Inspiring Tiny Houses

A 40×8 shipping container of the kind you see on a freight train or stacked up at the docks has about 320 square feet of space inside. Nova Deko, the Australian modular home solutions provider, thought that was a good size for a tiny house and has developed a container-based model called the Milan.

Yes, that's "Cider Box", not "Cedar Box", but given this tiny house's minuscule dimensions and all-cedar-wood finish you could be forgiven some confusion. It turns out that Oregon-based builder Shelter Wise named it for its cider-like amber glow in the autumn sunshine.

No place like hOMe Oregon couple Andrew and Gabriella Morrison were happy sharing their lives together, but not so happy sharing the huge mortgage payments that come with owning a standard-sized dwelling. Something else they shared - a background in construction - led them to design and build a 207-square-foot tiny house they now call hOMe.

One of the largest appeals of tiny house living has to do with the connection with nature. There's something about having a thick forest on all sides stretching as far as you can see that brings a sense of peace.

By the time Dave Herrle finished hiking the Appalachian trail, he was already in the midst of a profound change at the age of 26. He quit his day job in the office and pursued a carpentry career, opting to work with wood to pay the bills and exercise his creative outlet.

Last year I had the chance to visit the Puglia region of Southern Italy, where one of the defining architectural styles of houses known as 'Trulli' can be found. These small houses made from stone have a distinct cone-shaped roof and are centuries old.

When it comes to building an efficient tiny house, it's important to make the most of every square inch. There's a certain amount of creativity involved when it comes to planning a tiny house build and this house displays that better than most any other we've seen.

We don't know much about Jay Nelson's new tiny house in Haena on the garden isle of Kauai, but it looks gorgeous. We haven't seen too many tiny homes built on the Hawaiian Islands either. Any guesses on what wood he used?

We love, love, LOVE the location and design of this tiny house. Growing up in the Northeast, I spent a lot of time in Maine where my folks had a house perched above the ocean similar to this.

style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-6969444888222420" data-ad-slot="4674499502"> One of the most common requests we get is for tiny house plans and designs that you can use to construct your own home. With a growing abundance of builders out there specializing in tiny house designs, we took some time to gather together the best of the best in one place.

Fans of the tiny house movement might be a passionate bunch, but that's not something to be ashamed of. Like any dedicated group we have our own idiosyncracies and habits that might seem strange to some, but perfectly normal to us.

Most of us like shiny objects, but few of us ever found one that inspired such a fantastic creation. While browsing a used furniture store one day the builder of this beautiful little cabin found a shiny sink.

If you like the idea of living in a smaller home, but under 200 square feet seems unreasonable and you aren't into climbing a ladder to a lofted sleeping area, then consider this beautiful example of an RV/park model home, made by Escape Homes out of Wisconsin.