That is why we call them “Seattle’s Tiny Jewels.” Each one is like a perfect little many-faceted gem, built from scratch for our customers who have a BIG tiny dream!
Hand-built by a crew of very talented tiny home experts, you will see every phase of your tiny house’s build, from the plans to the delivery day, all uploaded for your viewing pleasure to the customer folder on the drive. Choose your roof, your siding, your colors, your house’s layout. Why shouldn’t your tiny house express who you are? We think it should.
photo by Jeff Layton
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This beautiful Alki has everything you could dream of, including a bedroom over the 5th wheel that you can stand up in!
Recently, we had the great fortune to get some of our most frequently asked questions answered… by one of our favorite customers who is living in his hand-built Seattle Tiny Homes tiny house on wheels. Some of you might have seen these folks on the episode of Tiny House Nation, “Big Dog, Tiny House” last season. The Porters are a young couple that are using their tiny home to travel, and living in it with not only their (very) big dog, but also their adorable toddler Emery. (We were so grieved to hear of the passing of one of their two big dogs in the summer. We send them our deepest condolences. Losing a pet is so hard!) Below is our interview with Sean….
Q: Specs of your tiny house:
Model- Alki
30′ – Bumper Pull
16,000+ lbs.
Hauled with: 2010 Ford F450 (Upgraded Hitch -> 20k lbs. and 20k lbs. weight distribution system)
Q: What made you go tiny?
With me working from home, living tiny and mobile was a way for us to be able to travel and see the country and spend larger amounts of time with our families and friends without having to leave our dogs behind. This desire in addition to not being able to afford to live in the area that we wanted to made the time before Emery was in school the perfect time to embark on this adventure.
Q: Can you tell us about your tiny home journey?
We always loved HGTV, and from there we saw a couple of shows about tiny houses, and then randomly came across other shows as well that continued our interest in the movement. Initially, my interest was more from the aspect of building it myself whereas my wife is the minimalist and loved the idea of getting rid of all our stuff!
We started considering doing it ourselves as I’m more than capable of building it and since I had tons of free time at the time. I started looking into designs and options. We found a website tinyhousebuild.com and read up of their story (among many others) They were offering the sale of plans (half off at Christmas) so we bought their plans. Shortly thereafter, we found out Kate was pregnant and therefore any thought of a TH got put on hold until we figured out how to handle life with a little one.
Fast forward 4 months, we sold our 2600-sq. ft. house and moved into a 750-sq. ft. house closer to Kate’s work.
Fast forward another year, our landlord wanted to sell his house, we wanted to live in that area but couldn’t afford it, so suddenly, we were seriously considering a tiny house. This is when we started looking at options for financing, sourcing, and building. I still really wanted to build it myself, but we ran into a lot of problems finding financing. So we started looking elsewhere, and that was when we came across Seattle Tiny Homes and Sharon. After meeting with Sharon, her enthusiasm and attention to detail earned our trust which helped seal the deal.
Q: Can you tell us a little about the Build Process?
If anyone has built a home (or tiny home) from scratch, there is a LOT that goes into it; a lot of details and decisions that need to be made. The initial planning discussions went well, Sharon told us some of the general ideas that we needed to follow to stay within RV certification and worked with the designs and needs that Kate and I had put together. After getting a floor plan together came the hard part. There were decisions based around finishes, lighting, plugs, countertops, floors, cabinets, walls, light switches…. obviously, the list goes on. If I had one complaint about the process, it was regarding some of the decisions that needed to be made. For the most part, Sharon would generally tell us we could do anything we wanted to…. Unfortunately, this can get extremely tiring to do all the research on all the options for things!
Q: What is life like now in your tiny house?
Life is an adventure. There are difficulties and compromises, but we’re making it work and are loving the time we’ve spent visiting with family and friends. We love almost everything, the joys of fully custom building, you get exactly what you want. The light and bright feel we were going for is present in the entire house.
Q: Are there aspects of your tiny house not often seen in others?
We were planning our tiny house for 2 adults that work from home, 2 large dogs, and a toddler. So a number of those things had to be taken into account. I think generally speaking, you don’t often see a full size standard crib in a tiny house, or a dishwasher / peninsula. The kitchen was a huge part of our design, and we had to love it, so the 3cm silestone counters, and the marble tile backsplash had to happen. (Despite their weight addition.) I also don’t often see people in the TH community with our design style. Most seem to go with warm and rustic, and we went with light, bright and modern.
Q: Have you made adaptations and changes since you moved in?
Closets / Clothes storage / Storage in general. We added closets up in the main loft as well as a dresser, we added a bunch of high storage in the nursery and a whole storage unit the secondary loft as well. Beyond that, it’s been mostly organizational things.
Q: What do you do when we need time or space?
We go somewhere… I’ll go for a bike ride, Kate will sew (and I’ll take Emery out of the house). Sometimes I work from the truck as opposed to the house, to get a little space. (Emery likes to come have conversations with me when I’m on the phone for work.)
Q: Do you see generational differences with regards to going minimal?
The baby boomer generation coined the concept of “Keeping up with the Joneses”; I think that our generation doesn’t suffer from that same sort of stigma, at least not to the same extent. There is also a surge in the love of the outdoors and the desire to see a lot of it and going minimal and tiny makes that easier.
When we began building our tiny homes, we were faced with two options: buy third-party manufactured cabinets, like some of our competitors do, or craft our own to suit the unique demands of our clients and the special constraints of a tiny home. We chose the second option. Though this arrangement demands much more talent, planning, and labor, we are confident you’ll love the results and agree that we made the right choice!
Seattle Tiny Homes cabinets begin with top quality three-quarter-inch plywood, constructed to the highest standards.
Building Cabinets to Last
Many cabinets available today are made with cheap chipboard and entry-level hardware. In contrast, we construct all our cabinets from highly durable, lightweight, and non-toxic three-quarter-inch maple plywood. Cabinet joints are fitted with glue and dowel construction, which ensures a tight and sturdy product built to last a lifetime through the rigors of daily use and road travel.
For internal hardware, our cabinets boast high-end Blum door hinges and drawer rails. These hinges and rails self-close, keeping drawers and doors shut and their contents in place as your tiny home joggles down the road. The drawer rails are rated to hold 100 lbs. when fully extended, so you’ll be able to load them up with peace of mind.
Our cabinets feature space-saving European design and high end touches like Blum drawer rails.
You’re Unique . . . So Your Cabinets Should be Too!
Since you will be the one living in the tiny home, we believe it is only natural that you should have a say in how you want the cabinets to be. How much storage space do you want? Where should the cabinets sit on the floor plan? How will they look on the outside (color, handles, arrangement)? You decide. No two finished homes of ours are the same simply because none of our clients are the same.
Ray, our experienced cabinetmaker, together with other partners on our team who are experienced in tiny home interior design, will help you get the most out of the space in your home while making it look great too. We know how to fit cabinets over the wheel wells, under the stairs, and even under the fridge!
Kara and Mark, happy owners of one of our custom tiny homes on wheels, recently shared their perspectives with us about their experience customizing its cabinets. Kara says,
“We had complete control over every square inch of the cabinetry. The only restrictions were the size of the kitchen, standard heights/widths, allowances for the wheel wells, etc. It was like having a blank canvas, which is great since Mark is a very talented chef and heavily uses the kitchen…. Our goal was to be able to keep as much of his cooking equipment as possible, while also creating space to store pantry items….
“Every visitor we have had in our home comments on how our kitchen is nicer (and sometimes larger) than the ones they have in their “full size” homes…. Their jaws really drop when we show them the custom corner cabinets and the pull out hanging pot/pan organizer!”
When every square inch counts, you need cabinets designed to meet your unique needs!
Designed for Optimal Space and Functionality
As you use our cabinets, something you will experience from your first day in your tiny home is their optimal space and functionality. We use a European design, which means no space-eating face frames or interior bracing. The result is drawers that are all inches wider and deeper than the standard layout would allow. You’ll appreciate this extra square inches, which quickly adds up across the kitchen, pantry, and bathroom. But that’s not all….
Under-counter cutting boards in the kitchen can be pulled out for temporary counter-top expansion. We also like to include pullout platforms for your favorite appliances. When your coffee maker, blender, and mixer are on a dedicated pullout platform, they can stay plugged in but off the counter and neatly out of the way when not in use. This clutter-reducing trick both aesthetically and practically simplifies your life, and exemplifies our commitment to simple, mindful living.
Kara adds:
“We had thought that going “tiny” would mean we would need to adjust to a sub-par cooking/kitchen experience since we would have to sacrifice in terms of space and functionality; however, we have been able to step up our game in the kitchen! We have such a well-designed space and extremely functional cabinets/storage, that we haven’t sacrificed at all and consider our current situation a total upgrade to the kitchens we’ve experienced in our past.
“The other wonderful thing about the custom cabinetry was the building team and Sharon—every time there was an unforeseen hurdle to our designs, she would communicate with me and I was able to come up with some very creative solutions that her team pulled off without a hitch! There was never a time when we couldn’t figure out how to solve an issue collaboratively. It was a great experience.”
Whatever your reasons for choosing a tiny home, you’ll love the way you can customize its storage space to suit your unique needs. Not only will you own a functional, durable product, but one that is beautiful as well.
Get in touch today and ask how we can help you design and build the cabinets in the tiny home of your dreams!
Cabinet highlights:
Durable, non-toxic three-quarter-inch maple plywood
High-end self-closing Blum hinges and drawer glides
6 Key Benefits to Switching to LED Lighting in Your Tiny House
by Guest Blogger Jackie Edwards
All the same benefits to living in a tiny house are found in LED lighting. If you chose to live in a tiny home because it was compact, LEDs are also compact. If protecting the environment is your main concern, light emitting diodes are the eco-friendliest form of lighting available. Here are the top six benefits of having LED lighting in your tiny house.
Durability
There are no glass enclosures or filaments in LED light bulbs. This means they can withstand vibrations and heavy impacts. They are kind of like smartphones. They are connected with soldered leads on a circuit board. It is possible to damage them, but it’s much less likely than other forms of illumination that feature glass in their construction.
Better for the Environment
You need fewer diodes to light your house than you would need bulbs. For instance, to get the illumination of a 36-watt diode, you would need an 84-watt incandescent bulb. This can reduce your carbon footprint by as much as 70 percent. And, 95 percent of the power they take in is converted into lighting.
Safer
Also, LEDs are brighter than incandescent bulb counterparts. When you install them inside and outside your tiny home, you make it easier for everyone to see, which makes your property safer. Also, they do not contain mercury or other hazardous materials so you don’t have to worry about accidents or special disposal of your diodes.
Unaffected by Cold Temps
You need more energy to heat up when it’s cold outside. That is the basic science that causes other types of light bulbs to dim in winter weather. LEDs get better as the temperature drops. In fact, according to the Department of Energy, the diodes are five percent more efficient at -5 C than at 25 C. This makes them ideal for everything from your refrigerator to your external lights.
Long Life
LEDs do not actually stop working or burn out. Instead, they just dim over long periods of time. How long? Diodes last anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 hours. That is up to 11 years of nonstop use. In comparison, incandescent bulbs last about 1,000 hours, and fluorescent bulbs last for 10,000 hours if you’re lucky.
Energy Efficient
If you live in a tiny house because you want to save on energy, then LED lights are a no-brainer. They are the most energy-efficient alternative on the market. They are the best at converting electricity into light without producing telltale heat.
Email us today to discuss LED custom lighting in your tiny home!
Ready to join the Traveling Tiny House on Wheels Club? Those stout-hearted adventurers who don’t just want to live tiny but want to travel large while doing it? With summer now fully arrived, I know your fingers are itching to hitch up that THOW! (To the uninitiated in the arcane lingo of Tiny Homes, that is “Tiny House On Wheels” but to those in the know, these are also “Simply THE Coolest RVs To Ever Let Wheels Hit the Pavement.”)
I know, I know! The idea of taking that tiny house on a road trip is so exciting, it gives you Adventure Shivers! I feel the same way. Don’t hyperventilate just yet. Before you succumb to emotional euphoria, let us help you prep for the journey. We have put together a short list of tips for Traveling with THOWs for those who are ready to embark for the 1st time. For tiny houses on wheels built by Seattle Tiny Homes, the road trip is a natural idea, since each one is a licensed RV travel trailer. They can be pulled anywhere that any other RV travel trailer can, and without a special license or permit. It simply feels more like a “home away from home,” because it is! I can’t imagine a more ideal way to explore the Unites States than traveling in my own tiny house, sleeping in my own bed every night, and anticipating each new bend in the road ahead!
How to prep for your THOW journey…
“Light things upward go; heavy things, stay down low.” When packing, think of this little rhyme that is surprisingly easy to remember. This was a reminder my father taught me when I was young and learning to pack for one of our long camping trips. On these trips, we would drive along many twisty and often frightening dirt roads with steep drop-offs …no guard rails included! These often caused me to squinch my eyes shut tightly but the destination was always worth it! While we can assume your THOW won’t be traveling these sorts of paths, we can guess you will want the most stable load you can have, and this will help. When you’re parked in one place for long periods of time, you often don’t think about weight distribution in the same way you do when you’re traveling.
Things to leave out: There are similarities between prepping for a journey and prepping for a tiny life. Minimalism is goodness. Although it’s tempting to bring a lot of STUFF when you head out RVing in the name of preparedness, resist, resist, resist!!! Remember that the concept of going tiny is to live more simply, and that idea doesn’t go away because you’re now on vacation. Challenge those naughty Over-Shopping gremlins that live in your head and ask yourself questions like: “How often do I use this in my daily life?” “Can I buy this elsewhere?” For example, you can usually find water and food along the route, so save weight and space, and don’t pre-purchase too much.
Plan your parking: it is worth it to think ahead where you will be driving and where you’ll be parking your tiny house. There are some largely unfounded rumors about RV parks not allowing tiny homes. Tiny homes are usually welcomed just like any other RV, and perhaps even more in some cases. After all, tiny houses are so much fun to look at! What RV campground wouldn’t like to play host to one for a night or two? We will include some ideas below to help you get started. However, it is a wise tiny home owner who plans ahead, and then you can avoid those RV campgrounds that oddly don’t want a tiny house parked there.
Check the weather. Another good trip-planning activity to do prior to hitting the road, and then continuing doing as you travel, is to stay aware of the weather ahead. If you can, change your timeline and route to avoid “non-vacation” weather. After all, even though we love our tiny houses, the point of vacation is to get outside! Sunshine + tiny house = awesomeness!
Joy is the point. Don’t get hung up in the details so that you are missing the forest. Expect your THOW vacation to be fun! There are different apps you can use to take some of the stress, headache, and costs out of planning… such as www.rvtripwizard.com. Additionally, to relieve you of some of the planning time, here is a couple of “tiny-house friendly” Camping and RV spots in the Pacific Northwest that we recommend for your tiny summer vacation journey. So get out there and start exploring this fantastic country we call home!
Places to Go in the PNW:
We are listing just a few of the places in the Pacific Northwest we would suggest you put on your list to visit on your Tiny Home on Wheels vacation, but remember this is just the tip of the campground iceberg. A very reputable source (a tiny house-dwelling couple that travels with their THOW) has told us : KOA campgrounds are quite welcoming to tiny houses. That is good information to have if the day is growing long and you’re ready to park it for the night… Look for a KOA!
From the owners: “We have a nice little community of permanents already here at the park with RV’s we would love to have tiny home travelers stay and visit our park or make it their permanent home spot. We offer full hook ups in every site, we provide wireless internet throughout the park, we have a kids water slide, a pool, volleyball net, horseshoe game, and an area with kids toys. We are open all year round and we have some of the friendliest employee and guests here in Moses Lake!”
From the owners: “It will always be the site of the old dam, so it will still be ‘The Best RV Park by a Dam Site’, deserving of the 10 consecutive Best of Port Angeles Awards in the Recreational Vehicle Parks qualifying for Port Angeles Business Hall of Fame. You’ll find this camp conveniently located just off of Scenic Highway 112, by the beautiful Elwha River Canyon and former Dam site. It’s a most peaceful setting in the woods, convenient to fishing, boating and beachcombing on the North Olympic Coast, as well as hiking and biking trails in the Olympic National Park. Come join us for a night, or a longer visit, and see why the Elwha Dam R.V. Park is such a great place to stay. We’re proud of our park, and proud of the recognition and awards we’re getting.”
Travel the Highway West to Oceanside Beachfront RV Resort where you can unwind in unique accommodations such as vintage trailer and airstream rentals, cottages, tents, or in the comfort of your own RV. Enjoy the rejuvenating Oregon Coast with a variety of on-site amenities including a convenient crab shack and complimentary Wi-Fi. Oceanside also allows guests to easily access Oregon beaches where many guests enjoy whale watching or fishing. Relax at our resort or explore the local museums and wineries that Coos Bay has to offer. If you are looking for a memorable vacation experience on the Oregon Coast, look no further than Oceanside! From the management: We just wanted to say we love hosting tiny homes and offer a fantastic location right on the beach with full hookups. We offer daily rates as well as monthly stays from November thru April if anyone wants to experience life on the Oregon coast.”
from the website: …where you can unwind in comfortable accommodations such as lodge and cabin rentals and full-service RV sites. Enjoy Oregon’s majestic beauty with a variety of on-site amenities including a convenient general store, boat mooring at the marina, and complimentary Wi-Fi. Shelter Cove also allows guests to easily access many of the areas most popular attractions and destinations. Fishing and boating on Odell Lake, cross-country skiing at the Oregon Cascades, and the serene surroundings of Deschutes National Forest and Willamette National Forest are just a few of the points of interest situated just moments away from our resort. If you are looking for a memorable vacation experience in the heart of Oregon, look no further than Shelter Cove!
from the website: They say the grass is always greener on the other side, but if you ask us, the grass is pretty green over here. It’s tranquil and peaceful. Everything I need. Stop by CI RV PARK to see for yourself. We closed the golf course and made it a private park.Escape to what has been considered by many a place to regroup your thoughts. This work in progress is where your mind, body, and soul will relax and become one with trees. We have RV sites for the largest of rigs and can provide storage area as well.
from the website: Delta Bay was established in 1988, and is a RV and tiny house resort in California Delta, one hour from SF Bay Area and Sacramento. The natural resort is on a 12 acre forested and grass covered estate. The resort provides convenient access to touring the local wine country, historic river towns, and surrounding wetland wildlife habitats. Visitors enjoy camping, boating, fishing, waterskiing, birdwatching, and relaxing in a peaceful rural setting with friendly service and country club amenities.
And remember! State parks are a great place to explore:
