Photo from Stephen Simonetto

This tiny island was featured on my blog last year when nobody was living there, but now I have photos from the current resident, Katherine Ball.

Her six-week residency entitled “No Swimming” runs from August 12th until September 25th and Katherine is blogging from her iPad along the way.

It is definitely a spartan existence living in a 20 foot diameter fiberglass and foam igloo. “I’m using a lot of resources from the museum, keeping food in the visitor center. I could cook out here but then I have to wash my dishes. I could create a miniature grey water system,” said Ball when she first moved in.

photo from inspir3d.net

Built by artist Andrea Zittel, the intention is for a different artist to live here every summer and modify the island however they like.

They call it Indianapolis Island or “Indy Land” and it lives on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Katherine is implementing the use of mushrooms (mycobooms) to filter toxins out of the lake water. “It’s strange that people I talk to all over the country are resigned to the fact that our waterways are polluted. I would love to help people feel like ‘our waterways are polluted, we need to try to fix this’ instead of simply accepting that pollution is normal.”

Read her blog for more information on this biologically-oriented pollution solution.  Photos by Michelle Pemberton / The Star. Thanks to Deryck for the head’s up.

A year ago I was just settling in to calling it a “movement” and before that it was just my weird obsession. Now it’s in the New Yorker: The rise of the tiny-house movement. Creative downsizing is taking hold in the hearts and minds of Americans these days, if nothing else than by necessity.

I like how the author Alec Wilkinson makes a distinction between the various types of people who are moving into tiny spaces. In my own words I’ve condensed the categories here:

1. Young people who cannot conceive of being able to afford a “real” house or supersized rent in a big city.
2. Older people who are done with home ownership, trying to keep some semblance of savings, or are empty nesters.
3. All idealists who are seeking a lighter footprint and privileged enough to design their own lifestyle.

In combination, this movement is made up of some fascinating people, some of whom are mentioned in the article. Photo above is Jay Shafer with his wife and son and Tumbleweed House, photograph by Jeff Minton.

But I want to highlight a couple of folks who do not get as much press attention as Jay. These are wonderful women whom I am pleased to call my friends.

Tammy Strobel, rowdykittens.com

A couple of years ago Tammy was a new blogger on the tiny house scene. Now she is one of the top. Last year she was featured in the New York Times, on the Today Show, and other major media outlets.

Tammy and her partner Logan had us over for dinner recently in their small Portland apartment and showed us pictures of their tiny house being built. Less than 100 square feet, the work of art they’ve commissioned should be finished this fall.

Cheers to Tammy and Logan for their commitment to social change and their personal follow through. Tammy has even been able to earn a living through her writing. I look forward to hearing more from them as they move into their tiny house and explore simple living as a couple.

Photo credit: The Oregonian

Dee Williams, portlandalternativedwellings.com

A true hero, Dee is the lay-person who built her own 84 square foot house and has been living in it for the past 7 years. Affectionately called “The Little House” she opens it up for tours and speaks to kids about voluntary simplicity and sustainability. Positive change begins at home, she says, and she means that literally.

I love all the attention she has been getting, on the cover of Yes!Magazine, in TIME Magazine, on NPR, on NBC Nightly News, etc. but my favorite so far is her TEDx talk in Portland last May.

Dee has written an incredibly helpful book called Go House Go: How to build a tiny house on wheels and I highly recommend it if you’re considering doing it on your own. It is hands down the most helpful thing I’ve read for tiny house wannabes — that is, people who are planning to build a little house on a trailer. (Also, a building workshop is not a bad idea either.)

Give it up for the ladies! Keep an eye on them. As the Dalai Lama said in a lecture two years ago, “The world will be saved by the Western woman.”

I’m touched by Nicolettes’s story. She found an abandoned structure and with no money and no tools she managed to build herself a tiny house out of trash and scraps and donated supplies. In total it took her a year an a half and about $1,182 to make this space a home.

This structure was given to her for free in exchange for its removal. The wagon (as the Germans like to call it), somehow in its 20 years as a backyard garden shed had its wheels sunk 2 feet into the ground. It had to be excavated and moved 25 miles to its new location in Mainz, Germany, where the renovations would begin.

Before:

“Nikki, you’re not going to be able to fix up the whole wagon without any money.” The words of a non-believer. “You’re going to need materials, tools.”

“I can borrow all of the tools. And maybe in the end I will have to buy a few things, it’s looking like stain and paint right now, but so far I’ve found everything I had on my “to buy” list when I started. It’s turning out to be a damn good thing I didn’t have any money then. The longer I wait, the more I’m finding.”

He shook his head, thinking I was naive. I shook my head, thinking he was mighty skeptical for someone who also regularly dug through the trash.

After:

Of course with makers of all sorts her “trash house” project is never quite finished but I’m happy she shared these photos with me.

On Nicolette’s blog you’ll find well-written stories of dumpster diving adventures, the brutally honest struggle of DIY home renovations, and life in a wagenplatz community in Germany.

Photo credit: Click Clack Gorilla

Pictured above is Lloyd Kahn (right) visiting SunRay Kelley (left) and his solar-powered camper, under construction.

Looking virtually nothing like what he started out with, the structure is re-built from a vintage Toyota camper. The idea is to create a solar/electric/diesel hybrid rolling home for SunRay on the road.

Check the YouTube videos to see this transformation in progress.

SunRay remarks, “The Gypsy Wagon should have been the first thing I built because it is the world’s best calling card.” He will be taking it to Burning Man 2011.

For under $200,000 you could be a part of a new homeowner movement. Communities of small houses are popping up as new developments in progressive neighborhoods.

Spinet Street Cottages in the lovely town of Asheville, North Carolina was dreamed up and created by Ron & Laurie Czecholinski. Each house (700-1000 square feet) and lot has an option for building a smaller studio apartment (200-500 square feet) for rental opportunity or creative space.

If you are a tiny-house enthusiast in North Carolina I highly recommend you hook up with this project. They will be giving a presentation at Firestorm Cafe in Asheville this Sunday, Dec 5th at 4pm.

The Cottage Company in Seattle, Washington

Wild Coast Cottages is another small house development project on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. They have 3 available homes for sale and 12 homes are due to be move-in ready just after the new year.

One may think it absurd to pay more to own an appropriately-sized home when you could buy a bigger home outside of town for much cheaper. But these small footprint villages are appealing to me and, I think, the many who would prefer quality over quantity. Now, what can we do about those darned minimum size standards…

I wrote about Paul’s bicycle camper in this post about Pedal-Powered Tiny Homes, and he’s just written me to share his latest project: another shelter for Burning
Man, though this time, not just for himself, but for he and his wife.

Heat and wind are the primary elements that any shelter erected in Black Rock City has to withstand. This 12×12 pyramid has been tested for almost two months, and so far so good.

Adapted from the hexayurt design, using quality insulative foam board and tape, Paul has created a lightweight, sturdy and cool temporary shelter for about $300.

Watch the YouTube video for a tour and more pictures on his website.

Some readers may remember this project has a special place in my heart. It’s a bike-packing solar-powered travel documentary where Mandy and Ryan are searching for a sustainable community to call home. They would like to raise $25,000 to finish the film! Here’s the trailer. Please consider making a donation. Even if you give $1 your name will be in the film credits.

Letting a little outside in… this building immediately caught my attention and I later learned it may include a combination of bamboo, adobe, wattle and daub, and thatch construction.

Panya Project in northern Thailand is 10 acres of permaculture and natural building experimentation. The eco-community began in 2004 by a group of Americans. Its DIY-savvy residents come and go, learning skills and then moving on. Jenny Pickerill of the Green Building Blog, during her visit in July, adds this great insight:

Panya has put into practice the belief that walls and houses can isolate us from nature and each other and that if we re-design them we can better integrate nature into our daily lives.

This one reminds me of a Tumbleweed Tiny House.

Photo credit: Green Building Blog. Panya Project Flickr photos here.

Somehow grain silos continue to capture my imagination. This one is just the top part, turned upside down, with a roof and door added. I don’t know if it still exists (Michael W. contributed this link of it on Google Maps Street View) but I read that this unique little tea kettle abode is in Galveston, Texas with no full time resident.

Photo credit

Sad that I couldn’t find the original source of the above image, but that doesn’t stop me from sharing it here. This is complete inspiration for me in getting ready for outdoor travel… imagine coming home to this at night! From my tumblelog.

Update: Thanks to my readers’ investigative efforts, I can now say that it appears to be the work of artist Tim Prentice.