Tiny Homes <Thread # One>

Zen forest house: 11K, handcrafted, small home in Oregon

Brian Schulz wanted to see "how small of a house I could make feel big". Inspired by the traditional Japanese minka homes that rely on local materials and steeply sloped roofs to create affordable, open structures, Schulz created a home using materials salvaged or sourced from within 10 miles of his home.

The result is a 14-by-16-foot home iin tune with its surroundings that cost only 11,000 dollars - mostly for concrete, shakes and insulation-, along with about a year and half of Schulz's spare time.

Much of the wood Schulz collected from the bay while kayaking (he teaches traditional wood kayak-building for a living) and then he milled it himself on-site. Corner posts were blowdown trees from a friend's forest. Kitchen counters were milled from a fallen tree he'd held onto for 8 years. Stair railing is alder poles cut from beside the house.

The 3 tables in the home were cut from cedar found on the beach and constructed in 2 hours. He laid flooring using low-grade reject fir, created trim using miscellaneous scrapwood and bought all the home's windows for $40 from the local dump (the french doors came from craigslist).