Imagine that you could assemble your home in a matter of hours, as easily as you put together a desk that you bought from IKEA. Imagine that it dissembled more easily than the IKEA desk so that you could take it anywhere, even the harshest of environments.

More sturdy than a trailer, with a more beautiful architectural aesthetic, the AbleNook expandable portable dwelling is a tiny home design that is looking for your help to become a reality for disaster victims, military families, and lovers of sustainable living around the world. Read more »

This week the father of tiny housing and founder of The Tumbleweed Tiny House Company, Jay Shafer, resigned from Tumbleweed and started a new company called Four Lights Tiny House Company. Shafer started Four Lights for “more freedom and more manageability,” according to a statement published on The Tiny Life. At Four Lights, Shafer will roll out building workshops, a tiny house village, and portable house plans ranging in size from 100 to 500 square feet.

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Oregon-based Ideabox, the company behind Aktiv with IKEA Portland, recently shared news of an expanded endeavor called Minibox.  Minibox is actually a series of “minihomes” built to RV and park model codes.  The tiny-house series has designs ranging from a 200 square-foot studio to a 320 square-foot one-bedroom/one-bath cottage.  And you can bet Ideabox will continue to plug all the green stuff inside.  Pricing for the non-wheel version starts at $42,500.

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Little House on the Trailer is a Petaluma-based company that provides affordable, energy-efficient, and “substantially constructed” houses for today’s mobile home buyers.  For example, the company currently has a “Barn Siding Studio” available for immediate delivery for $24,000.  The 200 square-foot studio was built on wheels and finished with reclaimed redwood planks.  Marin County treats the structure as a shed, according to Little House on the Trailer, but it can be used as an office, backyard retreat, etc.

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If in a pinch for extra living space at home, a detached structure could be just the solution.  Especially if an addition isn’t an option, there are companies all over the country that provide prefabricated structures that can be used for a home office, studio, in-law suite, or cabana, etc.  North Carolina-based Outdoor Environs is one of these companies with a backyard shed from about $40,000.

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