The cabin's tiny but effective kitchen. "The sink is plumbed to the outside of the wagon, where a hose end can be placed into a 5-gallon water jug to hold output," writes Libby on the Whittled Down Cabin blog. "Our input (the solar shower) is 4 gallons, and the jug holds 5, so we never have to worry about overflowing."

Reinish and Chambers built their tiny Whittled-Down covered wagon home for just $1,500 so that they could live in it while they made a cross-country pilgrimage from Santa Fe, NM to Massachusetts two years ago. The final result may look like a pioneer wagon of old but actually has many more amenities, from a solar powered shower to a couch that doubles as a laundry bag (the more dirty clothes you collect, the more comfy the couch becomes). Libby and Tristan estimate that least 50% of the cabin is made of salvaged materials.

“We built the wagon on a 4 x 8′ utility trailer and towed it with Libby’s 4 cyl. sedan,” write Libby and Tristan on their blog, Whittleddown.com. “The construction was wood with a canvas top. Our goals were to build a portable living structure that was light and cheap.” The wagon home is powered by a 50-watt, roof-mounted solar panel purchased at a flea market.

To be fair, there is one thing still missing from the caravan – a toilet – but Reinish and Chambers are planning to build a portable composting toilet soon.

Don’t forget to add Whittleddown.com to your blogroll to stay updated on Libby and Tristan’s tips for doing more with less, something they clearly know a lot about.

+ Whittled-Down Caravan

1 Comment

London self Storage October 17, 2012 at 12:56 am

This quite awesome to see I have seen similar kind of moving vehicle modification with http://www.aussie-storage.co.uk/ In London.i came to see that when I hired them while relocating .But this one looks much enhanced and modified to me.