Tiny Houses in Maine

Before getting on to more business, let's have some fun! Let's just sit back, relax and enjoy some great tiny houses designed for simple living.

The following are examples of a few tiny houses in Maine. They give a nice idea about how the movement is growing in this state as well as some concepts that have inspired designs I am working on.

Here is a tiny house that is completely self supporting on an island in Maine...

Please visit visit Inhabitat.com for more images of this house and to read more.

Excerpt:

A project 30 years in the making, this tiny off-grid retreat on a coastal island in Maine is almost entirely self-sufficient. Designed and built by Alex Porter for her father, the project features a shed roof and is wrapped in a distinctive blue-grey corrugated skin. Dwell recently profiled the home, which is the only solar-powered retreat on the isolated island – its sustainable power source actually makes life a lot more leisurely, as the family does not need to schlep in fuel to run a noisy generator. They didn’t give anything up, as they have all the conveniences of a regular home — but with a view you don’t get in an everyday residence. 

The house is situated on a tiny sleeve of rock tucked close to the water. The sturdy steel cladding was chosen for a good reason: the northern squall can be relentless. The cabin has a series of rolling storm panels that ward off the elements. When the sun shines, a small solar-electric panel mounted to the southern facing roof feeds 12v DC to the batteries, which in turn powers lights, a super efficient Sunfrost Refrigerator, and a small water pump. A large rainwater catchment tank provides more than enough water for the home, and a small on-demand water heater supplies an outdoor shower and the sink.

Here is another small house in Franklin, Maine...

Please visit MotherEarthLiving.com to read more.

Excerpt: 

Ben and Sarina Speed live—happily—in Franklin, Maine, with two young children and two cats in a 648-square-foot home. How do they do it? “You really don’t need as much space as you think,” Sarina says. “You do have to be willing to spend more time outside and not have everything. You just can’t hold on to all the stuff.”

Here is a tiny house for $30,000 in Sharon, Maine...

Please visit TinyHouseListings.com for more information.

Excerpt:

This is a 384 square foot, 1 bedroom, single family home. It is located at 325 Kimball Pond Rd New Sharon, Maine.

Here is a tiny house in Casco, Maine...

Please visit TinyHouseBlog.com for more images of this house and to read more.

Excerpt: 

Called “My Father’s Cabin” in Casco, Maine. It’s a 12 x 16 x 15 foot affair with a nice spacious loft and is still a joyous work in progress. Almost done with the insulation — next up is doing the interior paneling and finishing the up the floor. An oil-filled electric radiator keeps the place surprisingly toasty!

From the same blog as the house above is a design offered by Jay Livesey...

Please visit this page at TinyHouseBlog.com for more information.

Excerpt:

"I’ve been really impressed with the Tiny Homes book by Lloyd Kahn and Tumbleweed’s DIY Book of Backyard Sheds and Tiny Houses by Jay Shafer and I wanted to tell you about my sheds. Having been in the construction business for 30 years I have become a believer in affordable and efficient house design. I am primarily a remodeler and in recent years have been specializing in finish and tile work.  Two years ago I started building high end garden sheds in my converted cabinet shop. I offer a few basic designs plus will build custom. Sizes are from 8 x 10 to 12 x 32. Complete turn-key package or just a shell; with a variety of interior finishes and siding, roofing, window and door options. We can deliver anywhere in Maine and New Brunswick."

Jay Livesey - Livesey’s Little Houses 206 Montieth Rd, Bridgewater, Maine 04735

 Here is an example from Mac Lloyd's, Brunswick, Maine company called Creative Cottages...

Please visit them at CreativeCottagesllc.com for other designs and information.

Excerpt from Port City Life (July-August, 2009)...

Ask Mac Lloyd what inspired him to launch Creative Cottages, and he'll tell you it was the gift of a friend. A book about cabins made the seasoned builder realize that living well in less space was the kind of life he and his wife Lucy were after. And, he figured, a lot of other people were, too. 

"Clients often think that a larger room is more functional and easier to live in," Lloyd says of his traditional building background. "But, in actuality, a well-designed, intimate space is always more comfortable."

At a time when simpler sounds better to a lot of us, what makes this young company unusual is its streamlined approach to building custom cottages. The barn-like Bunkhouse was first, and the dormered Ocean Retreat cottage came next. These two red-roofed structures now stand near the water's edge in Freeport. They were built inside a Brunswick warehouse and assembled on site.

And the following images (had to show them all, including floor plan and exterior diagram!) are from what has to be my favorite tiny house so far--done in a "tree house style." It is from architect, David Matero...

Please visit David Matero Architecture (DavidMatero.com) for more

designs, images and other information. 

Excerpt:

On the Maine coast , a 350 square foot tree house/play house awaits a family for the summer. The original intention was for a tree house built in the trees, but none on the property could handle the structure. Instead, the tree house, nestled within the trees, perches on a precipice on the water side high off the ground. 

Intentional use of all natural material further blends the structure into the landscape. Featuring oil dipped western red cedar shingles, shakes, and trim, the Adirondack style architecture also adds to the natural setting and will be reinforced with future branch and twig railings. 

Built for kids, the tree house is secretly for adults, too. The interior of the tree house is exposed rough-sawn Douglas Fir. The windows allow high light to enter, which was very important to the Owner. The tree house includes a sleeping loft and balcony on the second floor.

The tree house project was featured in DownEast magazine in August, 2013

Obviously some fantastic ideas are out there. Maine seems poised on the brink of a tiny house revolution. From the very fancy to the very rustic, tiny houses, small houses and cabins can be a terrific alternative to what we have been programmed by the typical housing market to accept. 

Since I've been studying these trends - as well as off grid systems - I have come to have a different kind of view when walking down the road and observing the comparatively giant houses of the average middle class American family. 

Contrasted with the coldness I perceive in the typical 2,000 square foot houses of Main Street America, these tiny houses seem more personal, warmer, cozier. And the fact is they are also less expensive to build, heat, water, power and maintain.

I truly believe that the "value" of real estate in the next two decades with be transferred from the megalithic proportions we have grown up and been conditioned to desire, over to the high efficiencies and simplicities of these more sustainable models. There is a good chance that the next generation will see what we consider to be normal residences as too big, too wasteful, overly ostentatious, even immodest...

To be honest, I can't wait.    

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