Tiny Houses - Tiny House Living.pdf

TINY HOUSES T HE P ERFECT T INY H OUSE With Example Plans Tiny House Living



Copyright 2014 - All Rights Reserved – Christopher Dillashaw ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and signed permission from the author.





Table of Contents Introduction: what is a tiny house? 1. Why would anyone want to live in a tiny house? 2. Thing to consider before going tiny 3. Building your tiny house 4. Designing a tiny house for tiny living 5. Common tiny house problems Tiny House Plans House Plan A - A Nest in the Loft Tiny house plan B – The All-in-One Tiny house plan C – Zig Zag Tiny House Plane D – The Golf Club Tiny House Plan E – The Cross Conclusion Tiny Homes Tiny Homes for Beginners Join the Tiny House Movement Introduction Chapter 1: What is the Tiny Home Movement? How Did This Movement Start? How Big is a Tiny Home? Benefits of a Tiny Home Chapter 2: Choosing a Location for Your Tiny Home Chapter 3: How to Build Your Tiny Home Saving Up Money How Much Will a Tiny House Cost? Coming Up With a Blueprint Chapter 4: Preparing Each Room in Your Home Lighting and Air Conditioning Kitchen Getting the Right Toilet The Shower Bedrooms Other Things to Consider in Your Tiny Home Picking out a Professional Chapter 5: Decorating—Tips to Get the Most out of Your Tiny Home Chapter 6: Self-Sufficiency—Ways to Lessen Your Carbon Footprint Even More

Grow Your Own Garden Raise Your Own Chickens Barter or Trade for Things You Need Chapter 7: Some Common Concerns With Tiny Homes Chapter 8: Tips and Tricks to Get More Out of Your Tiny Home Conclusion Free Chapter Shipping Container Homes for Beginners Introduction: Chapter 1: The History



INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS A TINY HOUSE? Small house, tiny house, minuscule house; whatever size adjective you want to use there is a growing fascination in the world with fun size housing. Gone are the days where economic living space was the source of shame and embarrassment, instead it is the height of conscientious living, style, and character. The fascination with monster living space, space far surpassing the needs of shrinking families, is waning, paying to heat and maintain several spare rooms that are used for nothing but storage is losing favor. Spending money on too-much space is as close as you can come to spending your money on nothing and the environment isn’t thanking us, and neither are those facing the brunt of a housing crisis in big Western cities. So what is a tiny house? A tiny house is simply a building between 100 – 400 square feet that was purpose-built to be lived in like a home. There is not a steadfast rule for the size and they can come in any form: shipping container, shed-like wooden structure, demountable building, or small tin shack. Some people call it a movement, and there is certainly a move and a trend towards these smaller living spaces, however this movement is primarily a disconnected cultural one. Nevertheless, there is a growing online community that is interested in tiny housing and they are more than happy to provide support and advice to newcomers. People are drawn to the ability to live minimally, to save lots of money, and to have complete control over their living space and how it is run.

There is a feeling though, that a tiny house might be more effort than it is worth, perhaps a false economy, and that it might not be practical or a long term living space. There’s no guarantee that you won’t face these issues, but there are many reasonably wealthy and

sane people living comfortably in them, and even if you do not opt to go for a more extreme off-the-grid style house there is still a lot to learn from the philosophy of the tiny house. You can save a lot of money on a smaller home, not a tiny one, and use the ideas here to make that practical. In this book you will be taken through this exciting world of tiny houses; firstly the advantages will be discussed in depth, and then we will turn to getting a tiny house of your own and solutions for living with restricted space without any restrictions on living.

1. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO LIVE IN A TINY HOUSE? Living in a smaller space isn’t new. There have always been people that lived in small homes, whether that was in small apartment space in cities, those that preferred to live in trailers, or retirees looking to downsize. Often those choices came out of a financial necessity; with tiny houses there is an intentional decision to live in a small space that will suit all of your needs for a long time to come. With only 300 or so foot to play with often a tiny home will have everything you need in just one room. Traditionally smaller houses that put nearly everything in one room, the infamous studio apartment, have been made cynically. It is a small space an investor saw could be turned into a living space for a reasonably high rent. The conversion is done cheaply and what was a lounge room and hallway is now a bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, and lounge. Rather than having storage space that is built cleverly into walls, a bed that works well as a couch during the day, and a dining table that folds out; instead the creators would throw typical, and cheap, furniture into a small space and tell tenants to grin and bear it because they were getting slightly better rent than average for the area.

The problem with these smaller spaces is not that they are small, but they are poorly designed: both structurally and in terms of decoration. The space is used only in a horizontal way when there are many ways to give yourself more breathing space if you simply used the walls to store and hold things. No thought is given to using furniture to create mini-compartments in the space, and lighting is limited to a dingy light bulb. Compromises must be made in a tiny house, for example a huge wardrobe full of coats is going to be difficult to accommodate especially when some under bed storage and a simple coat hook could accommodate nearly all of your clothing with almost no space used. So this comes to one of the biggest reasons that tiny houses are becoming popular with

average people and not just Spartan hermits. Advances in technology and innovations in design mean that using a smaller space is now much easier. Just consider something such as the humble television, where it used to require an entire room of its own to reasonably fit in an area; it can now be tastefully fitted directly on to the wall. There has also been a lot of work in making smaller spaces, especially in densely populated cities like Tokyo, so that now you can easily find plans for entire kitchen units that can be folded away when you’re not using them. We have also gotten much better at making kitchens and bathrooms that can work in small spaces without needing an outhouse. Lastly, fashions and tastes have changed over the last 20 years, influenced heavily by Scandinavian countries, to start having a minimalist look. People are actively choosing to have a cleaner and less cluttered look around them. Bulky wooden cabinets and fourposters are seen as gauche and the naturally smaller furniture is taking its place. Once you reduce clutter and excess furniture you naturally require less space. Just because there is the option for a small house doesn’t mean people are necessarily going to want smaller space, or compromise when they don’t need it. Why have fold-out corners of office space when you can just have an office in its own room? Lower cost might seem like an obvious reason, but the cheap cost should not be overstated initially. Compared to building a two-bedroom house yourself building a tiny house is going to be much cheaper, but you do still have to pay to build the tiny house and unless you are going to do every element yourself it is certainly not going to be cheap. In fact certain elements of the designs of a tiny house are going to be slightly more than your standard big empty rooms that you fill up with furniture. It is difficult to later rebuild a small space to fit your new needs, so a tiny house needs to have space for a sofa bed built into it, and you need to consider how shelving will fit in. In addition, you might struggle to build a tiny house in some locations because it’s not fitting in with the image the area is cultivating. Yet there is still ample money to be saved. As much as you may lose flexibility in terms of re-shaping your home later, it does not cost that much to build such a small building and the more hands on you are, the more you can save. Estimates say that if you build the home yourself it can cost as little as $23,000. It might not be entirely realistic to do it all yourself and that cost is not taking into account everything you might want to do to the property and the huge variation in the cost of land, but any way you look at it, that is far less than the $200,000 plus you might pay for another home and it will come with much less interest. The big savings you can count on though are in the maintenance of your home. When you heat, or cool, a tiny house you are effectively heating or cooling just one room. You also only need to insulate one room and you don’t need to clean twenty sets of windows, curtains, carpets, or whatever upholstery you decide to have. It’s also far simpler to heat up that space by just using an appliance like an oven for a while. Certain land taxes may also be reduced because of the relatively low-value of the house. One of the most exciting things about the house is the new options you have for giving energy and heat to your home.

For some people less space actually equals more freedom. A tiny house can be built and shipped elsewhere with relative ease and for some people the biggest draw is the ability to live off-the-grid. Living off-the-grid means you are not supplied electricity, water or gas from a main source and so you are in complete control of how your lifestyle is catered. Since the house is so small and you are designing it, you can improve the energy efficiency enough that solar power and a small generator could be enough power to see you through the year. Pick the correct location and use the power of the sun in other ways and you may find you are only rarely turning to the heater. You can also equip your home with water storage devices that will again use the sun to power them. Getting water is often more expensive than getting a small amount of power, as it getting rid of your waste. It is entirely doable and you won’t have to wander out twice daily with a pail to wind-up well, but you may end up spending as much as $15,000 to have a workable water storage system. In many part of the world getting a yearly supply of water would work out much cheaper than this for many years. There are, however, many trailer parks or even tiny house settlements that will help you with this problem. You can build relatively cheaply on this land, you’ll have the support of your neighbors and you can use their water supplies relatively cheaply. Whether you have concerns about the environment or you wish to be less reliant on big society, there is a lot of appeal to being entirely self-sufficient. You will be in a position to do as please without any repercussions and you can live ethically and encourage others to do the same. There are some more practical gains as well, if you’ve ever had to deal with an energy company and things weren’t 100% smooth then you know why being in control yourself would be a relief for many people. You might also find with your own land and being off-the-grid that you would choose to become even more self-sufficient, growing your own food and turning to greener transport. Of course, you can also have a tiny house that runs and works cheaply while being very much on-the-grid. It is not a movement purely for environmental radicals and you can move away from an over-the-top consumerist lifestyle while still relying on the grid for many of your daily needs.

For some people there is also just a joy in being able to live small, in being able to surround yourself only with the things you really want and need, and in being able to make a small bit of space really your own. Many bigger houses of some space that is undesirable, a spare room that goes moldy or a closet you only use for brooms and clean supplies. With a tiny house you can make a small space entirely luxurious with only minimal cost. Whether or not the tiny house has been sold to you, you should at least consider the value of living smaller.

2. THING TO CONSIDER BEFORE GOING TINY Before actually making the leap to a tiny house there are some things to consider, even whether you can make that leap. There is a big question about whether you can get the funding and planning to build a house of this type. Firstly, land is expensive and when you are looking for clay to buy up for your own you might see why popular locations are so expensive: because you want to live there and other locations are impractical. If you get to a point where you are paying more for a tiny house than you would for a standard size house you might have to question what exactly your motivation is. There is also difficulty in getting planning permission because a small house might not fit certain neighborhoods and various zoning laws may just not allow a house of smaller size, often for safety and taxation purposes. A lot of local governments aren’t going to want you to have an off-the-grid house, because what if you, for example, can’t dispose of your sewerage correctly? There is less accountability when you are on your own, which means in the event you are in trouble you will be costing the tax payer more money without paying back. It is also often the intention of that government to have the land used in the best possible way for the area. A solid two bedroom house could be used by many people for the next 100 years if built well. Is the same true for a one-person tiny house that built its own sewerage system underneath it? This leads to the issue of getting funding to build the house. If you can find cheap enough land and you are downsizing or have large savings then you shouldn’t face an issue paying for it yourself with perhaps a small personal loan. If you need a bigger mortgage or loan you might face a problem because many people do not believe that the tiny house has much financial value to others and they are looking to make money back on their investment. You may also have to question whether or not it would be an issue if you couldn’t make anything back from the house if you ever wanted to sell it. While there will always be people that want a tiny house, they may not have any desire to live where you are, so you may find that you have a very small market because there are quite big restrictions on the kind of people that can cope with such a small space. A solution to these problems is to find somewhere you can build very cheaply; perhaps you have a friend with a lot of land that would be happy to let you use their space relatively cheaply. You can also try to find intentional tiny house communities or try some existing trailer or cabin parks that would allow you to build your desired structure. You have to decide whether that is what you intend for your kind of property though. If you try to go further out, where laws are less restrictive, you may find things start becoming more expensive and you completely lose any potential for a return on your investment. A good alternative is a conversion. You might be able to buy an existing property and turn part of it into a tiny home then rent or sell the rest on. You might be able to build the tiny house on a part of that property and then rent out or even sell the main house you bought on the property. It will be easier to rent a tiny home in the future as a holiday location or let it out temporarily to people that don’t want to commit to a tiny house forever. If you go this route however you might find that just buying a small house in the first place is a

much cheaper option for you and you can simply convert it to your needs and purposes without a lot of the same hassle. You don’t necessarily have to buy a house in the first place, a garage might be the sort of project that could easily be extended and converted. Figuring out the logistics and commitment level of a tiny house is just one part of the project. You also need to decide if a tiny house would be fit for your purposes. Obviously if you want to live in a enormous metropolis like New York City you are going to struggle, but even if you are happy being in a more rural location there are things to consider. Are you going to be able to be comfortable with just your small living space? Many people in tiny houses find they need to rely on the wider community more to be happy because when they leave their home they need somewhere to go, and if they have nowhere to go they can’t leave, and it can become quite restrictive in such a small space. Often a tiny living space requires more from your outside space, however sometimes you have to question if you really want a tiny house if you start setting up too many structures outsides. You could after all just have a bigger house. Isolation is also a real problem for many people that are not used to living like that. You will have to find solutions to a lot of problems on your own: how to get your mail, how to get an internet connection, how to affordably get your groceries on time. More important than your needs and demands are the needs and demands of those around you because living in a tiny house requires a lot of restrictions. Often it is not advisable for more than one or two people to live in a tiny house for a long period of time. While the savings you make at that point become quite incredible it also becomes a much more difficult task to live amicably. If you cooking in the kitchen means you are blocking space for sitting on the couch you might find you create conflict. There are many small spaces you can rent as a holiday home first to test how you find that style of living, try staying in a smaller boat or caravan and try to see yourself there for possibly years at a time. You should also consider different eventualities, if you have a bed in the loft area and you break your leg how are you going to climb the ladder to bed on your own? If you get food poisoning is it going to become extremely unpleasant for another person in there?

For most people a tiny house is not appropriate for children, they will require their own space and privacy as they get older and it is also often impractical to house more than one bed and to have so many lives lived in such a restricted space. You might also want to consider if having guests around is important and how it might impact your life in terms of the community you are in. If you have lots of outside space and live in a warmer part of the world then it might not matter so much, to others it might seem a bigger ordeal or struggle, especially if there are people who rely on your stability and hospitality on a regular basis. Tiny houses are very good for shorter term living, you might want one just for the summer or as a holiday home, or in combination with another home you have. You can also have extra space by building a studio or having some kind of portable housing you can use for extra space or privacy. Another big consideration is the time it takes you to build the house, it’s easy to look at costs and forget some of the hidden ones such as the money you lose not working, or the time you could have spent doing something you really enjoy. Many people get great pleasure out of building their own home and see it as a worth project, but especially if you are doing it on your own, you might find it takes much longer than you think to see your project through to the end. This might also create further problems, is the house going to be in a state to be unfinished safely during winter months? Are you sure you will be able to deal with all the problems yourself and within your budget? The last question you need to ask yourself is whether a tiny house will fit your needs and whether you are ready to give up your space and possessions. If you find that you spend nearly all of your life in one room and the idea of going to a separate kitchen seems like a chore than a luxury then a tiny home sounds like a good prospect for you. If you find it important to have separated spaces however, if you need a studio, workspace or an office, and you like to have a bedroom that is reserved just for sleeping, then you might not want

a tiny house in the end. You might also struggle with downsizing to such an extreme, it might feel like you have nothing , or nothing of value that you want to keep, but things take up much more space than it might appear when storage it is at a big premium. Clothes, books, and kitchenware are unlikely to have too much place in a tiny house apart from the essentials: don’t expect a walk in wardrobe, a hundred plus book library or a different pan for every occasion. Also keep in mind that essentials take up a lot of space, a vacuum cleaner needs to be stored somewhere, a box of candles needs to be stored somewhere, and spare bed sheets need to be stored. If you are struggling with this a lot you might also have to ask why you are doing this. For some people a tiny house is absolutely the right choice and it will give them what they need and help them decompress and then grow. There is nothing wrong or bad about having a slightly larger home, and if you just feel the need to be more minimalist there are other avenues for achieving this besides building a tiny house to live.

3. BUILDING YOUR TINY HOUSE You should now have a good picture about whether or not a tiny house is for you. We are now going to look at how to build your house, not the business of putting planks of wood together, but how to get the stage of starting and the things you need to consider before getting there. The first thing to consider is the land. Many of the issues with finding the right land were laid out earlier, but when actually approaching the build there are lots of things to consider. If you feel as though moving around is a possibility in the future then it might be best to build a home that is easily portable, one of the pluses of a tiny house, and to then just rent some land. There are many advantages to this, such as not being committed to the land and possibly getting a more convenient location than you would get buying. Make sure you can get planning permission, and consider making the house more conventional looking to ensure that neighbors will be happy with your presence. The next step is planning the house, although some vary as to whether they find the land or the house first. You will need to begin by considering what you need form a home. Does it need to be near a town center? Will there be space for you in a specific city? Will you have parking space, if not are you in walking or cycling distance of all the things you need? Then you need to consider the needs of your home. Are you going to be in the kitchen a lot? Will you need workspace? Will you want to entertain guests indoors? Will you need at least some storage space? Make a list of your regular week, or how you picture a week will be and write down all the activities you do and make note of the frequency. If it turns out you almost never do any work at home, and you never eat at a dining table, then it might be that you don’t need an office or a dining room. You should then start drawing out a floor plan with rough estimates of the size of the furniture, take into account the average size of space and what you can realistically get a hold of. Try to learn how to use things like Google sketch up for more sophistication with your plans. If you are already living in a larger home take out a measuring tape and work out how much space that would actually be in your home. If you can try to live in only that space for a while and see how it feels. You can then go back and alter the design and plan of the building. You want what is called a subtractive design: a design where you keep taking things away until you are just left with functionality. Once you have done these things you might then start wanting to look if there are other plans available that meet your requirements. It’s possible you will struggling to make plans of your own without some more experience as a builder because you will just not be sure what is possible and what isn’t, if you want a good house to live in don’t flake out on the planning stage. Next you will need to work out the building materials you want and the logistics of having it all work. If you want to move the house then wood is generally the best answer and if you can spare the extra money it will cost a metal roof is ideal. You will need to decide other things such as how high off the ground the house will be, if you want to buy decking

for it and what it will be made of. You will also need to consider the number and size of windows, and woods or board that will be required for building walls or space within the house itself. It is a good idea to check the plan thoroughly and figure out how much it will all cost first. If you want to use reclaimed materials you will have to start sourcing things now, you can try sites like craigslist or look around for different building sites that might be able to sell you their extra. Get a quote from any lumber yard or building supplier that you will be get materials from and find out how long it will take to have everything delivered. It can take several weeks and everything needs to be planned perfectly because with a small amount of space you do not have the luxury of lots of storage space to keep everything at. You will then have to plan who is going to build the house. It might be the case that it is best to have a mixture of you building certain parts (particularly the interior) and receiving help from others for the decking or roofing. It is a good idea now to start telling friends that might be skilled in construction or used to building so you can invite them over on weekends to help. When it comes to tools you will need to determine how to get them most cost effectively. Some nail guns, saws, drills and hand tools are fairly inexpensive and can be gotten second hand or even borrowed from friends. Bigger machinery like an air compressor or bigger saw may require quite a big financial investment, you could instead rent them and plan a few days when you need to use them, or in the case of a table saw you might be able to use one at a local construction yard for a small fee. You will need to consider how to access your land with different materials, how they can be stored, whether you have the space to process them, whether there are restrictions on noise in that area, and whether the ground is ready to be built. In addition you will have to figure out where you will live while it is being built, do you have a house you can stay at already or a trailer you can stay in? Do you have storage for the few things you will have left to bring to the house? Usually with a tiny house you will build it on some sort of frame, a big sturdy metal trailer frame is ideal. This frame will need to be weatherproofed and treated ready for building if it is in a worn condition. On top of this frame you can then build a floor out of the wood of your choice and then cover it with a type of thinner wood or plywood that you can use for the rest of the build. Next you will need to build a skeleton of a frame with your choice of wood with space kept for windows and door, then the framing for the roof. If you wish to move the house you will need to try and make it as light as possible. Consider with the roof the kind of weather and load it will need to hold. After the framing you need to add siding, usually a level of plywood followed by some stronger and prettier siding for the exterior. You then will add the insulation; there are many options for this, and then the interior siding of the house is added. Windows and doors are added at this point and the house begins to really take shape. The roof is then strengthened and finished and you are ready to then start building the interior and decorating.

4. DESIGNING A TINY HOUSE FOR TINY LIVING Building a tiny house is not the most important element of the tiny house, the real excitement and project is making that tiny space an area you can live in. In this section we will discuss various techniques and idea you can use for getting the most out of your tiny living space so you can live your full life at in only half the space. Many of these ideas can be used for general purpose smaller spaces, and some of them may not work if you have an extremely small house which will require a great deal of sacrifice and doubling up furniture. Vertical Space The best thing you can do to really use tiny space well is to starting go up. There is a basic visual trick here because when you are looking up you are not looking down, so you are much less likely to notice the amount of space. One of the most obvious things you can do is to install a bedroom loft, a small platform accessed by a ladder that has your bed in it. If your tiny space is high enough then you can easily fit this in and you will have made a lot of extra space for yourself and you’ll have a cool feature when you come into the room. You can use pegs and hooks around the home to have new places to store things; simply a line of coats can draw attention away from the floor. It’s also a simple solution for storing a lot of kitchenware without a cupboard. You can also build shelving units higher up towards the ceiling to keep any clutter out of the way. You are trying to have complete functionality with as much floor space as possible. Making larger window sills and builtin alcoves is excellent for creating more storage space without it imposing on you. Floor to ceiling shelving on at least a few of the walls is an excellent idea because it is such an attractive feature while also removing the need for a great deal of your furniture. It will be best to try and go paperless and have as little clutter as possible, but if the clutter you do have is laid out here it makes you appreciate what you need and can help you reduce your load even more when you find certain things have been untouched since you moved in. Hidden Storage Vertical storage is good for using the space you have, but even better is to use the space that doesn’t look like space. Nearly all furniture can be home to some type of storage. Have a couch or a table? They should have some kind of storage underneath them, have a headboard? It can have shelves or fold-out storage placed behind it. Sometimes even the very walls can have built in drawers, and the inside of cupboard doors or even built into any stairs you might have is a good way of creating extra storage space that you might never notice. Windows Having lots of windows in a small space is vital to creating an airy feeling and bringing in light. With enough light you won’t notice quite how small an area is and you’ll feel more

comfortable in general and you can even save money on some bills. The best type of window is a longer and wider one, rather than lots of smaller windows simply because it will open up the side of your house so it doesn’t feel as though there is even a wall there. You can make the most of the value of openness by having reflecting or even translucent furniture. The less furniture imposes on you, the more it will seem like you have space to run around in. You might even consider making some cupboards or storage space having translucent doors or sides to get rid of any barriers or clutter. Alternative Space If you are going to start living an alternative lifestyle in a small house then you might also want to start considering alternative types of furniture. For example instead of having a desk and a dining table, you could instead have a breakfast bar that could double up and be used for both. You might also want to consider having a standing desk to remove the need of any chairs. In terms of beds you might want to consider having a hammock, these are comfy accessories to have and although it might not work long-term as a replacement bed you can certainly use it in combination with a chair to get rid of the need for a couch just for lounging on. For the storage of clothes you might consider not having any kind of wardrobe and instead you could store bigger items and coats in storage covers in drawers. Double Up There is a lot of very good multipurpose furniture. One way to combine nearly all of your rooms into one is to have a bed that can also be used as a sofa that is then build on top of storage units and built into the wall. You then simply use cushions during the day to make it into a comfy sitting space and then remove at night and take out a blanket. Anything that is boxed shaped can be used as a table, a stool, and storage space, and often you can build small ones inside of each other to make the most of your space. We often treat certain counter tops and tables like they have to used for only one purpose by as long as it is not going to be wet all of the time, as with kitchen furniture, then it can easily double up as space to used for eating, typing, writing, or any table needs. Never forget that you can always put something on top of a piece of furniture.

Make mini rooms One of the most important things you can do is make it so that each bit of space within what is essentially one room is used to make it feel as though there are separate rooms and compartments. You can do this with something as simply as a little bar or wall, that doubles up as a table or storage, or you can try to break up the space with other creative means. The use of rugs or carpet is good for showing that you have entered a different space, and the color can make things pop and feel friendlier. In addition you can use curtains cleverly; they can be used to create a diving wall or just to match with the carpet theme. Painting the walls is a fairly obvious and easy way to make different space appear different. Using bright and bold colors will really make a smaller space feel vibrant and different. You don’t necessarily have to paint the entire wall in electric pink, but you can make perhaps the cupboards or a door very exciting.

5. COMMON TINY HOUSE PROBLEMS Any type of house will come with its own unique challenges and the tiny house is no different. Here we will go over some of the most important things to consider when building or deciding to live in a tiny house. Condensation If your home is not that well insulated and you have put it in a rural location with no buildings around it then it’s likely you will struggle with some kind of moisture. It’s inevitable when you live in such a tiny space. This means you will require a lot of good ventilation and to ensure that there are escapes for the moisture that will occur in your home. Maintenance and mess One of the things you might not have considered before is just how much maintenance and daily routine might be involved in a smaller house. You are going to need to be constantly on top of everything to make sure no part of your home is going to go into disrepair and bring the rest of it down with it. More importantly though is the way that you are going to have to get used to moving furniture around daily so that you can use all of your rooms and space to its full potential. There is the risk that you will get lazy and suddenly you just start sleeping on the couch and using the kitchen counter for everything because it’s too much effort to pull out all of this different storage and re-arrange things. This can also lead to mess. You won’t truly know mess until you live entirely in a smaller space because everything you do will leave a trail that will be seen until you deal with it. It’s simple to think you will always be cleaning and tidy, but it’s quite another to know that you can’t just leave your office for the day with papers everywhere, because where are you going to eat now? If you leave some dirty clothes on the bedroom floor, you’ve left dirty clothes on all your floors. You may soon miss being able to make a mess as you please once you’ve started living small. Isolation If you decide to go to a rural location or further out of a city then you might start to experience isolation. This is both a mental and a very real problem. You might start to experience loneliness and frustration from not seeing or hearing any other people. More importantly though you will struggle to get hold of amenities and if there is a problem, if you need supplies to repair a leaking roof, or you forgot to buy the milk then it could take you a long time to fix these minor issues.

This doesn’t have to be a big problem though, as you can use the extra space to host social gatherings, you can have a more pro-active life, and you can of course be extra prepared for any trouble you might face. Insurance Getting insurance on a small house should seem simple but you may find that since it is a mobile home and it might not be supplied with energy and water via conventional means that you may struggle to get conventional or cheap insurance. It is likely you will be able to get some kind of insurance but keep in mind that it may take you more time and require more nuance than a standard home.

TINY HOUSE PLANS In the following sections we will look over five different house plans and how they are designed to maximize a small amount of space and to make tiny living as comfortable as possible without compromising on life essentials. You can use these for inspiration in creating your own designs or in working out what it is you are looking for in your house. Or, if you are really taken with the plans, you can even adapt them directly for use in your own tiny house. The plans here work as simple visual guides to the kind of space you would get in a tiny house, and will start you thinking about where doors or windows should be located, how to double up on storage, how to make sure the house has a nice level of circulation and the kind of structure you will need to build it. We will only be looking at the inside but this will have to work with the space you’ve got, the materials you have access to, and how you want the house to look. If you were thinking about using old shipping containers then a single level house that uses rectangular space might be best, if you are going for a more traditional cabin style house perhaps working with an extra floor might appeal to you. When you start to build a home you will need a more detailed plan that will have notes of the dimension and size of the rooms and house and also the materials you will need to the build them. Many of these more detailed plans are available online or you can have them custom made by an architect. For the braver you can create them yourself with programs like Sketchup, but do not undervalue the cost of making mistakes or being able to plan effectively. If you are certain of what you are doing and you know your plan will work then every minute you work on your house is energy directed towards finishing it. When looking through these plans try to think about how much space you need and what would suit you best. Sometimes the prospect of being minimal is more appealing than actually have to take apart your bed to get to some clever hidden storage every day. You should also ask whether you are happy to have multi-purpose rooms. Some people are happy to have a studio apartment type of lifestyle where more-or-less everything can be done in the one room, often at the same table. Others find having different compartments for everything to be very important: they don’t want to sleep in the work or play space, and they don’t want to always be sat in the kitchen. Make sure to keep in mind the furniture you already own and what would easily be available to you and what you would end up having to buy. Some design features such as having lots of big wide windows can see very exciting, until you take into account as much as 40% of heat can be lost through windows and always being on display to your neighbors is not the best way to live for many of us. Before buying or getting too invested with a plan make sure you know the specifications of the land you want to buy first, or if you are looking at the plan first, make sure you don’t get too set in having the house perfectly to plan if you are limited in choices for the land you can buy. Lastly, be certain that you have the planning permission ready to build these houses. None

of the plans are wacky but you can never be sure which shapes a specific neighborhood will be comfortable with, or how a direct neighbor will feel if you build a home that is directly facing into their garden. Build the home that will make everyone around you happy since you will have to live alongside them.

HOUSE PLAN A - A NEST IN THE LOFT

This plan is named the Nest in the Loft because its key feature among all the plans is that your sleeping space is created like a little nest that is almost hidden away from your daytime activities. This is achieved by building a small platform; think of it as a mini-loft, which has enough space for a bed and if you like clothes storage and a bedside table. However, generally the smaller the space the better so you should consider why exactly you need your clothes stored next to your bed rather than cleverly hidden away elsewhere. We often feel that having a large bedroom is important, but in truth it is one of the least used spaces in many homes and even the ceiling height is unimportant when you spend most of your time there lying down. With that in mind having this smaller space, usually for a low lying bed, is a great option for any tiny homes that don’t have flat roofs. These platforms are usually simple to put up since they really are platforms rather than additional rooms. The house in the plan is much larger than many tiny homes will be but the space used is feasible for much smaller homes. The real winning aspect of this plan is how it can retain the feel of a typical home, you’ve got the lounge room and kitchen separate and you can then retire to the bedroom. To save space many people choose to use a ladder instead of stairs, but stairs are also a fantastic place for hidden storage and they can often be built in quite easily over bookshelves or kitchen storage units. A great bonus of this kind of house is that the bedroom will heat up quite nicely throughout the day and won’t require much, if any, heating of its own in many climates. There are downsides to this type of home; contrary to the plan many tiny space bedroom lofts will not have room for a desk or a full window. If you did decide to have so much storage and furniture in the loft bedroom you might then find that your ceiling space has been eaten up, in practical terms this is not so important, but psychologically having the feeling of space above you could help alleviate any feelings of being cramped in. It would also be important in this kind of house to let lots of light in or you could risk having a dingy feeling. Smaller loft spaces might struggle to get much light near the bed without having a light fitting dangling inches away from you, however, you could put in a smaller velux windows with strong blinds in to help fix this. The nest in the loft plan is an excellent choice for those merely looking to downsize rather than to live tiny and it allows you to have all the conveniences of a larger home without having to rely too much on multi-purpose furniture or hidden storage.

TINY HOUSE PLAN B – THE ALL-IN-ONE

This plan is called the All-in-One because it manages to have everything you need on one floor within one square box. This is perhaps one of the most basic designs you can go for and is something you might be used to seeing in the average bungalow only the kitchen and utility room are fitted into a space you might otherwise have as a hallway. If pulled off well you can have nearly separate spaces for all of your living areas and you will never truly feel like you are living in just one space. Unlike the nest in the loft plan here you can have all of your ceiling height to yourself but you will require more horizontal space. As shown in the plan the size of the building would be quite large, a double bed is just over four foot wide and some stage containers are themselves only eight foot wide. However it does show how easily you can create separate rooms without needing lots of walls connected together with hallways which might end up feeling like superfluous space. Simply putting the kitchen off to one side creates an illusion of compartmentalized space. There is a lot of room for reducing the space in a plan such as this while keeping the clever design feature of having the kitchen separate. You could get rid of the utility section completely and instead have the washing machine included in the kitchen and the bedroom can be shrunk considerably by simply using some clever storage including inbuilt wardrobe or pull-out under bed storage. If you felt comfortable enough you could opt to get rid of the bedroom as a completely separate room and instead have a few smaller dividing walls between it and the lounge room and kitchen. One of the downsides of a house like this is that in practice it can end up feeling cramped or you will have to build a not-so-tiny house. In general with a tiny house you will need to accept you can’t always have a separate space for an office, a dining room, and a utility room. For many this is not always an issue because often those spaces go unused in favor of working and eating on the couch and simply cleaning clothes in the kitchen. In terms of cost though, this kind of house will often not be much more than a tiny house, but once you get too big you start losing the advantages of a tiny house. Namely that you can easily transport the home and it can fit into almost any space. If you find this plan the most appealing because you really do prefer having extra space and separate rooms then consider going for something between a tiny house and a conventional two bedroom.

TINY HOUSE PLAN C – ZIG ZAG

The problem with square or block shaped houses, as with the previous two plans, is that once you starting filling them the rest of the space becomes tainted and no matter what you do the space will always feel like one really big room. Once the couches are put in everything must be placed around the couch. With the Zigzag plan, however, you use a similar amount of space but by placing the building in a zigzag shape you avoid having to sidestep through one room to get to another. This means the bedroom or lounge room really feel like rooms of their own that you can go to so as to retreat. The Zigzag also allows you to approach each new area with new storage ideas and ways to decorate the space. Each wall can store something else and you don’t have to artificially divide space up with rugs or leave lots of empty space to stop feeling too cramped. As can be seen in this plan playing around with the typical block shape also opens you up to the outside world. A more natural courtyard is opened up to the outside and the space can be used for eating outside in the summer and putting out plants and comforting features. This is a space that can be achieved quite well by using something like a storage container because they can quite happily be placed side by side, but if you are using a more typical wooden or brick frame the space will require extra planning. The standard block might not have as many possibilities but it is far simpler to build in the first place as four walls are easier to build than eight even if the four are bigger. The space is also much more difficult to transport as it could be quite awkward if it is a larger building. You might also find that it does not fit as well into the land you have because it is not the most economical shape. Once again there is a lot of room for making this plan smaller. The dining room is unnecessarily large, some would argue completely unnecessary, and once that is removed the zigzag shape can be replaced with more of an L while still retaining the feeling of different ends of the house to go to. If you do tighten up the plan though, you risk losing the feeling of length and you will lose all of the light it will offer your living space. The zigzag shape provides quite an attractive architectural feature: removing that might make the bedroom appear a tacked on addition to a small house. The other big advantage of the zigzag though is that it can easily be made bigger, you can make it longer for extra space, or wider, turning it into a rectangle, to add a few extra rooms, or if you like storage space to make your main rooms more maneuverable.

TINY HOUSE PLANE D – THE GOLF CLUB

This is named the Golf Club both because of its shape and also the huge amounts of green outside space it can open up for you. Outside space that you can easily use and, more importantly, you will want to use. You are presumably building a tiny house because you do not have too much space or you want a house you can easily move. This plan will be harder to move, so it’s likely not the plan for you in that scenario. However, the real advantage versus a square design is that it has outside space built in to it, even on a smaller piece of land you can have a courtyard or somewhere to sit outside. If you are interested in putting a tiny house on a much larger property the Golf Club is well suited to this because you can let in the outside space with a large window or an entire glass wall. For many people tiny space living is really only possible because of how much space there is outside of the house that we never use. When a garden feels out of the way or lacks any privacy it can go unused, this plan is fantastic for creating an immediate space you will always want to be in. The Gold Club maintains the same feeling of length and distance as the Zigzag but it is arguably even easier to put together and you can downsize the plan without losing the basic L shape it gives you. In this plan you could almost get rid of the hallway created besides the bathroom and either use the bathroom as an en suite to the left of the bedroom or walk through the bathroom on your way there. Two of the big plusses to this design are the many opportunities it gives to let light into the building without any compromise. The other is the many walls for you to hide storage in without ever taking up the space you might want to use for furniture or to have around for extra comfort or room. This is another plan that lends itself well to reusing old structure like storage units, but it is also one that is relatively easy to build out of other materials without lots of additional work. One of the biggest obstacles to this plan is that it takes up quite a lot of extra space in terms of land without offering you anymore actual living space. The fact rooms can easily be built into it with actual walls though means that the space you do have feels very well used and compartmentalized. This is a good plan to have for privacy as it allows you to be at one end of the house, perhaps in the office working, without being distracted by the noises of the lounge room, or the enticement of food from the kitchen. If you are planning to do any amount of work from home it is best to consider one of the plans that will have length and privacy built into it. Even if other people won’t distract you the mere fact of having potential distractions in the same room may be difficult and psychologically it can be hard to distance yourself from work if you only have one area for fun, play, rest, and work.

TINY HOUSE PLAN E – THE CROSS



The Cross plan has many of the same advantages as the Golf Club and nearly all of the same disadvantages except that it might be a bit more difficult to build depending on the material you are working with and your own skills. The shape is also a bit more awkward and might leave certain parts of your home exposed when they might not be otherwise. What it does offer is the open and freeness of open plan living when you enter the lounge and dining room which you make can feel regal and captivating, while also opening it up to the outside if you wish. Then as you enter the home your work space can feel like a completely different world and the bathroom is also hidden enough for it not to intrude on your space and you won’t be forced to walk through it or have it attached to your bedroom to make it difficult to have guests around while also having privacy. Again you could downsize and get rid of the laundry or utility room and have the bathroom almost attached to the kitchen. This is quite helpful with building as you then only need one water source for the entire house if you use the space well. Alternatively you could build the kitchen more into the cross with the bathroom so the main area feels like nothing but living space and you won’t feel that you are cramped in at all. The cross also opens up an extra area of outdoor space which gives you an extra area for free.

CONCLUSION You have now read about what tiny houses are, who they work well for, the process of getting your house built, how to design the interior and common obstacles you will have to overcome. Hopefully you are filled with more excitement then trepidation and you are ready to downsize in at least some form. The first step you can do is a little more research, find out if there are any tiny homes near you can go visit. Often sites like Airbnb are filled with novelty tiny houses and spaces you can stay in for as little as one night and that taster will tell you if it is the path for you. Remember that there is no rush to get your tiny house; it is not a quick option even if the house can be built quickly. It is something that must be gone into with planning and forethought, and an acceptance of the difficulty of tiny house living and also embracing what the lifestyle has to offer and how you can re-energize how you see yourself and your possessions. If you do decide to go for the tiny house then you will discover the amount of customization and freedom that your new tiny home can give you, and how the biggest life can be lived in the smallest space.

TINY HOMES TINY HOMES FOR BEGINNERS JOIN THE TINY HOUSE MOVEMENT

Tiny House Living

Copyright 2014 - All Rights Reserved – Christopher Dillashaw ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without express written, dated and signed permission from the author.

INTRODUCTION In our culture, we have all learned that bigger is better. Everyone wants to own a massive home, the most expensive car, and spend their time taking ridiculously extravagant vacations. These masses are a large part of the global population and they are breaking new barriers when it comes to being materialistic and wasteful. However there is a growing group of the population who feel that bigger is not always better. These groups want to take a step back and move towards helping the environment, only use the things they really need, while saving natural resources in the process. Tiny homes are a product of this new movement and can really help to change your life in a positive way. This guidebook is going to look at what tiny homes are and how you can build your own and get started with this new life of minimalism. Chapter 1 is going to take some time to talk about the tiny home movement as well as what tiny homes are. We will look at some of the benefits that come from this and discuss the difference between a small home and a tiny home. Chapter 2 then moves on to how you can chose a great location for your tiny home as well as how you may consider a small lot or sharing a lot with someone else to save even more money. Building the tiny home is a big deal in most cases and chapter 3 is going to look at some of these issues. We will spend this chapter looking at how to save the money for a tiny home, how much most of these cost, and how you can come up with the blueprints to get this started. Chapter 4 then goes on to how you can prepare each room in the home and some important things that come with designing each room including the kitchen, bathrooms, and so much more. Decorating in a tiny home can be a fun challenge, and when you use some of the tips that come in chapter 5, such as raising up your furniture to place storage underneath and using lighter colors on the wall, you will have a beautiful home in no time. Chapter 6 talks about some of the other ways that you can become self-sufficient when living in a tiny home. While some people just want to save money or don’t like having a huge house when they move into a tiny home, others want to get away from all the trappings of the world and learn how to be more self-sufficient. If you are one of the latter, chapter 6 can help you get started. Not everyone is a fan of living in a tiny home, and chapter 7 is going to spend a bit of time looking at some of the common concerns that come with tiny homes. Chapter 8 will finish

out this guidebook with some tips and tricks that will help you get the most out of your tiny home. When you are ready to get started on the tiny home movement, take a look through this guidebook to learn how to do it all. From choosing to move into a tiny home to coming up with blueprints and starting construction, and even how to change some of your other lifestyle choices once you move into a tiny home, this guidebook is here to help you through all the steps along the way.

CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS THE TINY HOME MOVEMENT? In America, bigger usually means better. It is not uncommon for people to always want the next best thing, to have the coolest car, and even have the biggest house. This is a trend that has been going on for years as neighbors and friends constantly try to compete with each other to see who has the best stuff. All this excess has driven some people mad though. They see all the extra stuff and the extra waste that is going on around them, and they are just tired of it all. They want to go back to a simpler time when people only had what they needed and they didn’t have to spend all their hard earned money buying more stuff that just sat inside their homes and took up space. From this discontent came the tiny home movement. It started out small, but it has grown quite a bit in recent years due to this dissatisfaction. The tiny home movement goes in the opposite direction of bigger is better. While the average home in America was up to more than 2600 square feet in 2013, tiny homes are usually less than 400 square feet. There are some distinctions though; some people will go to a small home which is anything below 1000 square feet and others will go with a tiny home that has to be less than 400 square feet. So why are so many people going down to these tiny homes and how are they making it work? Let’s take a look in this chapter to learn a bit about tiny homes and some of their benefits before going to the rest of the book and learning even more about these amazing tiny homes.

HOW DID THIS MOVEMENT START? It is believed that Sarah Susanka was the first person who started the movement for tiny homes. She was the author of the book The Not So Big House that was published in 1997. This book discussed why the movement towards big homes is not the best and why we should instead go the other way; saving our money and living in just the amount of space that is needed rather than trying to impress others. Since this book came out, there have been a lot of notable people who discuss and use the tiny house movement in their own lives. During the early 2000s, Jay Shafer helped to popularize some of these tiny homes. He was the one who designed a tiny house that was only 96 square feet and then lived in it for a number of years to show that it was possible to live in these tiny homes. After doing this, he founded what later became known as Four Lights Tiny House Company. In 2002, he worked with Nigel Valdez, Shay Salomon, and Greg Johnson to form the Small House Society to start spreading the word about these tiny homes and how they can be so beneficial. There were a lot of historical events that helped out this movement and allowed it to grow more than ever. In 2005, these tiny homes were offered as a more comfortable alternative to the trailers that FEMA was giving out during Hurricane Katrina. During the recession that started in 2007, this movement grew even more. These homes were much more affordable compared to some of the others that were available and they were nicer to the environment. Even though these have gained a bit more popularity compared to all of the other housing options, there are some uses for them still. Many people will choose to have these small homes as additions to their own, such as having a family guest house or some other use. Still, the idea of a tiny home is appealing to a lot of people and can help you to live a much simpler life.

HOW BIG IS A TINY HOME? There are some distinctions that are made between a small home and a tiny home, although both will follow a similar idea and won’t let you live in the gigantic homes that are so popular right now. First, let’s look at a small home. These are homes that are less than 1000 square feet. They aren’t truly tiny homes, but they are still quite a bit smaller than what you will find inside of the average American home. It still forces you to live with the limited space that you have rather than worrying about how to fill up a large home that you will never use the majority of the time. To be considered a tiny home, your home needs to be less than 400 square feet. There are some of these homes that can go down to 80 square feet, not leaving much room to relax and live in the home, but that is part of the point. You are going to just sleep and perhaps cook some food inside, and that is about it. Between these sizes, you will see a lot of size ranges. Some will be on the bigger size, such as the 1000 square feet, and others can go all the way down to 80 square feet and there is everything in between.

BENEFITS OF A TINY HOME So what is the big deal about these homes? Why would so many people agree to get these kinds of homes and choose to live in them, rather than living in the bigger homes that most Americans enjoy? Here are some of the benefits that come with living in a tiny home and why you may want to consider going with these until of some of the other options. 1. Saves a lot of money—when you choose to go with a smaller home, you can save yourself a lot of money. It is cheaper to buy these homes, the land is cheaper, and you won’t have to spend as much on your utilities. In many cases, people are able to save for a few years and just pay the house off up front. 2. Get out of debt—when you own a big house, your mortgage payment is going to be high. With a tiny home, your mortgage can be paid off in a few years if you don’t pay for it out front. This saves you thousands of dollars each month and you can use this money for other things. 3. Get rid of clutter—with a small house you are going to be really limited on the amount of stuff you can hold inside. Get ready to throw out a lot of things and learn how to store efficiently since you are so short on space. 4. Easy to move around—one of the nice things about tiny homes is they can move around with you. If you take on a new job, you can take the house to a new location (just have to find some new land. You won’t have to waste money on moving all your stuff either, saving even more and allowing you to take all the comforts of home with you no matter where you move. 5. More free time—owning a home can be a lot of work. But with tiny homes, the upkeep is much less. You can clean in just minutes, vacuum in no time, and decorating won’t take up that much time either. Think of all the free time you are going to have when you pick a small home. 6. Make more friends—think of how popular you will be when you’re the first tiny home in your area. People will always want to come and talk to you and it becomes so much easier to make some new friends. 7. Higher quality home—many small homes have the best quality items inside because it doesn’t cost that much to use these items in a small space. For example, in your big home, you may have skipped out on the marble counter tops because they were too expensive. But if you are only getting one small counter, you may be willing to splurge a few extra dollars to get it done. Owning a tiny home is going to take some time to get used to. But with some time and practice, it is going to feel more natural and you will soon begin to wonder why you ever lived in a big house with all that excess and unnecessary space again. Now let’s spend some time looking at the other aspects of tiny home living so you can see how great this whole lifestyle really can be.

CHAPTER 2: CHOOSING A LOCATION FOR YOUR TINY HOME Sometimes choosing the location that you want to use for your tiny home can be a challenge. There are a lot of places to choose from, but you want to make sure to pick the right one for your home. Some people choose to put their tiny homes away from it all. They may choose to go out into the wilderness and put their homes on a tiny piece of land that they are able to find. This allows them to stay away from the rest of the world and just relax. This is a more extreme way of doing a tiny home, and most of the people who choose this method are also going to work on being self-sufficient, but it is one choice that you can make. For the most part, people are going to choose a location that is near where they want to live. It might be in the town they were already living in or in a town they just got a new job in. Often you will need to just look around at the plots that are available in your area and see what you will need. To save money, see if you can find someone else who has a tiny home and who is looking for land as well. Most plots in town are going to be for the larger homes that need a lot more space. While it is possible to get these and have a big yard if you’d like, you can save a lot of money if you split this area between a few other homes. Instead of paying $20,000 for a large plot of land in some areas, you can find four other homes to split it up for just $5000 and still have your own yard. When choosing a place in town, try to pick a place that is close to the local stores. Remember you aren’t going to be able to store a lot in your tiny home because the room is so small. This means that you will probably spend more time at the grocery store. If you are near a local grocery store, you will be able to just run out quick and get the ingredients needed for supper rather than worrying about whether you will have the right amount of space as well. If you are planning on taking the tiny home idea a step further and don’t plan to have a lot of the modern conveniences, you may want to consider moving to a location that is warmer. This way you won’t have to worry about heating the home or having to waste space with blankets and other things to keep you warm.

Ultimately, the decision on where to live is going to be up to you, but do take the time to look around. You want to be able to save money with this endeavor, and if the cost of your land is too much or you are having to pay extra fees for having a tiny home in the area, you are missing out on this important benefit. Luckily, there are a lot of great places that you can place the tiny home and still get all the benefits you are looking for.

CHAPTER 3: HOW TO BUILD YOUR TINY HOME Building a tiny home can be a big undertaking. You are dealing with a smaller home, but still you will need to come up with the materials, the money to build the home, and you will need to worry about the electrical and plumbing needs of this home just like with any other house you would build. When some people start looking at all this, it can seem overwhelming. Let’s take a look at some of the startup things you need to keep in mind to get the best results.

SAVING UP MONEY Purchasing or building a tiny home is much like doing the same with a regular home. While these cost a lot less than a traditional home, especially since they are smaller, you will still need to come up with some start up costs. Luckily, since they cost a lot less, it is usually easier to get the home funded. Some of the ways that you can come up with the money to purchase a tiny home include: Savings—start saving early and collect the materials you need along the way. This allows you to find deals and stretch your dollar a bit further. Since tiny homes don’t cost as much, you will be able to get this done quickly. Get a mortgage—some people want to get the tiny home built and ready to go as soon as possible. They may take a mortgage out like they did for a traditional home to get it all paid for. Luckily, this is a small loan and you most likely can pay it off just by selling your current home or in just a few years with smart budgeting. Sell your home—you may consider selling your current home to get the money for a tiny home. Tiny homes usually don’t cost that much and if you can stay with someone for a few months, it is a great way to fund your new home. Borrow money—if you have friends or family who are willing to help you out, consider borrowing some money to make your tiny home. With what you save on mortgage/rent and utilities, you can pay them back pretty quickly. Barter—if you know someone else who is building a tiny home, consider doing barter. You can help them with a part of their home or offer them some food or do another trade for them helping you out with a part of your home. This can help save money. Get creative—doing pages like Gofundme.com or other options can help to raise the money you need for your tiny home. While the cost will seem high in the beginning, when you think of how much you save compared to a traditional home, plus what you will save in the long run, it is much easier to find creative ways to get that money. Funding your tiny home can be much more affordable than you can imagine. Just keep working hard on this and you will see results in no time at all!

HOW MUCH WILL A TINY HOUSE COST? The cost of your tiny home is going to vary depending on how you go about getting the home. Some people choose to let a company do the work for them. This is a nice idea since you can get the company to come up with the floor plan and they will get workers to put it all together. If you are short on time or are worried about getting everything to work the way that you would like, this is a great option and it is the one that most people will go with. If you would like to save some money, you should build the home on your own. There are people who have built very comfortable tiny homes for under $8000 and you can do it as well if you use the right materials and are careful about how you build the whole thing. While this can save you a lot of money in the long run, you do need to remember all the different parts that come into making your own tiny home. You will need to plan out the plumbing, the kitchen, the bathroom, and so much more, and this can be difficult. Either way you do this, it is pretty easy to get a tiny home for about $22,000 or less, unless you are looking for some special things to go into your home. This is really affordable, especially considering most homes in America are averaging more than $33,000. If you are choosing to build your own home, you can save even more money on this plan. You just need to be careful and keep these important things in mind: Choose the materials carefully—the materials you choose to use in your home, as well as how much of these materials you purchase will help to determine the final cost. While you want the best materials for your home, you should still do some research. Even in the same town, some stores will offer much better prices on the exact same materials. Do some research and see what deals you can get to save a lot of money. Creative—if you already have some materials available, use those. For example, if you have access to free logs because you live near a forest or someone is giving them away for free, find out how you can use them in your home. This can help you to get the price of the home down even more. Fewer windows—while natural light from windows is great, you are building a tiny home and don’t need to have a ton of windows all over the place. You want to save money so just put in a few windows, which will save on the finishing and the glass, and make these high quality so you can keep heating bills down. Make a plan—know what you need to get done when. This keeps you on task and prevents overspending because you had to rush at the last second. Do as much yourself as possible—this can save you more on labor costs than

anything else. If you can, find a friend or even someone else who is doing the tiny home idea and work together to save money. Solar panels—these might seem like more of an initial investment, but they can save you a lot of money in the long run. They will use the natural energy from the sun to keep your home warm, saving on electricity bills and saving you money even after the home is built.

COMING UP WITH A BLUEPRINT Coming up with a blueprint for your tiny home can be a challenge. You want to make sure that everything gets done right, even with a tiny home you have to follow all the necessary codes for electricity and plumbing. If you don’t have an architecture degree, or at least some experience in this arena, it is going to be almost impossible to get all the things in the right place. Luckily, there are a few options that you can choose from to get the perfect blueprint. First place is to look online and see some of the other blueprints that others have used on their tiny homes. Those in the tiny home movement are excited to get others to join in on the fun and they will post what worked for them. You can look through a few different floor plans and see what looks nice and what might need to be changed for your needs. You can also go through and figure out what size looks the best for your size of family or for how small you are willing to go with the house. Architecture books can work as well. These are often going to be for bigger homes, but you can make some adjustments to get it to fit down to your tiny home size. Look through a wide variety and see what will work for your home. Some people decide to make their own blueprints. This is a great idea if you want to make a personalized home and just can’t find something that works great for your big ideas. You can choose the size of the home, how big each room is, and even where everything is located. It is always nice to have a personalized plan that you can put into action and will fit the specific needs that you want out of your tiny home. If you choose this method, make sure to have a professional look the work over. This will help to make sure the blueprint is up to code in your area and they can provide some suggestions that will save money and time. If you want to make something personalized and are worried about where everything will fit, consider hiring a professional to do this. Some people choose to just leave all the work to the professionals and will pay a company to make the blueprints and create the whole house. Even if you would still like to build the house on your own, some companies can help you create a blueprint that will work in the tiny home and which will meet all the codes that are required in your area. No matter which method you choose, make sure the tiny home is going to be your own. You don’t want to spend all this time and money on a home that just feels cramped and doesn’t work for you. Do some research, check out some tiny homes, and see which

layouts work the best for you.

CHAPTER 4: PREPARING EACH ROOM IN YOUR HOME Preparing a tiny home can take a lot of work. You need to prepare a lot of the same systems as you would in a larger home, you just need to figure out how to do them on a smaller basis. This chapter is going to spend some time looking at the different aspects you need to keep in mind when building your tiny home so you can feel comfortable and enjoy all the amenities that you did in your traditional home.

LIGHTING AND AIR CONDITIONING It would be pretty hard to live in a tiny house without any lighting during the night or even on cloudy days. You may also enjoy having air conditioning and a heater to keep you comfortable. All of this is going to require electricity to power and you will need to consider whether you will use traditional energy sources or if you would rather learn how to live off the grid. When it comes to the air conditioning, you must keep a few things in mind. These items include: Keep the air conditioner small. This makes it easier to move around, especially if you plan to move the home around a lot. Find one that is affordable. You don’t need to have a huge air conditioner in a tiny home. Save money on this and even consider a smaller one and move it around to whichever room you are in. Find an air conditioner that has a timer feature. This allows you to pick when the unit is on and can save on cooling costs. Pick one that is an energy saver. This will work best with the solar and wind power that are popular on tiny homes. When it comes to lighting, try to use artificial light sparingly. This can help you stay off the grid a bit better and saves money. Of course, if you live further north, it may be hard to go without light for the better part of a day. Consider getting bulbs that are energy saving or ones that can use batteries to help you out.

KITCHEN If you plan to live in your tiny home, you need to have a comfortable kitchen that can hold all your items, is able to cook all the meals your family needs, but is efficient enough not to take up too much space in your tiny home. This can be difficult, especially when you are trying to stay off the grid and are worried about having enough power to keep the kitchen going. Some steps that you can take to help set up your kitchen in your tiny home include: Consider what is going to provide power in the kitchen. Natural gas or solar power work great if you are trying to be off the grid. Liquid propane works well, you just need to learn how to cook with each one before starting. Figure out how much food you will go through, this can help you to determine how much space you will need, how big of oven, and so on. Find a way to cook some things outside. Consider a grill or other cooking device so you can save room in the home and won’t heat up the small place in the summer. Before creating the kitchen, list out all of the things that you use or do while cooking. Now go through and eliminate the ones that are extras and that you could easily do without. Figure out a budget for the kitchen or how important the kitchen is to the house. This can help you to determine if you are going to have a big kitchen or a little one in your home. Equipment needed. This often depends on your diet. For example, those on a raw food diet may value a fridge while those who like to grill can save room having a nice grill outside. When you are creating your kitchen, you will want to consider the layout. Some layouts are going to take up a lot of space that you just don’t have in your tiny kitchen. Figure out how you can lay out the room for the most efficiency and the least amount of space. If you are lost on how to make this happen, look up some blueprints of other tiny home kitchens and see which one works the best for your needs. Tiny homes often don’t have much room, you do need to get as much countertop in as possible. This can help out with the cooking process. For example, rather than letting the oven take up counter space, consider getting a smaller one that won’t use up a lot of space, can go under the cabinets, and will preserve energy.

GETTING THE RIGHT TOILET The toilet, and especially the plumbing that you want to use in your tiny home is important. This is going to be a lot more compact than other homes, which can sometimes make it more difficult to fit in everything that you are looking for. Many people who go with tiny homes choose to go with a toilet that is more economically friendly to help them save money even after the home that is built. When choosing a toilet and getting everything set up, there are a number of things that you will want to consider including the size of space you have, how it will fit into your budget, and even if it’s better for the environment. Some of the choices that you can make with a toilet in your tiny home includes: RV low flush toilets—this is a great option because it comes in with a holding toilet that you will need to empty on a regular basis, which works well if you plan to move the tiny home around a lot. Also, if you do build the home on a foundation, it is possible to hook up this toilet to the sewerage system to get it out of the house. Incinerating toilets—this is best if your tiny home is not going to have a lot of access to water flow. You can connect it to some power and then the waste will be burnt into ashes and you could empty it out once a week or so. Keep in mind that this is going to use a lot of power and quite expensive. High tech composting toilets—this is one that is going to move the urine to different small holdings and then the aeration and ventilation are taken care of in the toilet. You are able to use them with or without water or power so they can work no matter where you take the toilet. Regular toilets—the other options are better for tiny homes, especially if you are moving around the home a lot. But if you are going with more of a small home, a regular toilet will work just fine. Consider getting one that is more energy efficient to get the best results.

THE SHOWER If you plan to actually live in your tiny home, you will probably want to have a nice shower to enjoy as you are home. It is possible to put a nice shower into your home, you just need to make sure that you use the space that you have available efficiently and that you accessorize it so that it doesn’t take up more room than you need. This section is going to take some time to look at the semantics of putting in a shower even in your tiny home. Tiny home on the ground When you put your tiny home on a lot and plan to keep it there, it is often easier to find a shower that will work out. This is because you will be able to hook it up easier to some water and you won’t have to improvise as much. Regardless of whether the house stays in one location or moves a lot, you will still need to stick with a tinier shower. In some cases, people who have a tiny home that is staying put most of the time will consider putting the shower on the outside of the house. They can attach it to the wall and then just put up a little barrier to protect from the eyes of their neighbors. This frees up some space in the home but still gives them this added luxury. Make sure to shop around for this option. Some showers will be really efficient and you can just place some batteries inside in order to heat up some water. Other homes that are a bit bigger may use a traditional shower, but will go for one that is on the smaller side. Just make sure that your plumbing needs are going to work in this space or that you come up with a method that will work for your space. Tiny homes on wheels In some cases, you may choose to have your tiny home on wheels in order to move it around and never be in one place. While this is a great option, it is going to make it more difficult to attach a shower on the side or to do much with plumbing. You are going to have to become more creative and find methods that work. Some people choose to just place the shower head above the toilet and do things this way. This allows them to use up the same space more than one way and they can dispose of the shower water through the toilet. If you need to use a separate room for this, consider some

curtains instead of a door for the shower. This makes it easier to have more space without having to worry about where everything will go. Look through some home magazines or talk to others who have tiny homes. They will be able to show you some efficient methods they used in the past that helped them to get a nice shower without having to use up a lot of their minimal space and which were more efficient for the tiny home. The shower is an important part of your tiny home. You need to take the time to come up with a shower that is going to keep everyone clean but which won’t take up a lot of space. It is also going to depend on your budget, how big the home is, and whether you plan on moving the home all around or keeping it put most of the time. Keep some of these suggestions in mind when it comes to the shower to get the best results.

BEDROOMS Whether you are going to live in the tiny home on your own or you plan to live there with your family, you need to have a place to sleep at night. In the small homes, you will probably still have enough room for bedrooms, even though they are going to be smaller than you are used to in a traditional home. If you are going with a tiny home, you will probably live on a futon or hide a bed in your living room. Either way, you need to keep a few things in mind when creating your bedroom in these tiny homes. Storage Storage in a bedroom is going to be critical. Depending on how much space you have, you may not have enough room for closets, dressers, and so much more for storage. Consider getting a few hanger hampers that can come from the ceiling and which will hold all the things that you need for the day. If you have room for a bed, get storage containers to act as dresser drawers under the bed. Use some shelving to hold onto different items or get some line to put across the room and hang clothes from there. You have to get creative, but you will be able to find the room you need. Beds There are a lot of options when it comes to bed. If you are using bedrooms as other spaces in the home as well, such as having your bedroom and living room in the same place, a futon can work nicely for both occasions. If you are able to house a few bedrooms but are living in the house with your family and a few kids, you may want to consider some bunkbeds as these allow twice the sleeping space in the same amount of room. Mix and match a bit to find the combination that works out the best for you. Lighting Try to go with as much natural lighting as possible. If you do use artificial lighting, you probably won’t have much room to place fans and other appliances, so go with the LED bulbs and don’t have any of the extras. These are just going to take up space and you need to conserve this as much as possible.

OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER IN YOUR TINY HOME When it comes to your tiny home, it is important to remember that home insurance is important. Many of those who go into tiny home living forget about this point or assume that it isn’t all that important, but you are putting yourself at risk when lightning, flooding, theft, fire, or other disasters strike if you don’t get home insurance from the beginning. Before moving into your new home, take the time to look at a few different providers to see what they offer in terms of coverage and prices. While the cheapest option is not going to be the best, and choosing this just on price is going to leave you in trouble during disaster, you don’t want to spend more on home insurance for the exact same policy. So when choosing, talk to several companies and see what all they have available. Consider how much they charge each month, what the deductible is, and how much they are going to cover. You may also want to look at some of their reviews ahead of time to see how other customers liked working with them. These are all important in helping you to get the results you would like and knowing that you are covered properly in case a disaster occurs. Also, if you have a family, you will probably find that it is almost impossible for you to live in a true tiny home. Fitting four to six people into a home that is less than 400 square feet is going to be really hard; and the bigger the family you have the less possible it is. This does not mean you aren’t able to still get the benefits out of a tiny home, it just means that you need to be smart about the process and learn what is going to work or not. In some cases, depending on the size of your family, you may have to settle for a small home rather than a tiny home. Any change down is a big improvement and can help you to have the tiny home experience; it just may not be possible to live in a true tiny home when you have a bigger family. As you can see, there are a lot of things that you need to consider when creating your tiny home. It is not always as easy as some people may think. You still need to have a lot of the modern conveniences that you are used to with a regular home but you have the added issues of trying to fit it into a smaller space. Take your time and think through each part to ensure you are able to get the perfect tiny home when you’re ready to start.

PICKING OUT A PROFESSIONAL When it comes to building your tiny home, you have two options. To save the most money, you can do all the work on your own. This is a great option if you have some knowledge about building homes or you just want to keep it all basic and just have enough room in the home to sleep in. And if you are willing to do some research on the topics, you can learn how to do all this on your own as well. For most people though, it is not possible to build their own tiny homes. They may not have the right experience to get the work done and feel like it is too hard. Others may be just too busy to do the work, but they still want to enjoy some of the benefits that come with living in a tiny home. If you fit into one of these categories, you may want to consider hiring a professional contractor to help you out. There are a lot of great contractors who will be able to answer all your questions, help you come up with the blueprints for any size house you want to go with, either small or tiny, and they can even give you an estimate of the cost based on their time and the materials needed. This can really help you out if you just don’t have the time or the experience to do this work on your own. You can work with the contractor to get the process started and then hand over the reigns and let them finish up while you work on other parts of your life. If you do go with this method, make sure that you are picking out a good contractor. There are a lot of great ones out there, but there are also a lot of people who are going to try and cause issues for you. It is important to be on the lookout for who is going to treat you well and who may just mess around. Some of the things that you should do in order to pick out a good contractor and make sure you are getting your money’s worth out of the whole deal include: 1. Check out their reviews—you may find it useful to go online and look at different reviews for the various contractors in your area. This can help you to eliminate a few of the candidates off the bat. Some will have bad reviews and others may just not have the experience that you are looking for, but this review search can give you a good place to get started with some names. 2. Look at their website—looking on the website can help you to determine if a particular company is the right one for you. You can check to see if they have the right services or experience to do this project with you. 3. Give them a call—never hire a contractor without giving them a call. This gives

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you the chance to see how they interact with you over the phone and whether they are going to be a good fit. Use this time to ask some questions as well. Get several bids to compare—take the time to look over several bids from contractors. Don’t always go with the cheapest bid, but really look each one over. Sometimes a cheap bid is going to offer substandard products or they aren’t offering some extras that another bid may offer. Look them all over and see which ones are offering the best price for all the work. Start working on the blueprints—once you pick the contractor that you would like to work with, make sure to get started on the blueprints. This allows you to see what the contractor has in mind for the home. Approve it all before getting started. Check in on them at the worksite—you need to be responsible for the worksite of your tiny home. Make sure to check on it every day if possible to see what is getting done and that you aren’t being charged for unworked hours. Make sure they stick to budget and time frame—a good contractor will have no issue sticking to the budget and time frame that they set for you with the bid. Don’t let them intimidate you because they didn’t get the budget right or didn’t purchase the products on time to get the best price. If you add something to the blueprint or the plan, expect prices to change; otherwise, make them stick to the original plan. Ensure that the contractor is always present at your job site—it is not uncommon to have a contractor sign on with you, who will show up for the first few days and then never be heard from again. While they might leave someone else in charge, you hired them to do the work. Find out from the beginning who is going to be in charge during your project and get to know them, especially if they aren’t the contractor, before making a decision.

There are a lot of things that you have to keep track of when designing your own tiny home. You must make sure that you are getting the right materials, picking out the electricity and plumbing right, and deciding whether you will do the work yourself or hire a professional to help you out. Come up with a plan early on and see how well you can get it all together to have the best tiny home possible.

CHAPTER 5: DECORATING—TIPS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR TINY HOME Decorating your tiny home is going to take some time and effort. You are stuck with a really small space, but you still want to have a home that is comfortable and looks nice. This is a place that a lot of people are going to suffer with. They assume that beyond some paint and a few things hung up to help conserve space, they just aren’t going to be able to decorate the area as they want. This just is not true. With some creative thinking and using the things that are already around you, it can become so much easier to decorate a tiny home and make it look amazing. This guidebook is going to take some time to discuss how to decorate a tiny home so you can make it feel like home. Go with some storage Being mart with your storage is going to be critical if you want to get a lot of room in your tiny home. You are going to feel all stuck together and maybe a little bit claustrophobic if you are walking over toys, blankets, clothes, and other things all day long. When you pick out some great storage containers, especially some that can do the job of more than one thing at a time, you are going to find that this process is so much easier. By the time you move into your tiny home, you should have already gotten rid of a lot of your unnecessary objects. There are a lot of these things that people will hold onto, but aren’t really necessary when you live in a tiny home or anywhere else for that matter. But after moving into your home, you may notice that you still have too many things; you may need to cut down a bit more if possible until you are able to fit into the area comfortably. Now, you need to find creative ways to do storage. There are a lot of options that work out well. You can get furniture that is raised up and then put decorative storage containers under them; just make sure to label later so you can find the items that you need a bit easier. You can place some different baskets on the wall and use them for storage containers as well as decorations. Use those top cabinets that always seem to just be out of reach and place some stuff there. This is the part where you are going to need to be really creative. When you live in a tiny home, everything needs to have its own place and storage is a must. When considering how to decorate the area that you are working in, take the time to look for items that can fit nicely into your décor but which will also work well as storage units. This will free up a lot of room in your tiny home while making it look amazing.

Use mirrors Another tip that you can try out is to use some mirrors in your home. These are going to reflect the light that is coming into your home, whether you are dealing with natural light or artificial light, and helps to make a space feel bigger. You don’t need to place a ton around the home, but having some around the place and using them as a type of decoration, can make a big difference in how big your home is perceived by the others around you. Let in the natural light Any time possible, let in as much natural light as you can possibly muster. Your tiny house should have at least a few windows, which can take up a lot of space when you think of how small your home is. Put these to good use. When you leave the curtains and the blinds closed, you are having to rely on the lights that are in the house to keep things bright. This alone is going to make the home seem even smaller. But the second you open up those windows and let in the sun, you will be surprised at how much more room there is around you. So, any time that you can, find ways to open up the windows. Get blinds that are easy to open and close so you can change these between morning and night. Consider getting lighter curtains that help let in the sun; some can be almost see through so you can get even more of this. Natural sunlight is your best friend in this situation so make sure to get in as much of it as possible. Find a focus in the room Even in the tiny home, you can find something to be the focal point. This helps to draw the eye to a certain point in the room rather than looking around and seeing how small the whole house is. You can use anything for a focal point, but first take a look around the room and see what naturally stands out as a focal point in your room. One place that many people use, and you can use as well if you have it, is the fireplace. This is a great place to bring the eye and you can do so much with it. Place the TV above the fire place so everyone has something to look at. You can place some flowers around this, some garland works well too during the holidays. Have all the furniture facing this direction so everyone knows what they should focus on in the home.

If you don’t have a place that naturally lends itself to being the focus in the room, make your own. You can use the TV or a piece of art to get this to happen. Just make sure that everyone knows what is important in the room and find ways to draw their eyes in this direction, and you will soon have people believing there is more space in the room than there really is. Use lighter colors When painting your tiny home, make sure to use bright colors. While darker colors may seem more intimate and provide you with more options, remember that you are going to be a bit limited on the amount of space you have. Dark colors are better for large spaces that may seem too big; if you use them in your tiny home, you are restricting the amount of light that comes in and making the room look a lot smaller. Lighter colors can do the exact opposite. They can open up the room because more light is coming in. Even though the space is not changing sizes with these different colors, lighter colors can help to open up the room and give it a bigger feeling. Go for light colors like light blues, yellows, greens, or even whites to get the most out of your tiny home. If you choose to go with a darker color, go with something more of a border or just part of the room. This way you still get some of the light into the room. You will be surprised at how quickly this limits your space though.

Find items that can work as more than one thing When you are living in a tiny home, your space is going to be limited. This does not mean you can’t get creative and really get the room to look nice. Many people who live in tiny homes can fit all of their things in nice little spots, without feeling crowded or having all these items underfoot. You just need to plan smartly and get everything in the right place. To start, you need to try and pick out items that can work as more than one thing. The more uses that one item can bring to the room, the more efficient it is in this small area. Perhaps you can find an end table that has a shelf for holding books, a few cup holders on the side, and a place to put magazines as well. Now instead of just being a table that takes up space, you can use it for four different activities, allowing more room. This is especially useful with your decorations. Decorations often take up a lot of room that you just don’t have in your tiny home. But if you can get creative and get something that look decorative and will make the house look nice. Think about organizing some shelving in cool colors on the wall to put stuff on, or a big key hanger that can hold your keys and some pots and pans out of the way in the kitchen. There are a lot of specialty sites that can help you find some of the items you need, or go to some farmers markets/garage sales to get inspiration. Pick furniture that goes off the floor If you want to make more space in your tiny home, you need to get creative. One way to do this is to lift the furniture off the floor. When the furniture is right on the floor, you aren’t able to put anything else in that area. You will have to put things around the furniture but you have a lot of wasted furniture where the couch, tables, and so on are located. When you lift the furniture up off the ground, it becomes much easier to slide items, such as storage boxes, under the furniture and make more use of this space. Some people choose to purchase new furniture to make sure it fits into their new tiny home. If you choose this method, just make sure you are getting furniture that is going to be a bit above the floor. You don’t need it to go way up to the sky; going just a few inches off the ground can really help you and you won’t really notice the difference when using the furniture. Many stores have these options so you can give them a try before you make the purchase.

Some people will just bring their own furniture that is leftover from their old homes. This is fine and you can still use the same ideas. The only difference is that you will need to put something under this furniture if it isn’t already higher up from the ground. You can purchase some materials to do this at the store or choose to add some books under the furniture. It might take a bit more effort, but you will get the same results and save a lot of money compared to purchasing new furniture. Decorating your small space is going to take some time and effort. You aren’t given an unlimited amount of space like you have in some of the other homes you may have lived. But with a bit of creativity and finding things that can work for more than one purpose, you will find that it can be a lot of fun, and make your home fell more comfortable, when you take the time to decorate your tiny home.

CHAPTER 6: SELF-SUFFICIENCY—WAYS TO LESSEN YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT EVEN MORE Those who get really into living in tiny homes often want to take it a step further and see how much they can save the environment. They want to live out on their own and not have to deal with the modern conveniences that make us too reliant on the stores and on other people. The tiny home movement is not all about getting away from the materialistic things that are in our lives. It is also about learning how to survive on your own, off the grid in many cases, and learning how to do things by yourself. If you are interested in taking the tiny home movement a bit further and learning how to not only live in a tiny home, but to fend for yourself, take a look through the information in this chapter.

GROW YOUR OWN GARDEN Growing your own garden is a great way to start living in a more self-sufficient way. You will be able to grow many of the fruits, vegetables, and herbs that you need in order to go off the grid. This might take a bit to start up, but fresh produce is always so much better than what you can find at the store and is healthier to eat than anything else. Making a garden doesn’t have to be difficult, you just have to get the right materials to get it all started. First, you need to decide where you would like to place your garden. Your backyard is a great place or hang pots of the outside of your tiny home. Make sure to place a small fence around the area though to ensure that no animals are going to sneak into your garden patch and ruin your garden and all your hard work. Take some time to till up the area and make it look nice before you start planting. Now you need to decide what kinds of plants you would like to have in your garden as well as how many of each. This will depend on if you want to supply your family with a whole years’ amount of produce or you would just like to save a bit of money here and there and have a nice garden. Either way, you need to figure out how much of each you will need to make a nice littler garden. Now get to planting. Place the seeds at least a few inches apart so there is plenty of room for them to grow and thrive. Make sure that they are getting enough sunlight each day and water them each day unless you are getting a lot of rain. You will also have to take some time to weed the garden unless you lay down a layer that prevents this from happening in the garden. If any plants start to die out, you should remove them to ensure that none of the other plants are affected as well. Each plant is going to have a different growing time. Some will fit two growing times into a season and others need to get started early on so that they can get done growing on time before it gets cold. Check with which plants you would like to deal with and see how long they need to grow. Also, each year you need to move the plants around rather than having the same things in the same area each year. This is going to keep the soil looking good and lasting longer. When the produce is done growing, take the time to preserve it to keep it fresh for a long time. It is unlikely that you will be able to eat all the fruits and vegetables in just a few sittings before they go bad. There are a few methods that you can use to prepare the vegetables and get them to last until they are needed. Freezing works well if you have a

freezer to hold all of your new produce. Canning is another method that a lot of people like because they can store for a long time and don’t have to worry about having room in their freezer. A garden can be a great way to become self-sufficient and other than checking on it and providing some basic care every few days, it is not a difficult process to upkeep. Decide early on if you have the time for a nice little garden with your tiny home and how big you would like this garden to be. Soon you will have this whole thing down and will love how great it tastes to eat fresh produce form your own garden.

RAISE YOUR OWN CHICKENS Raising your own chickens and other livestock, depending on how much space your tiny home has around it and if you are in town or not, can be a great way to ensure that you have a steady source of meat while you are being self-sufficient. It is going to take some time to get used to this idea, but starting out small can help you to get going. Most people start out with a few chickens to see how it all goes and then build up from there if they like the idea. Having chickens in your own backyard can be such a great thing. They are going to be a great source of healthy eggs each day. At the end of the season, you will be able to cook a few up and enjoy the protein and other nutrients that comes from the meat. Keep a few around to keep going each year and you can quickly have a new source of food just in your own backyard. When starting with chickens, you need to have everything in order ahead of time. This can make the process easier and ensures that your chickens product the eggs and the meat that you are looking for in this endeavor. Some of the steps that you should take in order to get started with raising your own chickens includes: 1. Pick out a spot—you need to pick out a good spot to place the chickens. If you have a fenced in backyard, this is perfect because the chickens will feel safe. Find a spot that is in a corner and pretty much out of the way so that you won’t have to worry about this being all over the place. Also, consider whether the chickens will be allowed to move all around the yard or if you will keep them mostly in the pen. 2. Get the materials—now that you have taken some time to consider where the chickens will need to go, it is time to get the materials. Make sure to create a pen that is big enough for the amount of chickens that you would like to keep inside. The pen should have extra room if possible and be sturdy enough to hold in as a comfortable home that keeps the chickens feeling safe. 3. Pick out the chickens—once the pen is picked out, you want to make sure to pick out the right chickens to get results. There are a few different kinds that work well, but you should really look up which ones will work the best in your area. 4. Feed and water them—keeping chickens is a full time endeavor. You need to make sure that they are constantly fed and watered just like with any other animal. You can pick out some good quality food that will help them to grow nice and big and make sure to refill it whenever needed. Check on the chickens at least a few times a day to see if they are short on any necessities. 5. Keep the pens clean—you must keep up on all the work that is needed to keep the pens clean. The chickens are not going to like being in a mess for very long and

you could stress them out. When the chickens are stressed out, they are not going to do very well with producing eggs or gaining weight to make good meat for you. 6. Get the eggs each day—check at least once a day to see if there are any eggs available. This helps to ensure that they are fresh and ready to go right away. Plus, if you leave the eggs in the pen for too long, it is more likely that the chickens will step on the eggs and make an even bigger mess. 7. Make it easy to get into the pen—when creating the pen, make sure that the chickens can easily get back into it if you are allowing them to roam around freely outside the pen. Whenever chickens get scared, you will want to allow them the chance to get back into their safe home, the pen, so they can keep calm and not get hurt. 8. Prepare for your food—after doing all this work, it is time to prepare the chickens for food. You can do this on your own with some instruction manuals or consider finding someone to help you out. Raising chickens is not a full time job and really only needs to take a bit of your time each day. But the meat that you can get out of the chickens with this little bit of work makes them invaluable and can help you to live the self-sufficient lifestyle much easier.

BARTER OR TRADE FOR THINGS YOU NEED If you plan on being completely self-sufficient, you need to learn how to get away from your reliance on anything that the outside world has the offer. This means that if you aren’t able to grow your own food or make the products you need, it is time to go and find others to barter for. Think of this as going back to the olden days when stores and other modern conveniences just weren’t around. If you really needed something that you weren’t able to provide for yourself, you may go over to your neighbors and find a way to trade with them. Trading is going to work in much the same way now as they did in the past. You just need to learn who in your area is best at doing certain things and what they may value in a trade. For example, you may be really good at canning and always have extra food in your pantry, but sewing or knitting just aren’t your thing. You could find a neighbor that is really good at the sewing, but perhaps has some trouble with gardening, and exchange services. This allows you to still get what you need without having to go into the store and be stuck at the prices that are offered there. Before bartering and trading can work, you need to learn your local tiny home and selfsufficiency network. This will help you to know who to go to when you need some help or when you are ready to barter. Learning how to be self-sufficient can be a big part of the tiny home movement. It is not always going to be easy and it might seem like a lot more work than it is worth, but in the long run, it can help you to feel proud of yourself and all your hard work and it is much kinder to the universe than your current way of living. While it is not necessary to become self-sufficient in order to go on the tiny home movement, it is an extra component that a lot of people enjoy doing at the same time.

CHAPTER 7: SOME COMMON CONCERNS WITH TINY HOMES While there are a lot of great things that come with owning a tiny home, there are some people who have some issues with these homes. They aren’t that convinced that tiny homes are the way of the future and feel like those who own them are devaluing the cost of other homes or just being wasteful and not going with a simple RV. The choice is up to you whether a tiny home is the right choice for you, but it is important to hear some of the concerns that can come with these before jumping right in, and we will take some time to discuss these in this chapter. They are too small Tiny homes are small; that is the whole purpose of building one and living inside the space. But for some people, they are just too small. Perhaps they have four or five kids and all of them can’t fit into a space that is only 400 square feet. Others may just feel closed in this small of a place. The tiny home movement can take some time to get used to and some people like having more space to live in. For those who just can’t live in a home that is small enough to be counted as a tiny home, there are other options. You can choose to go with a small home. These are a bit bigger, but come in under 1000 square feet. This can still give you a lot more living space and provides a lot of the same benefits as the tiny home, but you get a bit more room to live with compared to the latter. You can choose which kind of housing works the best for your needs. They are more expensive per square foot Even though you are saving money on the total amount of the home because it is smaller, you are spending more per square feet compared to your traditional home. This sometimes turns people off from the tiny homes because they don’t like to spend so much on each square foot of the home. There are several things that will factor in to why it is more expensive per square foot for a tiny home compared to a traditional home. First, some of the materials may be a bit more expensive because you need to still have a lot of sturdiness in the same area. Getting all the plumbing and electricity into a small area can cost more when you bring in the

professionals to work on this. And you will start to miss out on some of the discounts that are given on the bigger homes because you don’t need as much material. Despite the fact that the tiny homes cost more per square footage, they are going to cost a lot less than what you are paying for a traditional home. These homes are usually below $20,000, with a lot of them being way lower than this, while a traditional home can cost closer to $200,000 on average. Getting up to code can be a challenge Tiny homes bring in the extra challenge of figuring out how to keep the home up to code. A tiny home has a lot less space than you are used to, but there are still certain laws and regulations that you have to follow when it comes to plumbing, building materials, and electricity. And if you aren’t able to meet any of these, you could run into some trouble while building the home. Before putting up the tiny home, take some time to read up on the rules that you must follow. You can contact someone who works with these kinds of things and ask questions or have them help you out if you plan on having plumbing or electricity in your tiny home. You don’t want to put in all this work just to find out that it is not up to code and you have to try to get it all fixed up at the last minute. Some are hard to move around If you don’t put wheels on your tiny home, it is going to be pretty hard to move around the house. If you have to get a new job or move to a new location, the house may have to stay put. This means that you will either need to build a new home in the new location or go back to a traditional home. And figuring out how to sell your tiny home can be a big challenge since there aren’t a lot of people who want to switch over to the tiny home. It is best to design your tiny home so you are able to move it at some point. This helps you to take the house whenever you need. It is better to be prepared with this ahead of time rather than finding out a few months after you put the home up that you need to leave and having no way to deal with this. Some people would rather buy an RV

There are a lot of people who wonder why those in tiny homes, especially those who are always moving around, don’t just get an RV. These two buildings are pretty similar in having very little space compared to traditional homes and the RVs are often better at setting up the modern plumbing conveniences that you would want in a tiny home. The tiny home is just a bit different than an RV though. This is an actual house, which a lot of people are drawn to. And it is often easier to keep the tiny home in one location rather than trying to figure out where to park the RV. While an RV is able to give you a lot of the same benefits as a tiny home, having your own house can be a great feeling. Finding a place to park is difficult For those who are moving the tiny home around a lot, it can be difficult to find a place to put the home. You may be able to do something at a campground at times or find some land that does not really belong to anyone. But unless you have something mapped out ahead of time or have some friends who will let you park at their home, you will run into a lot of challenges with moving the tiny home a lot. In many cases, you may choose to stay pretty steady instead. This allows you to have a home to come to after work, and then perhaps just move the house if you are going to a new location for work or just once or twice a year. Missing out on plumbing and other conveniences Depending on how you make your tiny home, you may be dealing with a lack of modern conveniences. Those who keep their tiny home pretty steady and don’t move it around can add in some of these conveniences such as a shower and a toilet. But if you put wheels on the tiny home and plan to move around to a new area a lot, you may have to rely on other sources. This can be really difficult for those who moved into the tiny home because they wanted to be really comfortable and stay put. If you want these nice modern conveniences, you should consider keeping the tiny home in one location and perhaps making it a bit bigger so you can still fit everything inside. While there are some concerns that come up with tiny homes, most of them can be addressed with just a few minor changes. This chapter explored some of these to help you see what problems you can encounter while dealing with the tiny homes and some of the steps that you can take to help fix these issues.

CHAPTER 8: TIPS AND TRICKS TO GET MORE OUT OF YOUR TINY HOME Learning how to live in a tiny home can be a challenge. You need to get prepared to change up your whole lifestyle, something that can be really difficult for some people to do. Here are some tips and tricks that you can try out to really see amazing results. Prepare yourself mentally (do your research) You have to have the right frame of mind before you are able to move into a tiny home. This is a big adjustment to what most people are used to living and it won’t happen just overnight. The best thing that you can do is research the lifestyle as well as all the requirements to help make this much easier. Do as much research as possible. Look at the different floor plans that are available and even take some time to go look at some premade tiny homes. Even if you are planning on building your own tiny home, walking through one that is premade can help give you a better idea of how much space you will have available when you are planning things out. You also need to really think this through. The tiny house movement is not always an easy one to follow. You have to make some big changes and it is not for everyone. Talk to some people who have chosen the tiny home lifestyle, check out some homes, see how much stuff you are willing to give away to fit into the home, and really take your time to figure out if this is the right lifestyle for you. Declutter right away Before you move into a tiny home, you need to declutter your life. This is a long process so start it early; it may be best to get started before you even get the home built. You should go through each room and figure out what you can get rid of. When you are done, you will want the house to look pretty bare; this will really fill up the tiny home though so don’t worry. Get rid of furniture, old clothes, old books you won’t ever read again, most of the stuff in your storage room, old pots and pans, and anything that you won’t need in a tiny home. Now that your home is almost down to the bare minimum, it may be time to have a garage

sale. This can be an excellent way to make some extra money to help pay for your tiny home and really clears out the space in your big home. You are going to be so thankful that you took the time to declutter ahead of time when you finally do move into your tiny home. The trick here is to make sure you don’t buy anything else that is unnecessary before you move in. Learn what you can go without As you are decluttering, you are going to have to figure out what you can go without. While all those cookbooks might be nice, you probably don’t have space for them; write down the few recipes that you will use again and throw out the rest. You don’t need to have all those DVD cases all over the place; consider getting a case to hold all together and it takes up much less room. You don’t need to have all those hair supply products; pick out one or two that really help and the rest can go. It is going to be tough figuring out what is important and what you can live without. We are in a society that considers more to be better and you have probably spent a lot of your life being told that you need all these things to get through the day. But with a bit of dedication and sticking with the process, you will learn just how to get rid of a lot of things so you only take the necessities with you. Consider whether you want to be self-sufficient In some cases, you may consider tiny house living enough. This is a big change and will require you to make some major sacrifices in your life. But some people want to make even more changes out of their life and choose to be self-sufficient in other ways as well. These people like the idea of living more on their own and not having to rely on what the stores have on hand. They may start to grow some of their own food in a garden, raise chickens and other animals to feed their family, make or fix things that are broken, and basically live away from society. This allows them to be gentler on the environment and saves a lot of money. This is an extreme though. Just living in a tiny home is going to make a huge difference when it comes to being nicer to the environment and getting rid of some of the material things in your life. And if this is all you have time for, great job at making a difference! But part of the tiny home movement is to learn how to live without all the trappings of modern life, which is why a lot of people on this lifestyle will try to be a little self-

sufficient as well. Pick the size that works for you You will need to pick the size of home that works the best for your needs. Some people assume that to live in a tiny home they have to be under 400 square feet or they may as well just give up. This is a bad attitude to have because you are missing out on all the wonderful benefits that come from this kind of living. You can live in many sized homes and still be a part of the tiny home movement. For some families, like those who have a lot of children, living in a true tiny home with just 400 square feet is just not possible. You will need more space than this if you have four or five children. Don’t get upset or think you can’t be a part of this movement just because your home has to be closer to 1000 square feet just to fit everyone inside. Just minimizing your home size can make a big difference. Go gradually Going into the tiny home movement can take some time to get used to. You may not want to go from a 3000 square foot home to one that is just 400 square feet in just one step. This can be a huge change and without some preparation you are going to feel this is not worth the effort. Starting out with a small home can help you get used to the idea. You won’t have to make as big of changes in your life, although moving from a large home to a small home can be a change on its own. If you have several kids and you aren’t the only one living in the home, starting out with a small home is best. Going with a tiny home below 400 square feet and living with six other people is a huge challenge and might not be possible with your needs, but picking a small home that is 800-900 square feet is a bit easier to deal with. Go at the speed that works the best for you. Making any changes to smaller living can help out the environment and will save you money. Even if you aren’t able to make the big change to a truly tiny home, you are well on your way even using a small home and maybe at some point you can make the change. Find the lot first

You need to have a place to put your tiny home before you can move into it. Luckily, a lot of them have wheels which makes it easier to move around if needed, but having a lot or another piece of land that is all yours and you can call home, just like you would with any other home, can make it seem much better. There are some options for this. In some cases, you may be able to find a friend or family member who will let you put your house on their land. This works well if they already have a large piece of land that they don’t use a lot or they are willing to share some of their yard. You may be able to get away with doing this for a few bucks each year or even for free. Some people choose to live out in the wilderness, on some land that belongs to the public but which no one goes to. This can give you a taste of country living, but just make sure that you are allowed to be in this area before you start parking there. If nothing else, consider purchasing a lot. Depending on your area, the prices are going to fluctuate, but you often will not have to spend too much. You can talk to a local realtor to find a place that is perfect for all your needs and won’t cost too much. Since you aren’t making a mortgage payment on the tiny home, it should be pretty easy to pay off the lot. See if you can get a half lot or even split one with another tiny home owner to save even more money.

Find a reputable company to build the tiny home Some people choose to build their tiny home on their own. This can be a great idea if you have some ideas on how to build a home or you are a quick learner from books and online. You are going to be able to save a lot of money in the process and you will really love living in a home that you built on your own. Others want to make sure that they are getting a good quality home that will be able to stand the test of time. They may be worried about their house building skills or just don’t have the time with work and other obligations to get the work done in a timely fashion. If you fit into this group, you should consider finding one of the many reputable companies who specialize in making tiny homes. While this may cost a bit more, you are still saving a ton compared to purchasing a regular American home. When picking out a company to help with your tiny home needs, make sure they are reputable. Look at some of their reviews online and see some of their portfolio. Keep in mind that you will be living in these homes so you want to find something that is nice and will last for a very long time. Moving into a tiny home can be a big adjustment to what you are used to. You need to get rid of a lot of the modern trappings that are taking over your home and you have to get used to living in a smaller place. But once you get used to this new kind of lifestyle, you are really going to enjoy the results and want to go with this for a long time. Keep some of these tips in mind, as well as the things discussed in all the other chapters, and you will be amazed at how great tiny home living can be!

CONCLUSION The tiny home movement is a different way of looking at our lives. Instead of assuming that bigger is better and that we have to have a lot of material things in order to do well in life, the tiny home movement forces us to take a step back and look at how we can minimize our lives and make things easier. Tiny homes may seem smaller than we are used to, but they do have a lot of benefits. You will be able to get rid of the material things in life, help the environment, and actually save some money! This guidebook gives all the tips and tricks that you need in order to get started on your tiny home and to ensure that you really enjoy this new lifestyle. Look through this guidebook and learn how to get started now!



FREE CHAPTER SHIPPING CONTAINER HOMES FOR BEGINNERS Everything you need to know and more

Christopher Dillashaw

INTRODUCTION: If anyone goes to the customs area of a port or an airport they will see a myriad of shipping containers scattered all over the place and stacked one on top of the other. The same large metal boxes that get fitted on 18-wheeler trucks and transported all over the world filled with every kind of merchandise, from food to luxury goods, cars and spare parts. Some of these containers are used and re-used and are parts of huge fleets. However, a great number of them are discarded and are either taken to a recycling plan, or used in quite a different manner than their original design specified. In fact some of these uses are not as temporary as someone would have thought. Shipping containers can find applications in: Bank vaults



Radar stations



Military and fire training stations



Bathrooms and showers



Emergency shelters



School, apartment and office buildings



Shopping malls and mobile stores



Press boxes and concession stands



RV Trucks



Experimental labs



Elevator shafts



Recording studios



Homes



The above applications are just the tip of the iceberg. There is no limit to how a shipping container can be used after its cargo transporting days are over, other than the human imagination. It is not even necessary to wait for the containers to get discarded from transporting cargo. Some people prefer to order the containers right off the manufacturing line in order to be used in these applications while still being brand new. The scope of this book is the container usage as homes. How to put one, two, three, many containers together to make a livable space either as a primary home or as a vacation home for the summer or for any other use required. Some of the shipping container home options available on the market include their setting up by professional crews at an extra cost which sometimes may be too high. Some other options allow for the buyer to set up the home on their own. There are other options that

include prefabricated homes. All these options may save a lot of money, however, there is quite a number of things that must become known and considered in advance, otherwise the attempt to cut down on the cost will boomerang and drain even more money than it would have cost if the original selection was for a traditionally built home. Some of these issues are technical. How to do things at the construction phases and a few secrets attached to the “life support” parameters (livable temperature, permeation of light, air circulation) in particular. Some other refer to practical issues. Things to look for when choosing where to buy from and things to pay attention to in the quality of the containers. Shipping container homes are a great choice for people who cannot really afford a regular home, for those who want something different to live in and for those that want to serve a specific purpose. However, a warning is in order before any consideration is given to buy a shipping container home. If you are not a handy man with experience and expertise and most of all trust in what you can actually do on your own (not to mention the huge load of different tools that you will need), do not go for an option that it will be required of you to actually set things up. It would be far preferable to go for either an already set up option or for an option that professional crews are going to set up for you. If you are ready to consider a shipping container home to serve your purposes please feel free to immerse yourself into the upcoming chapters of this book.

CHAPTER 1: THE HISTORY The general consensus of opinion is that homes that come from shipping containers is a new concept that has been forced through the need to do something to protect the environment and especially the forests which are quickly getting decimated from the uncontrollable lumberjacking, despite the laws that are put in effect. Other notions say that shipping container homes found first application in China, Brazil and India due to the lack of housing or due to many people losing their homes to evictions and bankruptcies. All these notions are actually incorrect. The first shipping container was designed by Malcolm McLean as a means to rectify the loss of cargo that resulted from the process of using odd sized and designed wooden crates for transportation, as far back as 1956. The final design reached its current status in the 1970s and it was actually the military applications that induced the usage as homes. Both the US Navy and the US Air force used shipping containers to house the sailors and airmen of the U.S. bases abroad until more solid traditional houses could be built. The initial concept was that containers could be modified and used as homes on a temporary basis only. It wasn’t too long before the concept was converted to a permanent solution by people who saw the benefits by other uses like site construction headquarters or movable construction settlements that allowed for the homes to be moved along with the workers and sometimes their families from site to site. It is not known who actually had the original idea of using shipping container for a permanent home for the first time. It is not even known if this idea was born out of necessity or out of another kind of need. At some point the use of shipping containers as homes begun gaining momentum after some very inspiring designs found their way to internet sites and in turn inspired other people to do the same thing. After 2000, the concept of shipping container homes gained even more momentum with the concerns that were raised about protecting the environment and the ever increasing sensitivity on recycling and using less wood. At about the same time, contractors started appearing that advertised their ability to construct homes from shipping containers as well as companies that started manufacturing prefabricated shipping container homes to be sold to the general public. The demand for such homes is gradually increasing every year. Especially by people environmentally conscious. The growth increase may not be the one initially anticipated but it is expected that at some point in the future, the numbers of shipping container homes in comparison with the traditionally build houses will be balanced. Especially since for the last 50 years elaborate studies were conducted that brought up the toxicity problems and their solutions that made the container homes absolutely safe for

habitation, allaying the worries of even the most cautious and skeptical people about any possible safety issues. It is certain that in the years to come more and more people will start getting interested in the concept of using shipping containers for homes. It is also certain that improvements will be made so that all the disadvantages attached to the concept are gradually diminished while the advantages are augmented with new ones. If you are not a believer of the concept now, the third certainty is that in the future you too will look into the possibility of staying into a shipping container home. When that time comes it is much better to already be prepared on the intricacies of the issues involved, instead of running around trying to learn the details then. As always the learning process starts with the basics of the concept which are explored in the following chapter.

Shipping Container Homes: For Beginners

Shipping Container Homes: 51 Hacks, Ideas, Tips & Tricks to Organize and Decorate Your Tiny House or Shipping Container Home

Shipping Container Homes: Box Set:Shipping Container Homes for Beginners & 51 Hacks, Ideas, Tips & Tricks to Organize and Decorate Your Tiny House

Shipping Container Homes: Box Set: Shipping Container Homes For Beginners, Shipping Container Homes 51 Hacks, Shipping Container Homes 101