These experienced tiny dwellers have a lot of useful insight into the experience of inhabiting tiny structures like yurts and tipis to make the most out of living in them.
home design
Smaller is Better in the Tiny House Movement
“The unpredictable economy, recent natural disasters and the fickle housing market are driving many working class Americans to live more frugally. Although downsizing, living simply and being environmentally-conscious are not new ideas to any generation, Millennials graduating with unprecedented amounts of student debt are looking to own, rather than rent, a home. Deciding to turn their backs on the McMansions and SUVS of their forebears, more and more Millennials are buying into the tiny house movement.
Alejandro Aravena: Bring the community into the design process
“When asked to build housing for 100 families in Chile ten years ago, architect Alejandro Aravena looked to an unusual inspiration: the wisdom of favelas and slums. Rather than building a large building with small units, he built flexible half-homes that each family could expand on. It was a complex problem, but with a simple solution — one that he arrived at by working with the families themselves. With a chalkboard and beautiful images of his designs, Aravena walks us through three projects where clever rethinking led to beautiful design with great benefit.”
Free Sample House Plan by Precision Structural Engineering
Precision Structural Engineering has kindly provided a free sample house plan to showcase their earthbag engineering prowess. Here’s the free PDF plans. As you can see, their code approved engineered plans are very extensive and detailed. Precision Structural Engineering is the clear leader in getting earthbag projects code approved. They are licensed in 47 states and have an excellent reputation.
Tiny House Tour at Stunning Waterfront Off-Grid Resort
“In this video we take you on a tour of 2 beautiful off-grid tiny houses at the Domaine Floravie tiny house eco-resort in Rimouski, Québec, Canada. Domaine Floravie has a total of 7 tiny houses located on a stunning piece of land right on the shores of the Saint Lawrence River.
Eclectic Eco-Friendly Tiny House with Two Lofts
To give you an idea of how popular tiny houses are, this video has almost 600,000 hits in just a few months. It never ceases to amaze me how many creative, space-saving ideas people incorporate into tiny homes. This particular home has a Moroccan floor sofa, a cutting board that fits over an alcohol burning cooktop, a grow tower that provides herbs year-round that’s small enough to be brought indoors in the winter, two lofts that include an upstairs office and much more. Also note how many tiny homes like this one are designed for off-grid as well as on-grid hookups. You may not like some of the aesthetics or even want a house this small. That’s okay. I’m posting the best tiny house videos that I can find because they have so many space and money saving ideas.