See a Tiny House at West Seattle Summer Fest this Weekend

July 8, 2016 8 Comments

If you live in the Seattle area, this weekend is your chance to tour one of our newest tiny homes! We’re a sponsor of GreenLife at the West Seattle Summer Fest this weekend, and we’ll be there with a gorgeous 24-foot Alki model. If you’ve always wanted to see the inside of a tiny house, come see a tiny house at West Seattle Summer Fest this weekend!

tiny house kitchen

Dates and times are:

Friday, July 8: 10am – 6pm
Saturday, July 9: 10am – 6pm
Sunday, July 10: 11am – 5pm

Sharon Read, founder of Seattle Tiny Homes, will also be speaking about tiny homes at the main GreenLife stage at noon on Saturday, July 9.

The GreenLife area, sponsored by Sustainable West Seattle, is located in the south end of the festival. You can view a map here. The West Seattle Summer Fest is a fun event with activities for the whole family. For more information, visit the Summer Fest website.

tiny house steps

If you’re at all interested in tiny home living, you owe it to yourself to swing by. Everyone who steps into the Alki model is surprised at its spacious but highly efficient design.

This home features a daybed on the main floor, stairs to the loft, and a jetted tub in the bathroom! There’s also a solar-powered mini-split to provide heating and cooling.

Make Your Dream Real

Build your tiny house with the most comprehensive construction plans available today.

Seattle Tiny Homes is now offering building plans for our most popular Alki model, a moveable micro home. See your dream become reality as you follow intricately detailed documents that take the guesswork out of installing your home’s most complicated systems (like electrical, plumbing, propane, and HVAC). Few things are more satisfying than building your own tiny home, and these plans give you the best possible opportunity to succeed.

We’d love to see you there, so we hope you can make it!

Look for the Orange Door at the Puyallup RV Show

April 27, 2016 Leave a Comment

We’re doing something new this year. To give our friends a look at how a tiny house RV can be completely customized to meet your unique needs and dreams, we’re bringing our “Imagination Center” to the Puyallup RV Show.

tiny house with orange door — Step through the orange door to see how you can finish and personalize a custom tiny home RV.

The Imagination Center is a nearly completed Alki model that features a day bed on the main floor, steps to a spacious loft, a full-size kitchen, and even a walk-in jetted tub!

Loaded with special features, the Imagination Center will open your eyes to all the ways you can make a tiny home RV truly your own.

So consider yourself invited.

Here’s when and where you can connect with us:

Thursday, April 28 – Sunday, May 1, 2016
Washington State Fair Events Center (Puyallup Fairgrounds)

Thursday & Friday: 11:00 am – 8:00 pm
Saturday: 10:00 am – 8:00 pm
Sunday: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

For more information, visit http://puyalluprvshow.com/.

We hope to see you soon at the Imagination Center! Just look for the orange door . . .

10 tips for buying the right tiny house trailer

February 23, 2016 4 Comments

For many people, the words “tiny home” create the picture of a cozy miniature home, often snuggled gently into the surrounding scenery, soaking in the simple life. However, when thinking about tiny homes it’s easy to forget one of their most important components: the trailer. Before you start planning every detail, there are a few things you need to know about buying the right tiny house trailer.

Every home has a foundation and a tiny home is no exception. You want your home to last a lifetime. So why should your trailer be any different? If you’re planning to build a tiny house, it just makes sense to start with the right trailer. Choosing well at the beginning can add decades of enjoyment to your home.

With the summer do-it-yourself building season just around the corner, now is the time to get the foundation in place for your building project.

10 tips to help you find the trailer that’s right for you and your home

Don’t build on a flatbed. The most common type of trailer is a flatbed. But they’re not designed for tiny houses. Look for a trailer specifically engineered for two things. One – to provide an optimal foundation to safely secure your tiny home. The lower your home sits in the trailer, the more stable it will be. Two – to provide the maximum amount of building space – both for height and width. That means more elbowroom for you.

Grab a tape measure. Unlike in a regular house, every inch counts when you’re living tiny. Do some pre-planning to know exactly how much room you need. Make sure your trailer can provide the space you need to live comfortably and accommodate your lifestyle. If possible, work with a trailer manufacturer that can customize your trailer down to the quarter inch.

Adjust your coupler. Transportation should be easy. Look for a trailer with an adjustable coupler so you quickly hitch up and tow away. This feature allows you to use any hitch to pull your home, regardless of the hitch’s height. This also means you don’t need to purchase a special hitch to make your load even.

Don’t buy new tools. Normally you would need new tools and special drill bits for drilling through your metal trailer. Save yourself some time and money. Look for a trailer with the holes pre-drilled for hurricane ties and other reinforcements used to secure your home to the trailer.

Look for a forward-facing side-winding jack. The right jack helps to ease the hitching and unhitching process. The handle should be on the front of the side-winding jack so you gain extra building space. (If the handle is on the top of the jack or on the side, its turning radius takes up valuable building space.) You can use the extra space to extend your house up to the jack or build an exterior storage box.

Get the right axles. Options for trailer axles include drop axles, straight axles, and off-road axles. Each option has benefits along with corresponding tradeoffs. Look for a trailer that offers the axles that works best for your tiny house. You’ll also gain a longer lifespan for your trailer by choosing commercial-rated axles designed to withstand extensive wear and tear.

Roll with tires that can handle the miles. Trailers can come with two types of tires: bias or radial. Bias tires are typically less expensive, but they don’t last as nearly as long as radial tires. Radial tires are also less likely to develop flat spots when they are parked in the same position for a lengthy period of time, and they run cooler on longer trips.

License and registration, please. In some states, trailers don’t automatically come with paperwork needed to license them. Make your life simpler by buying a trailer that includes a title of ownership as well as a VIN number so you can easily register and license it.

Say no to rust. Better quality trailers come with an industrial paint designed to inhibit rust. For maximum rust resistance, you may wish to galvanize your trailer (submerging it in molten zinc for a complete protective coating). This is good for people doing a lot of travel in the winter on salty roads or for people who live near saltwater.

Do your research. With the tiny house movement growing rapidly, you’ll find many companies offering to sell you a tiny house trailer. Look for one that will listen and work with you to provide a trailer for building the tiny home of your dreams. If buying your trailer from tiny home manufacturer, ask to speak with their construction supervisor for tips on safely securing your tiny home to the trailer.

If you’re planning to build this summer, make your do-it-yourself experience the best it can be. Choose the right trailer for your tiny house project and eliminate unforeseen headaches and complications. The right foundation makes all the difference.

If you’d like to speak with someone about selecting the right tiny house trailer, feel free to get in touch with Sharon Read of Seattle Tiny Homes. She’ll be glad to chat with you for no cost or obligation.

You’re invited to tour a tiny home

February 15, 2016 6 Comments

The people have spoken!

After inquiries and requests to see our model home, we are happy to announce our upcoming showing.

Come to Duvall, WA and enjoy this showcase of simple, sustainable living. Experience firsthand the uniqueness and serenity of a tiny home.

Our Ballard model will be displayed at 15435 Main Street in Duvall, WA on Friday (12pm-6pm), Feb. 19^th– and Saturday (10am-5pm), Feb. 20^th.

Visitors will be able to tour the tiny home and ask Sharon, the founder and designer of Seattle Tiny Homes, all their questions.

We hope to see you soon!

How to buy a tiny home from the Middle East

January 20, 2016 2 Comments

Tiny home frame in sunset — **Brooke’s tiny home beginning to come together.**

Skyscrapers stretch up into the sky, gleaming in the Abu Dhabi sun. Verdant palm trees sway on street corners. The city streets are packed with people. Hidden in plain sight, however, is an unpleasant aspect of our humanity: wastefulness.

It was the wastefulness that made Brooke stop and think. Brooke, a schoolteacher from Washington State, lived for several months in the city of Abu Dhabi. While the surrounding architecture and lifestyle were exquisite, Brooke could not help but feel that the lavish city was a little too extravagant for her. As her return to America approached, Brooke began to look for ways to live more simply, without sacrificing the quality of her home. She also needed to be able to accommodate her two dogs, something that many apartments refuse to do.

This quest for a simple yet personalized life led Brooke to discover Seattle Tiny Homes. While still living in Abu Dhabi, Brooke was able to arrange several webcam-advising sessions with Sharon Read, the company’s tiny home designer. Taking advantage of the partial build option, Brooke was able to choose which components Seattle Tiny Homes would build and which components she would finish by herself. Seattle Tiny Homes framed Brooke’s house just the way she wanted, with dormers specifically sized to achieve a very open feeling, as well as a doggy door to accommodate her two furry roommates.

Tiny home with sunflowers — **With our part completed, Brooke is free to choose her final paint colors.**

When asked what she liked best about Seattle Tiny Homes, Brooke said that it was our ability to communicate and be flexible. At the time of the purchase, Brooke was still living in the Middle East. This made securing property for her home and getting insurance more challenging than it normally would be. We at Seattle Tiny Homes worked hard to make sure all other aspects of Brooke’s transition to a tiny home went smoothly.

“I was able to text Ben (Seattle Tiny Homes’ lead builder) and ask all the questions I wanted,” Brooke explained. “I even got to peek in on the progress a little. I just felt everything was very out in the open.”

Brooke’s satisfaction is something Seattle Tiny Homes strives to achieve with every customer. Our endless options of customization exist for one reason: to make your tiny house dreams come true.