I'd love to build my own home but to do so I'd have to move so far out of any city or town to get away from the zoning laws that I'd spend all my time driving to and from work.
My parents live on a farm in WV that has been passed down for generations and growing up I helped my father build their own home as well as several farm buildings so I actually have the ability to do it.

It's pretty awesome that she did it herself but when you say "suspiciously like" the Tumbleweed you're not kidding. It's virtually indistinguishable. Not that there's anything wrong with doing it yourself for less, but just to give credit where credit is due.
I'm going to send this article to my mom. She's always going on about how much she loved the little cottage she and my dad lived in right after they were married while they were waiting on the construction of their "real" house. It wasn't a whole lot bigger than this.

Geez...if her house looks "suspiciously" like that other project, it also looks almost exactly like any other small shed that I have ever seen.

So it's easy enough to say that the "Tumbleweed" house is a knock-off of most any shed.

Lighten up!
Imagine the world if everyone "suspiciously" "knocked off" this and a few more smart ideas! It's not as if she stole his blueprints and opened a competing business, she built herself a tiny home of reclaimed materials to live a simpler life... bravo, i say.

Meh. It's easy to live in 84 sqft, when you have a bathroom and kitchen (and TV and car?) accessible in "the big house".

The tumbleweed homes are cool, and the plans cost something like 200$/each.

Lets assume she bought the plans, and built a tumbleweed. I'm sorry, but after paying that much for plans that she now owns, and which give her the right to build for herself a home, she doesn't have to give any credit to anyone. period.

Besides, do an image search for cabin, or shed, or miniature home, THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!

Why do they try so hard to make these homes look bigger than they are - like the miniature windows on the facade ??? Makes it look like a doll house. Just put in 1 regular sized window !

How different do you expect two minimalist homes to be?

The thing about some ideas is that there's a time where the stage is set for them, and while lots of people will 'borrow' the idea, and idea whose time has come typically gets invented by multiple people. If one looks at science around the dawn of the Industrial era, one will see numerous inventions and discoveries that are attributed to multiple people, working in isolation in different countries or even on different continents.

Besides, it's a human interest piece. Maybe she'd heard of tumbleweed, maybe she hadn't. Either way, the TV station probably would have dropped those bits just to make it fit into a short time slot.

(One thing I didn't see in there was a shower. Presumably she has one? With the composting stove, I suspect she can just dump the greywater into some sort of system under or behind the house. She'd have to do a little landscaping to make it work properly, but despite her house being built on a trailer frame, I don't get the impression that she intends to use that mobility all that often).

It IS built from plans she got from Shafer. With salvaged materials. Lighten up, you guys.

Wow. A woman after my own heart.

Is it realy 84 sqare feet? That would appear to not count the square footage of her bedroom.

what does it matter what it looks like? The point is she is being green.

It looks great.I reclaim lumber from old barns all the time.Sometime i pay a little money to the owner of the property.Other times they pay me.But the old post and beam wood is great.But now in shorter supply.Three reclaimed barn gave me enough lumber for recycled one.

Bully for her. But what's most startling is that the reporter intimated that most people who live by themselves and have a 1,500-square-foot home would want something BIGGER.

I swear, we've gotten seriously out of whack in this country about expectations with our homes.

My wife and I, along with three dogs, live in a house that's less than 1,000 square feet and couldn't be happier with it. A smaller house enables you to consume less energy, so it's easier to use alt-energy when you make the conversion.

(You can read about our adventures in low-consumption living at the URL above. We're going to have photovoltaics installed tomorrow -- on our wedding anniversary, no less.)

Bully for her. But what's most startling is that the reporter intimated that most people who live by themselves and have a 1,500-square-foot home would want something BIGGER.

I swear, we've gotten seriously out of whack in this country about expectations with our homes.

My wife and I, along with three dogs, live in a house that's less than 1,000 square feet and couldn't be happier with it. A smaller house enables you to consume less energy, so it's easier to use alt-energy when you make the conversion.

(You can read about our adventures in low-consumption living at the URL above. We're going to have photovoltaics installed tomorrow -- on our wedding anniversary, no less.)

We should all make a study of how people live on boats. Every square foot has dual purposes. The bunks are storage for sails during the day, a table folds down from the wall and you sit on the lower bunks to eat dinner, the top of the icebox is the food prep area, one door can be used in two different doorways depending on who wants privacy. Every seat lifts up for storage underneath.

The REAL question:
Is she single? How can I meet her?

I don't think this style has a shower, but with a gym membership, one can shower after working out each morning. My friend, Greg Johnson, in Iowa City has Jay Shafer's original Tumbleweed house that they built together before Jay moved to CA, and this is what he does.

this home was about a block from mine when i was in college. it's not new, it's been around for a few years at least in a negihborhood (and a town) with a lot of alternative thinkers and green buildings. down the street are a few solar houses, a non-vinyl (rastra) habitat for humanity house built by green design students, and a yurt...all in the same neighborhood as a community run co-op grocery. great town.

i must criticize, however, that living in a 84sqft TRAILER in the backyard of a friend is hardly redefining living standards. moveable (ie. fossil fuel reliant) structures pose new questions and new concerns. building it, really building it, on earth would be a better statement for simpler living. instead, as with all mobile dwellings, it seems more self indulgent than revolutionary.

Where's the photo that shows her standing up? Green is good. Minimalism is good....up to a point! What does she do when she has company? It's more of a "Think Tank" than a "home".

Man that looks cozy. My guess is that 2 people could even live there. Maybe add a shower and laundry. But they would have to be very friendly!

must criticize, however, that living in a 84sqft TRAILER in the backyard of a friend is hardly redefining living standards. moveable (ie. fossil fuel reliant) structures pose new questions and new concerns. building it, really building it, on earth would be a better statement for simpler living. instead, as with all mobile dwellings, it seems more self indulgent than revolutionary.

Seems like you don't own a home, since she almost certainly did it for zoning purposes (ie, to avoid paying property taxes and needing licenses to construct the thing). I highly doubt she moves it any more than someone who lives in a "mobile" home.

I also think that its potential mobility is an asset, since it can always be repositioned in order to let land go back to a more natural state where it once was. It's not a bad design principle in the least.

There's no reason to assume you'd use fossil fuel to move that structure. A couple horses, a few stronger people, maybe SVO...

I think it is unfair to judge this woman because her house looks like a Tumbleweed house. As mentioned by other posters, many small houses tend to look alike. Just because one person has an idea does not mean that someone else can not have the same idea and certainly does not prove that a design or product is a knockoff. If, as one poster stated, she did build from plans she bought, then you definitely can not say that it is a knockoff.

My mom is building a little house that will be mobile so she can take it to South Dakota and live. It is currently in central Iowa at my dad's place that I inherited and she drives there a few times a week (1/2 hour drive one way) to work on it. She got the idea after hearing a news report about the Tiny Tumbleweed houses, but she came up with her own plans and only ever saw whatever house/s they showed on the news (she doesn't have internet). I'm not sure what the square footage is, but it's bigger than this 84 sq.ft. house; actually it's a tad bigger than what she originally thought up. She has been using solar powered lights and used some recycled lumber from my uncle's house that had to be torn down due to tornado damage. She plans on getting an incinerating toilet, using some kind of solar water heater or something, and trying to stay eco-friendly as much as she can with her little house.

My mom is really into the minimalist living area as her current house (my great grandpa's house that she totally restored by herself) is like cottage size. Unfortunately, it is only a couple blocks away from a plant that has been releasing high levels of hydrochloric acid into the air for the last couple years, which has been causing health concerns and property damage, though they deny it. You can read about it in the URL linked in my name.

Anyway, kudos to the tiny home builders and their desire to better the environment. ^_^

I have lived in a house like this. I needed extra living space, and had acquired a shed that just happened to have barn lumber siding and with the addition of a loft, and lots of insulation, including the roof/ceiling , it became very livable. The small addition of a tiny solarium in the front and it became solar heated. it had a nice sliding glass door.It At about 100 square feet, and within a mile of the ocean. a very fun place. Be creative and live well !

I am a big proponent of the concept, so I like this one.

I didn't see a Mr. Williams. If I wasn't married I'd be packing my car to go meet this woman. What a treasure she is. A woman who thinks less is more.

Wow....small but impressive, i see these large homes going up and then i see the price and i wonder where people get the money to pay morages and raise a family.....life is as easy as we make it, and to put the stress on ourselves because we want what we want is amazing.....getting simple, keeping it simple, saving money.....i really like the tine house, something that i want to know more about, and possible do.....