How to protect your tiny house when you're away- cabin security....

     There are many approaches, from motion detecting cameras, to pungee-stick pits (no, please don't...), but here is one of the simplest approaches, and one that works very well, and is EASY to construct. Lets face it, we've all heard of horror stories where off grid homes, when left for weeks on end, or even a day or two, are turned into underage party dens, targets for theft, or are just plain vandalized for no reason- and its a nightmare many of us at least think, if not worry, about. SO....give this video a quick whirl, and you'll then have one more protective approach in your arsenal. And if this works, hell, a few bear snares ought to do the trick! Again, kidding...kidding.....

When it comes to your hard-earned/hard-built tiny cabin, camp, or home, this idea can't hurt!

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

A Tiny, White, Historical Cobbler House in Massachusetts

      Here's another quick photo set that goes to show that there just may be some really cool tiny houses or cabins, heck, architectural goodness and history, right in your own little town. This is actually an old historic Cobbler's Shop/Shed/Work building in Stoughton, MA- part of the Mary Baker Eddy Historical House complex- built in 1840 (originally for the Wentworth family). Mary Baker Eddy was the founder of the Christian Science Faith, and it was in this lot/home (the main home) that she wrote what many consider her first major work/book "The Science Of Man". You can visit this site and walk around for free, or even go inside by appointment.

Who woulda thunk it? Right in my own backyard....

These photos that I am continually sharing are all part of many, many, many new shoots for content in what will be an eventual follow-up to my tiny house/small shelter design book "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks"- which you can check out below....

All photos by Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Tinier solar lights/lighting for your off-grid or tiny house

MINI SOLAR LIGHTS, KEROSENE LANTERNS, GAS LIGHTS, and weighing your options for off-grid use.... 

"Take me to your leader...."

A Review Of The Ikea "Sunnan" Light....

The thing DOES kind of look robot/alien-like, doesn't it?

     This, is the newish series of small and compact solar lighting from Ikea, a store I seem to frequent a heck of alot, as, well, there's one in my town. I decided to give this solar light of theirs, the "Sunnan", a try, as I liked the look of it, and I'm a sucker for the color orange. This little light also comes in white, red, black, blue, yellow, and so on. With my "Tiny House Summer Camp" on the horizon in Vermont (no power out there) I thought it'd be neat to try out some new lighting products too- aside from the trusty old Coleman gas lanterns, which have served me well for almost twenty years (there's a link to those below too).

     Well, overall, without getting technical, I had the chance to test it out quite a bit while camping in an off-grid tiny cabin in Massachusetts with my family the other week, and I have to say, all in all, I'm pretty pleased. Here's the thing though, and what you'll find when reading the reviews in the link below; The solar cell (which is removable), when plugged back in, has to be set just right, or the light won't turn on. It took me a few frustrating tries to plug and angle it in the proper way, but once I got the hang of it, I was pretty amazed at how bright the emitted light is, and it was easy to operate from there on out. So, the good: The light is easily bright enough to read by, and even to check for deer ticks by, which we used it for every night with our kids at the camp. The other plus is that for each light sold, Ikea ships one to a third world country so that students in homes without power will be able to read books and study at night. I like the idea. I also like the modern look and rugged build of this light, and the neck is flexible for ease-of-positioning as well, which comes in handy.

The bad: On a full charge the light is only said to last 3 hours, and it takes 11 hours of very decent sun to fully charge this unit. That said, it seemed that I was getting a long run out of each charge, and only when charging it for 6-8 hours in passing sun, and again, the light given off is pretty bright for such a small lens/l..e.d. array.

The cabin where my family stayed and where I tested out this light for a week....

 All in all I'm pleased, but I just wish they built in a simple, recessed wall mount, as something like this would be perfect to wall hang, near a source of natural light, in a tiny house or cabin- a push-button wall light.

Ikea sells these for about $20- online, they're more, but if there's no Ikea near you, there's little else you can do. 

Here's some links so you can check out more info, reviews, and all that....

Also, plain ole kerosene/oil lanterns have always worked well for me too, they're easy to used, I love the old fashioned look of them, they're extremely affordable, and are built so simply, that little can usually go wrong with them. They do, however, no give off as much light as the Coleman gas lanterns (especially the dual mantle ones), or the Ikea Sunnan. On a full tank though, they do last a long time- up to eight hours in some cases. 

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Holy Crap!? A tiny house/cabin with walls and windows made of ICE??

 LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these photos! The idea is not so practical, but man oh man is this a cool little Norwegian fishing hut/ice fishing house. This one comes from the Norwegian architecture and design firm, Gartnerfuglen Arkitekter- try saying that ten times fast! Its call "The Unavailability Mobile Ice Fishing Hut" and its windows are simply chicken wire in wooden frames, where water is later filled in these forms, and frozen in place to create window panes. It takes two to assemble, as the photos show.

Again, it really doesn't make much practical sense (why not just use regular light weight windows?), but I love the daring and wild nature of the whole thing. Its a cool looking little greenhouse-esque cabin too.

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Modern Ice Fishing Shacks For Rent (Tiny House Possibilities!) in North Dakota

Check out these cool little wheeled cabins....and you can rent them! I wish they had some interior shots though!

Some hate the look, but here's an example of how metal roofing can effectively (and quickly/cheaply) be used for siding on a cabin, tiny house, or any dwelling at all.

These are in Eastern South Dakota around the Lake Thompson, Madison and Watertown areas, and here's what the website mentions....

Ice fishing shacks are 8 by 20 Each fish house has ten holes One wall heater per house Battery hookup for lights in each Four beds in each fish house Easy set up Each wheel cranks up individually including the hitch.  You should bring 1 additional small heater for the back of the fishing shack. Also I'd suggest a lantern to save on your battery. Price is $100.00 a day. To book in advance, $50.00 deposit is required. Last minute cancellations, no refund. Home phone number. 605-627-5709. Cell number. 605-691-4133. Call me at the above numbers to get more information. There are also smaller fishing shacks or shanties available for rent. Price on the smaller ice fishing houses is $50.00 per day.

Tiny House Building in Brooklyn on The History Channel

 Tiny Houses on The History Channel- with the ESPN hosts/duo The Sklar Brothers, and us at Relaxshacks.com

Note: The Cabin we built in this episode is for sale...... via www.tinyhouselistings.com- its called "The All Eights Micro-Cabin"- below is a side video I shot on it too, while on set for this brand new tv show....

If the cabin doesn't sell, I've been contemplating another one or two day tiny house building workshop in MA (a backyard workshop like last year), where we re-assemble this cabin, but tweak, and improve upon it- with some other building as well.....if you might be into this (perhaps in the late fall)- kidcedar at gmail dot com....

Anyway....

Earlier this week the "Livin' Large" episode of the new show "The United STATS of America" (hosted by the comedic twins Jason and Randy Sklar) finally aired. This episode, which I was a part of, was filmed back in October in a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, where I was asked (with zero notice) to pitch, design, pre-build, then pack, haul (from Boston), drop-off, and assemble a tiny guest house-like structure, in all of three days (two of which I was watching both of my kids, to further complicate things). Well....we got 'er done, and the episode, and the show, is/are pretty great.

A link to the entire episode is below, if you'd like to check it out. The tiny house we built, myself, Dustin Diedricksen, and repeat collaborator/hired gun, Steve "Bulldoze" Sparaco, all start showing up in the 36 minute mark too. The whole episode is pretty damn interesting though- all on the American obsession with space, and "more, more, more!".

CHECK OUT THE FULL EPISODE HERE....
 http://www.history.com/shows/united-stats-of-america/videos/united-stats-of-america-livin-large

And the old school, undercover, diy, lo-fi video we shot just after completing this cabin....

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Woven Willow Exo-Skeleton Construction For Micro Shelters/Domes...

Cross Ventilation is important! lol- This photo was just appealing to me in a cross-breeze manner, as today is day #2 here in MA where it was just around 100 degrees out. Yeowch! -and it isn't a dry heat....

Anyhow, something to consider here, even if it just is whimsical.....hear me out....

    When its outgrown its use, there's no dismantling, and no dump runs needed- a garden shelter like this would simply rot and return to the earth. That could also be considered its downside. It'd obviously make for a great kids fort. I have a similar plan/idea called "The Hunchback's Hovel" in my tiny housing/shelter book "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks".
      Whatever the case, I love this idea, and its something I'd like to try at some point. Its so simple too- just build a base, drill holes around the perimeter, stick the long branch lengths into the holes and tie them/bring them together at a peak, and then weave in the walls.
     I suppose you could also cover this with chicken wire layers, or hardware cloth, and then a few coats of ferrocement to make it a mini concrete dome home.....cob and mud building and wattle and daub techniques could also be combined with this skeletal approach too....

Just some ideas, and I thought it was a fun photo.....

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Tiny House (Log Cabin) in The Woods of Massachusetts- Part 2....

Here's some shots of the other cabin that my Brother and I, and his family, were using....so simple, but pretty amazing....with a view of the lake..... this tiny cabin/house, is about 14' by 20' or so, with a woodstove, two sets of bunk beds, lots of shelving, and a cathedral ceiling. It feels alot bigger inside, than it is. (all photos by Deek)

Beth, the woman who usually stays in this cabin, LOVES tiny fairy houses, and a few of them seem to dot the land around this cabin- you'll even catch the appearance of a gnome here and there if you're lucky. This little dollhouse-esque set-up, is built into the side of this tiny log cabin- to plug a pre-existing hole, it seems.

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

A Tiny Cabin/House in the Middle Of The Woods in Massachusetts

      A belated father's day to all, although I did post a father's day tiny ("Tie-nee") house sketch concept over on Kent's Tinyhouseblog.com, but the reason for the radio silence is that I've been staying off grid in a cabin, deep in the woods of Massachusetts.... no elec, no running water, all nature (well, except for this excursion to check my email for our upcoming "Tiny House Summer Camp", and this blog).

Anyway, here's a few photos I took- A Tiny Cabin At Sunset....again, part of several hundred new photos I've been taken for the eventual follow-up to my tiny house and cabin design concept book "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks".

PS- I've had quite a few people ask what camera I use for all my tiny house shots, and well, its just a simple Canon Powershot- the Elph 300 HS- not even their newest model, but still one of best sellers worldwide now. I love this thing, its tiny, has a few built in lens effects, and takes some real decent photos. Just FYI- I posted a link below- and I would not recommend stuff if I didn't like/love it or believe in it. Heck, I've even NOT recommended a few things before on this blog. 

A Tiny House/Hut/Vermont Cabin Begins Anew....

Here's a quick shot of the loose base/layout for THE SITE we'll be building a tiny cabin/guest house on in Vermont, at my Relaxshacks.com "Tiny House Building Summer Camp". Just a few weeks away now! I can't wait! LOTS of prep, packing, wood hauling, site clearing, improving, and more, have been done in anticipation of the backwoods gathering we'll be having for four days, and the camp looks better than it ever has before. Building, guest speakers from many areas of the country, and camp fire discussions at night- man, this is going to be fun!

THICK cedar sills, later to be re-inforced, map out the future pad/size of the little cabin we'll all build....ALL the joists have yet to be installed....

     The cabin we're building (a somewhat open design, to be determined in part, by the workshop group) will be a small 8' by 10' footprint, but built with add-on potential in mind (a wall covered, framed in door, for future expansion, if need be). We probably will add in a sleep loft, and even a tiny bathroom area, so as to make this more challenging, and fun, design wise!

One/two spots open for the workshop, I believe.... then we close the sign-ups. kidcedar at gmail dot com

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

Tiny House Eye Candy- A small cabin by a rocky river

Got this photo in my inbox today, from Marty Skrelunas. What a cool little place!

 Deek,
I wanted to share this. Notice the three broken paddles, a rock river is just a few dozen yards away. This is just a few dedicated weekends away from being habitable!  -Marty S.

A woodland map of the Tiny House Summer Camp's Workshop Grounds in Vermont

I've always been a fan of looking at maps, and as a kid I used to draw them as well....so, naturally, for the attendees of Relaxshacks.com's "Tiny House Building Summer Camp" (July 6-9th) in Orleans, Vermont, here's the layout of the grounds we'll be hanging out on. Between my land, and my neighbors, which we have permission to use, its roughly a 35 acre spread that we'll be roaming and working in. I can't wait! Still room for one/two more in the workshop. Kidcedar at gmail dot com.

Click to enlarge, rotate, print, incinerate, etc....

 We should have another post coming today as well.....

CONTAINED- a video on two tiny stacked shipping containers as INTERIOR dwellings

LOVE THIS VIDEO, and loved the article that preceded it in Dwell Magazine a few months back. Great use of space, color, and ingenuity, although, I'm sure the owners spared no expense. Still, a video and project like this is beautiful to see, and just goes to show how versatile in use used shipping containers, as tiny houses, off-grid cabins, apartments, or interior partitioned dwellings, can be!

Sadly, on youtube, this video was simply, and poorly titled "Contained", so that relatively few have found it by way of search words. Lets change that for 'em, shall we? Minutes ago, as of me posting this, the video only had 1208 views, which is a shame, and its been up for a pretty long time too. Its a great little video, and I think you'll agree....  -Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

PS- coming soon, I have a tiny little walk through video of the ACTUAL new cabin (the one we'll all be building) locale for July's "Tiny House Summer Camp" that I'm hosting in Northern Vermont. I can't wait, and the new home for this future-cabin is in such a great little spot- next to a huge boulder.

Free Tiny House Building Materials...."JUST ASK, and you just might receive!"

     Time and time again I've said to myself, thank god I simply knocked on a door, or stopped my car and asked so and so "You're not going to toss that ________ by any chance"?
     Well, here's the latest find, a 9' by 4' window! The guy was doing a remodeling job, and in the process of loading it into his pick-up truck, when I pulled off the road to ask him what he had planned for the window. The guy was happy (as most are) to know it wasn't being thrown away. He even drove it two miles back to my house for me! Talk about luck, I tossed him a $10 thank you, and this window now awaits some tiny house project. I'm not sure how well something this large will transport, so I'm thinking "Tiny House Summer Camp", the workshop in Vermont I'm hosting, might not be the right place for it. Rest assured though, it'll be used! I already have many concept sketches.  -Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

No cracks, the putty work is great, and the paint job's fine!

Tiny, Tiny Houses Of Connecticut

     As I've mentioned before, I've been taking TONS of photos for the eventual follow-up to my tiny house, shelter, cottage, and treehouse concept book "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks".
     Dud's Village in Madison, CT (The town I grew up in) is one of the "Best Tiny House Sight-Seeing Towns" in my current book, but sadly, we didn't have room for photos of this place- especially, as its probably one of my earliest and largest influences on loving tiny architecture. When I was a kid, my parents used to take me joy riding through this area on sundays after church, and I just loved the look of the houses, and the communal, fun, summer, vibe of this whole place. My own obsession with building kid's forts, and the gift of the book "Tiny, Tiny Houses" by Lester Walker, went on to solidify my early, and now, long-lasting, interest in tiny houses. I've been into it since I was ten years old, and built my first little cabin, with a bed, electricity, tv, hammock, and insulation, when I was 10 as well- influenced, no doubt, by Dud's Village (and its neighboring "Young's Village").

Note: As this is a private drive/village, if you ever do visit, please be respectful. Walking this area's 5-6 streets is the best option, and the least obtrusive for its residents (the streets are tiny, and there is a 5 mph limit). I've yet to meet an unfriendly person here. Just don't walk around the place like a jerk, and thinkin' you own the joint, and you won't get any hassle.
    I'd also park by Donahue's restaurant out front, and walk in from there. Across the street is the New England famous Fish Tale restaurant, and Nuzzo's Pizza right next store is great too. You're also directly next to (by means of a small hiking trail) Connecticut's largest state beach- Hammonasett State Park, or "Hammo", as we call it. Grand Apizza, in Clinton, CT is one of THE BEST pizza places I've been to, as well- definitely worth a stop. "The Clam Castle"- a Madison summer take-out fixture, is another spot to hit (walking distance from Dud's Village).

I might release a fuller photo roll of this area soon as a guest post on tinyhouseblog.com 

Also, there are almost TWENTY tiny houses for sale in these neighborhoods right now- some might even be for rent, if you want to try them out. Overall, I'd imagine that this area holds over 100 small/tiny homes- easily. 

MORE TO COME!

A recycled/repurposed pallet deck at a tiny/small house rental in CT

A "redneck" recycled pallet deck, photo by Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

     Well, I just got back from CT, visiting some family, and doing a book presentation, slide show, and signing at the Guilford Library (which went VERY well- 92 people, on a normally-dead Saturday too! Thank you!), and had the chance to take MANY photos for my eventual tiny house follow-up book to "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks". I nabbed some shots of some really tiny homes from the Connecticut Shoreline area, and over time will be sharing them with you here, and perhaps on Kent Griswold's Tinyhouseblog.com and on Alex Pino's tinyhousetalk.com. Both great guys, with great blogs....

Meanwhile, yup, still preppin' like crazy for "Tiny House Summer Camp"in Vermont- where we might have one additional bad-ass guest on board....details to come.... I really can't wait for this 4 day excursion into tiny house and cabin building! We still have a little room if you might be interested. kidcedar at gmail dot com.

Anyway, above, is a pallet, that my father grabbed from the post construction blitz in the wake of hurricane Irene. This thing is huge, 5' by 12' perhaps, and on seeing it, I suggested it be dragged, and "made" into a tiny little deck, overlooking the marsh our three generations rental cottage sits on. I've seen this view a million times, and it still hasn't gotten old to me. This place is for rent too, and we have openings in the summer, so contact me if you might be interested- it might stand as a chance to try out small house living, as this cape cottage is barely 1000 square feet, but clevely laid out to make it seem like more- it has its own little beach too. Again, email me at the address mentioned above. I'd gladly give you a call to tell you where all the tiny house sight seeing in the area is too....and then some.....

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

FOURTEEN fun and ultra-tiny cabin/small house, and treehouse concepts

NOTE: THIS SATURDAY (tomorrow)- I'll be speaking and presenting a tiny house slide show at the Guilford, CT library- FREE!!! Come out and say hello! 3pm to 4:30. I'll also have my micro cabin "The GottaGiddaWay" on hand.....

As for today....
I've been so busy with teaching workshops for the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company (upcoming I have Washington, DC on June 30th-July 1st, then later Chicago and NYC), prepping my own 2nd Relaxshacks.com workshop ("Tiny House Summer Camp" in Vermont), AND building and filming things for Make Magazine, that I mostly forgot about "Sixty Shack Sketches in Sixty Days". Sorry!

NOTE: These are all quick, sloppy, rough drafts, NOT what you'll find in my book.....

    Well, "Sixty Days" was meant as a lead up to the release of the NEW version of my tiny house idea/design book "Humble Homes, Simple Shacks", but by now has become "...in one hundred and sixty days". I am a man that likes to finish what I started however, so to make it up to you, all in one post, here are the remaining sketches I never had a chance to post. I made it up to #55, I believe, so lets just end this glacier-speed spree, and drop many of 'em all at once (and then some).

Many of these  I've done more recently while brainstorming ideas for the tiny cabin/house that all attendees of my Tiny House Summer Camp workshop will be building. Some of the sketches are damn rough, as well, that was the idea....others, the next houseboat one below, for instance, are unrelated altogether.

 

This upcoming Vermont workshop still has room for about 4-5 people, so email me at kidcedar at gmail dot com if you might be interested. Thanks!

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen

The Land Of Misfit Furniture- My Small Cabin In The Woods of Vermont

 BACK TO VERMONT'S NORTHEAST KINGDOM....TRIP #3 in 3 three weeks.....
MORE PHOTOS TO COME on Kent Griswold's www.TINYHOUSEBLOG.com

The "New" part of my cabin, this room is 12' by 16', and was built for about $1000.00

       Well, it was up to Vermont (my camp/cabin/land) again these last three days in preparation for Vermont's Tiny House Building Summer Camp (July 6-9th- there's still room for about 4 people to sign up) and this time it was a family camp-out affair, with my kids, and my mother, Sigrid Diedricksen along for the experience as well. We knew, ahead of time, that the weather was going to be awful, but much had to be done, wood had to be delivered to the build site, the main cabin needed to be finished up, and well, you name it- and "Siggy" was a huge help. The good news: We ended up getting EVERYTHING done that I aimed to do, even doing some hammering work late one night by lantern light, and the last day's weather ended up being gorgeous. The only thing I regret is not getting to make a stop at The Goodridge Lumber/Saw Mill in Albany, as I love that place- but.....we'll make a field trip there, with a tour, as part of our workshop to see them milling cedar. The place is great, and its where I get most of my wood for just about anything.

    Anyhow, here are a few new photos of my cabin/camp, taken with a "widish" angle lens, which makes the place look a bit bigger than it is. This cabin, which I started at age 22 when I bought the land, has gone through a few transformations over the years, and now stands at just under 300 square feet- not counting the loft, which isn't standable (its 10' by 10', and about 6' by 10' of it is useable/maneuvrable.) It was built with four people in mind (my family), but can house/sleep up to ten.

Above: The seat I'm in: Free. The orange couch: Free. The end table: Free. The fake potted plant: Free. ALL windows: Free. The woodstove: $75. The cedar chest/coffee table: $20. Gettin' the hell outta Boston to hang out in the woods: Priceless.

Above: looking outside the cabin, from the ground up....

-Derek "Deek" Diedricksen