tinyhouse tinyorbit

two humans and their trusty canine companions head out on the adventure of a lifetime-building a tiny house using completey reclaimed reused repurposed materials

[atinyorbit-blog]

Thank You Bgreen Today!!

A gigantic thank you to Bgreen Today: Healthy Homes, Sustainable Products in Ann Arbor, MI!  Delphine and Daniel Stephens, founders, are amazing people and really live up to their business' philosophy.  They care about their community and their earth.

Bgreen is donating brand new bamboo flooring for our entire tiny house!  Read more about our flooring below.

Bgreen's products are sensitive to the environment and contribute to reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.  They sell 100% compostable and biodegradable products, chemical-free cleaning supplies, eco-food packaging supplies, eco-building supplies, and an enviro-friendly paint line!  

Visit them locally or at http://www.bgreentoday.com!

A picture of what our floor will look like oooolala!

      EcoFusion Engineered StrandWoven Bamboo Natural's Environmental Attributes:

A highly renewable resource, Moso Bamboo matures in just 5-6 years after being planted

EcoTimber Bamboo is plantation-grown (not harvested from wild forests) and requires no pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers

Easily meets the E1 and 2012 CARB standards for indoor air quality

[atinyorbit-blog]

A Home Crafted From 6 Million Glass Bottles, Argentina

Homes made out of interesting and found objects are nothing short of spectacular in so many cases. With thousands of bottle caps to hundreds of thousands of beer cans, unusual building materials have been around longer than we can really keep track of. For one man in Quilmes, Argentina (just outside of Buenos Aires) having an...

[atinyorbit-blog]

Less is More

Macy Miller & her blog have both been wonderful resources.  Her home is freakin' beautiful (plans are available!), & she recently released a book. With lots of additional links to other resources, details on the building process, &  frequently updated info on tiny-living post-build, minimotives.com is more than worth checking out.

Thanks Macy! 

[papalagiblog]

Tiny House From Reclaimed Wood

»> reclaimedwoodblog.com

[atinyorbit-blog]

Couple Tired of Living with a Mortgage Build a Tiny 221-Square-Foot House

Andrew and Gabriella Morrison were tired of living with a mortgage, tons of bills, and debt hanging over their heads. So, the couple decided to stop the nonsense and start living a more satisfying life by simplifying. Their most notable transition was the construction of their house, called hOMe, which is a 221-square-foot tiny house on wheels (with an additional 128-square-feet of loft space). The 28-foot-long, 8.5-foot-wide house includes all of the basics like a full-sized kitchen and appliances, a master bedroom, a functioning bathroom, a staircase leading up to the lofts, a home office, and a large amount of space for storage. The movement towards simplification offers "tiny house living without compromise," and anyone can purchase the architectural plans from the Tiny House Build website to have their own special home constructed. Not only did the couple minimize their living quarters, but they also eliminated 80% of their belongings in order to really minimize their lifestyle.…

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MODERN BOOKSHELF FEATURES A HIDDEN BUILT-IN LADDER

[atinyorbit-blog]

Clever storage for tiny houses with loft spaces!

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MODERN BOOKSHELF FEATURES A HIDDEN BUILT-IN LADDER

[micromanor]

Gypsy Wagon near Paris, France via AirBNB.

[livingreenandfrugally]

(via How To Store Drinking Water Long Term - LivingGreenAndFrugally.com)

[atinyorbit-blog]

Found our charming tiny house door today!  Thanks Habitat for Humanity Resale Store in Ann Arbor, MI!  At $30, it was quite a deal.  The door is in excellent condition.  We will need to reinstall a new handle and deadbolt because there are no keys for the current ones.

[atinyorbit-blog]

preliminary sketch-up of our tiny house =).  bedroom is far left, and next to that is the bathroom and a large closet.  Kitchen far right.  Slide-out is the translucent portion that will be part of our living room space and dining area. 

[itscolossal]

Designer Hilla Shamia Fuses Cast Aluminum and Tree Trunks to Create One-of-a-Kind Furniture Pieces

[Editor’s Note: This is our 1,000th post here on Tumblr and we just passed 80,000 followers a few minutes ago. That’s two milestones in an hour! We also became a spotlight art blog last week! Thanks so much for following, you’re amazing. That is all.]

Such gorgeous inspiration for our own tiny house furniture!

[atinyorbit-blog]

Demolition Day One!

Yesterday we began gutting the trailer for the tiny house.  We got a lot of work done and it was pretty empowering wielding sledgehammers all day!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

[atinyorbit-blog]

Today we got a visit from the Fifth Wheel Fairies!  We have been eagerly awaiting this day (in secret so as not to jinx it).  After much research, Cai and I decided to build our tiny home on a fifth wheel trailer, and ideally, purchase a fifth wheel camper to tear apart and use not only the trailer, but the materials/appliances from it as well.  Following this decision, we were literally living on craigslist for weeks, searching salvage yards, auctions, making hundreds of phone calls every day.  The challenge in finding a camper trailer to use for a tiny home is the Gross Vehicle Weight Ratio (GVWR), which is usually never enough because campers are built with lightweight materials, whereas a house is built with heavier sturdy materials.  So each time we found one that was promising, the GVWR was not rated high enough or the person selling it didn't even know what the GVWR was (and this is not a guessing situation).

So the story goes....

It was a seemingly average morning when I woke up and sleepily pulled up the craigslist site and began scrolling through the rv's for sale.  I came across a posting for several used RV's being sold by HW Motor Homes, Inc., based in Canton, MI.  There were no prices listed, so I pick up the phone and call them up.  I spoke with Dan, of HW Motor Homes, Inc. and wow, I will never forget him!  After discussing the prices of the RVs he was selling, we realized they were far out of our price range.  We were about to hang up, when he said he had just gotten of the phone with a couple trying to sell him their 2001, 32.5' Terry Fifth Wheel Camper.  Dan couldn't take the camper for his business due to some water damage, and a technical issue with the slide, but he said he would gladly give our contact information to the couple and we could speak with them about it.  Two days later, the couple called.  After hearing the specs, it was sounding like a dream come true, even the GVWR was rated high enough.  So I asked THE question, "How much are you looking to get for it?"  I hear discussion amongst the couple behind the speaker.

"You can just take.  We don't want it."  (Jaw drops, hyperventilation begins).  That leads us to today, the wonderful Mike and Patti not only essentially donated this trailer to us, but drove it down here and wouldn't take a cent in gas money!  Patti said, "Just do something nice for someone else."  And we plan on it.

[atinyorbit-blog]

Absolutely Floored

so the morning routine around here has become wake up, check craigslist "free stuff," scrolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.  It paid off big time yesterday.  I found a curb alert for a solid wood door advertised as an exterior door.  Being free, I felt it may be worth checking out.  So I drive the trust Camry 20 minutes to the other side of Ann Arbor to see the curb alert door.  As I drove I began imagining opening that door to a beautiful tiny house interior that Cai and I built with our own hands.  With this one low quality photograph of a door that may or may not fit our tiny house requirements, the reality of living in a space with the three loves (Cai and the pups) of my life really set in, and it was wonderful.  I arrived at appropriate curb to find the door still there.  I got out of the car and inspected it, tried lifting it.  It was definitely solid.  After performing some quick measurements on the door and the Camry trunk opening, I realized this was a job for a larger vehicle.  So I left with my doorless door daydreams.  Luckily, despite having an exhausting day, Cai was game to return to the scene with me later than evening with a vehicle upgrade.  As we pulled up this time, a couple was busy outside the house that clearly had belonged to the door prior to its curb placement.  The couple were very friendly and helped us put the door in our car.  As we chatted, they became quite interested and excited by our tiny house project.  One of the couple muttered something and then disappeared into the garage, and returned holding a building supply of some sort.  He asked us if we'd be interested in some free laminate flooring in like new condition, around 150 square feet.  We said YES!  And he helped load us up with our new tiny house floor.  But not after throwing in some roofing paper to seal the deal.  We are so pleased with our purchases thus far.

[atinyorbit-blog]

Greetings Earthlings, Welcome to our blog: Tinyhouse Tinyorbit!

We will be updating this blog every week with progress of our tiny house project, photos, material and budget information, resources for those aspiring tiny house builders out there, and more crazy pictures of our dogs!