Ramshackle Retreats - Cozy Cottages

There are so many ideas for the creative mind in this book, recycling objects that I would have not normally looked at twice.
Triple Caffeinated ???? Its had me chewing chock coated coffee beans washed down with hot milk.

Great book

Hahaha. awsome book. reminds me when i was a kid making a fort out of a refrigerator box.
Or that little club house shack i had in my back yard as a kid.
Very creative ideas that im tempted to try myself.

I was very disappointed with this book. While slightly entertaining - as it resembles the scribbles in a highschool kid's notebook - I anticipated that it was more "how-to" - it is NOT. It is just that: Fun scribbles and drawings of outlandish (and some not so outlandish) dwellings.....

Ideas, not perfectly laid out plans. I think some people expect step-by-step instructions from this book. If that's what you're looking for, this is not the book for you. It's more of a sketch book, filled with ideas and musings on tiny homes. I love flipping through it and thinking of my home small home plans or for ways to repurpose things.

A cute fun little book for sprouting ideas in your head, but not a serious look at any real building you could actually live in. But then... my DH and DF were draftsmen. Go figure. :)

It IS as described for the most part.. just a little too juvenile seeming to me.

I didn't really expect a cartoon book, but it has some good ideas. I think it's better suited to my much younger nephew, so I'm going to send it to him. One woman's trash could be another man's treasure!

It really didn't suit my purposes. The book was more of a doodle which I felt took away some of its appeal. It was not really a reference which I could find useful. The work is however original and creative...

The illustrations on the cover reflect the illustrations throughout. It's not fun (for me) to look at as it doesn't have any real pics or normal diagrams to look at. I'm not thrilled with it. That's just my preference.

I bought this book hoping to get a lot of information about tiny houses, structures etc. Instead I got WAAAAYYY too much doodling. It's difficult to decipher the drawings and gave me a headache. It's really good doodling but not what I want.

I was very disappointed in this book, It was illistrated more like a comic strip and hard to follow. I was hoping more for illistrations and pictures of finished product. I am a very visual person and this did not meet my expectations in what I needed to see in a book of ideas.

Chris Livengood,
Chelsea, MI

The author and brother of author of this book has some great ideas- but need to have plans or blueprints that are transferrable by hammerless readers. Lots of fun ideas, lots of laughs- and some very unusual homes, shacks etc.

This book is junk. You could have taken 15 minutes to draw you ideas on a legal pad and done better than this book. nothing new here and no really instructions or guides to building anything worth having. Do not waste your money on this.

I bought this book hoping to get a lot of information about tiny houses, structures etc. Instead I got WAAAAYYY too much doodling. It's difficult to decipher the drawings and gave me a headache. It's really good doodling but not what I want.

I was very disappointed in this book, It was illistrated more like a comic strip and hard to follow. I was hoping more for illistrations and pictures of finished product. I am a very visual person and this did not meet my expectations in what I needed to see in a book of ideas.

Chris Livengood,
Chelsea, MI

The author and brother of author of this book has some great ideas- but need to have plans or blueprints that are transferrable by hammerless readers. Lots of fun ideas, lots of laughs- and some very unusual homes, shacks etc.

This book is junk. You could have taken 15 minutes to draw you ideas on a legal pad and done better than this book. nothing new here and no really instructions or guides to building anything worth having. Do not waste your money on this.

This is the biggest con and farce on the market. I am not usually a critical person figuring there is always some good in a book but this one blew that assumption to hell and back. This is nothing but a collection of unreadable scribblings that have no connection to reality or the topic of small housing units. This looks like a 5th grader took out a pen, smoked some dope and filled the pages with nonsense. There is nothing here for the serious, the non-serious or any venue that I can think of. This is simply a con by a person that is trying to make some money. I leafed through this in 5 minutes and threw it in the trash can.

It's definitely a creative book, but I was a bit disappointed by it's level of practicality. Perhaps that's because I was more interested in ideas for a true home, and so much of it seemed to be crazy clubhouse ideas (not a bad thing, as long as that's what you're expecting).

I pre-ordered this book, as I follow the author's blog and have found it to be fascinating and informative. I love the various ideas in the book, and they've really gotten my creativity going too. However, most of the book appears to be handlettered, and I have trouble reading the author's handwriting. This can make it very frustrating to try to read the text accompanying the images, and many times it's hard to puzzle out the logic of building the displayed structures without the text.

This is pretty much a comic book. If you are into totally useless projects that are a waste of resources, then this is your thing. There isn't squat in here about tiny houses. Mostly just about ideas for shacks, the purpose of which is a little vague. Check the Look Inside section, and that's pretty much it throughout. Pretty much vague useless projects. Even the homeless wouldn't want most of these!

This book is little more than a comic book style book of kids shacks.
I love the style but really wish more thought would have gone into it considering that all
the designs are so extremely similar and basic. Maybe something cool for kids, but for
someone looking for ideas to build a small cabin or Tiny House, this just isn't a good resource.

Oh my! What a waste of MY money. Please don't waste your money if you are looking for a book on the tiny house movement. It's my fault for not doing a bit a research on the book.

Edit: Please know what you are purchasing before you click. There are some good ideas I'm sure some people will like. The book wasn't to my personal liking.

I have become interested in small homes for a weekender place but this is way out there. It reminded me of a young boys doodlings to avoid homework. I tried to like it but could not get there. I do know the author does some cool stuff though.

This was the worst book I have ever bought. I thought this was supposed to be useful information. Instead it reads like a young adult graphic novel with accompanying cartoonish pictures. I would give this zero stars if it was an available option. I honestly didn't get it. I am not a "clueless" consumer. This was absolutely worthless to me.

Were expecting several examples of storage and furnishing ideas for a 500 sq. ft. apartment. As we remember this book was a collection of drawings of outsides of unusual small dwelling places. Fun, but not what we were seeking.

I doubt in 50 years this book will be the anthology of tiny house building or anything of the sort. What I do think it will do though is spark a great deal of imagination and ingenuity towards sustainable living habits, micro-shelters, and tiny houses alike.

Diedricksen went to obvious great pains to think outside of the box all the while encouraging readers to challenge their own notions of how much space one actually needs to live. His sketches are great quality, they are colorful (even in black and white!!!!), and they are instructional. This book is NOT a How-To guide with every precise measurement annotated and documented. It is not meant to be though. It is meant to be a light read on a subject that often takes itself too seriously.

I fully recommend this book to anyone looking to see just what can be done, what has been done, and where there is still more work to be done in the micro-shelter arena!

Tiny Architecture (something like 50-60 or so cabin, tiny house, shelter, and fort concepts), meets comedy and "Where's Waldo"-Like, incredibly-busy, artwork. Who'd think these three, in combo, would work? They do- and rather well. This is probably one of the more unique/bizarre tiny housing, small spaces and shelters idea books out there. Very eclectic- and reminds me of the old "Whole Earth Catalog". Not full out plans, but pages and pages of cabin creations and concepts.

I have a stack of stuff I'll grab on the way out, if my house ever catches on fire in the middle of the night, This book is in that stack!

Fortunately, if that WAS to happen, I could use what I learned in this book to build a new house out of stuff that survives the fire!

Seriously, this book WILL change the way you look at most everything: life, housing, what you NEED vs. what you WANT, what you're capable of building/making/doing, etc.

How much do you REALLY need? This book will have you asking yourself that question at all hours of the day/night, even though that may not have been Derek's (Deek's) intention when he started sketching/writing.

For many reasons I won't even get into here, this book came along at the perfect time in my life. It's about being creative, doing what makes YOU happy, going against "the system", examining your goals and expectations, eliminating waste, and on & on....

If you have any interest in building, do-it-yourself, simplicity, minimalism, self-sufficiency, downsizing, creative thinking, recycling, "re-purposing", sketching, going "green", being "different", tinkering, or just freedom in general, you can't go wrong with this book. Even if you have no desire to live in a house that's smaller than your current closet, this book will open your eyes to other possibilities, and force you to start asking the questions that make everyone around you a little uncomfortable..... in a GOOD way!

The book itself is packed with the author's sketches of tiny houses/buildings/structures, and the things you need to turn these little boxes into luxury retreats. The artwork is top-notch. It's an easy, funny, and entertaining read. It's all conceptual... no "stick tab A into slot B" instructions here, but that's part of the beauty/appeal of it. You get the feeling that Deek half-expects you to not take some of the ideas seriously, and that he doesn't either! That's another one of the main points! If you think something might be cool/fun/exciting... give it a try! So you sacrifice a few hours of MSNBC/Fox News/Kardashians/whatever other junk you let into your living room.... so what?

If you REALLY care what your neighbor thinks, if you work for the local Zoning dept., or are on your neighborhood ARB, this book isn't for you at all. But buy it anyway! Maybe it will change your life, and turn you into someone other people want to be around! (This is where I'd normally say "just kidding"..... but I'm not!)

So, buy the book. Read it. Read it again. Turn down pages of the plans you like. Beg/borrow/steal a few scrap pallets or stacks of lumber. Do your own sketching. Go out & build something. Tear it down. Build something better. Take pictures. Write your own book. Send me a free copy. Quit your day job (OK, don't quit until you actually PAY for this book), Start doing things that make you happy, or at least things that you can explain to your kids/pets/neighbors without having to use flow charts. Enjoy it. Or resell the book to that broke but creative kid down the street who WILL get something out of it. Your choice!

Super cool book. We are currently building one of your shacks for our daughter's playhouse. Do know that if you are looking for detailed plans or a shopping list, that is not what this book is all about. Between this book and watching a lot of your you tube videos we figured out exactly what we needed and we are almost finished with a modified blue bump! Thank you for your creativity Deek!

Deek is an amazing man.He thinks outside the box, is extremely inventive,and encourages people to repurpose and reuse so many items in the building of a home. He also has such an upbeat and cheerful personality,that one feels uplifted just by listening to him or reading what he writes. Any book,article,YouTube video,etc. that involves him is most definitely worth reading/listening to/watching. I especially like this book because it offers so many suggestions and illustrations that appeal to both the child within and the adult without! I would most heartily recommend this book to one and all.You will be most happy that you read it.

Definitely can say that I've never read a book like this one before. Super interesting. In a world where we only hear about normal sized houses and mansions, it's so interesting to see the other side of it with small houses that have that cozy feeling that you don't see regularly in the mainstream media and the news. Brings me back to when I was a kid and made forts all the time and felt really at home in them about this book really talks about what makes a HOME, not just a house, and shows you that it's about the life you live inside the home that counts, not just the building of the house itself. Would definitely recommend picking up a copy :) Awesome stuff (has a bizarre side too that will blow your mind). Worth a read.

This takes me back to the Whole Earth Quarterly, The Co-Evolution Quarterly, The Compleat Idiot's Volkswagon Repair Manual…
This book is a cage-rattler for a country that needs its residential architectural cage RATTLED.

If I wanted BLUEPRINTS I'd go to Home Depot or the iNtErWeB…

If you want to CREATE, re-define, explore, bust OUT, get colorful, wiggly, crazy, and then bring it all back in again in a whole
new way, THIS is the bath salt you were looking for. Sometimes architecture is straight ahead, down-east, feet-on-the-ground common sense. Boat building upside down if you live in the rain. Cool rock caves if ya live in the desert. That kinda stuff.

A very cool inventor and wave energy genius, Foerd Ames, once shared with me -"Architects don't design buildings - they solve problems." Dang. This books suggests you take a break, go outside, howl at the moon, run around the house a coupla times and then come back in, hang upside down, and put on kaleidoscopes. THEN get practical, thrifty and smart.
Design is FUN. NOT following someone's Sears Kit. Just sayin'
Read the fine print, duckies, CAVEAT EMPTOR, dudes, or else someone's gonna empty YOUR caveat.
Go get 'em Mr. Diedricksen.
The world's a better place for this apparent movement.

I have to say that I am incredibly impressed with this book!
I got it today and couldn't put it down! I read the entire thing!
Deeks humor mixed with his ingenuity far surpass what I ever expected, and then put in his artwork!

If you're looking for fun, fantastic and unique, then this is THE book for you!
:)

But, if you're looking for exact specs, then this is not the book for you.

I definitely recommend this to any person looking to expand their thinking on how to expand there options for building with what they have!

Good luck!
:)

I love Deek Diedricksen! He's hilarious and inspired and creative and SMART. This book is exactly what i would expect from him - full of cool graphics and great ideas for quirky little buildings, just like the title promises. Order it, then get off the computer and start having fun building stuff in your backyard!

I got this book when it first came out and used it to build a small shelter on a chassis for my own multi purpose uses. It's a great book filled to the brim with useful ideas that are all very innovative & affordable. Utilizes recycling/new ideas for many common items found in the garbage, landfills or stuff that is just wasting space in your garage. This book is amazing and shows you how you can build functional & livable shelters for so little. Gotta love Derek and his writing/drawing style which is a bit hyper and chaotic but the gold in this book is over the top!

This book is an awesome piece to have, whether you want to build something on a budget for children to play in, or you want to explore your wild side and live off the land.

There are many different designs, each one ingeniously sketched out for you. Why live life like the common-man when you can build your own comfy little paradise from used and recycled materials?
The author's unique styling and design personality brings a great touch what would otherwise be a 'normal' recycled building.

I was able to walk away with some very cool ideas I surely will be implementing, and will have a blast doing it!

This is an idea book, ideas that are far outside the mainstream. It's filled with sketches and notes designed not as a step by step guide, rather, it's a firestarter for creativity. This is where the author hits a home run! I look forward to more from him!

I am a visual person, Humble Homes, Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages....really helps me visualize projects! I like the non standard approach to building. Different quirky and fun! If you can keep items from hitting our landfill, this books helps you take that junk and turn it into a conversation peace...tree forts are no longer just for kids.
Thanks for a Great Book Deek...Check out [...]

It’s a book about building but it’s told through "Deeks" unique lens—and I think that’s the crucial point. He is showing you the other angle, the B side, what you may have missed and what’s obvious and how to think efficiently with what you have and what you want to make—on the cheap. No, it’s not a how to, step by step book. That doesn't mean the book is any less useful or helpful. The book just makes you think. And Derek shows you what YOU can make--then take off with it. It's no doubt an interesting book. You go into Deek's world, you look at his drawings and read his humor (which is really damn funny) and you realize you’re way outside the proverbial imagination box. Yeah I recommend this book. Highly. For builders, for graph artists, for people with a sense of humor, it’s loaded with talent and perspectives you may not have seen before.

A perfect read for all small-housing aficionados who typically appreciate the back-to-basics and fun approach Diedricksen is going for in his first (of hopefully many) books. This book is crazy fun and a breath of fresh air from most other books in the genre that just regurgitate pics of the same "classic" small homes. This book is inspiring to say the least and can get you going on building a retreat/cabin for little to no money; this capturing the essence of small houses (in my opinion). There are no scaled drawings with material lists suggesting a projecgt cost of $50,000 for a 100 SF home with interior accents made of agarwood.... Not the point of this book. Instead, this book will get you going on ideas and will encourage imiginative uses of materials. I highly recommend this book for a fun read; it definitely is a conversation starter. Love it!!!

This book is exactly what it is advertised to be, a fun instructional manual. I am not a woodworker but this book shows how to make things in a simple uncomplicated way. The art work is really cool and the ideas are outside the box, (no pun intended). This book makes me think I can actually build something!!

I came across this book in my search for a creative space. I think this book is a lot like peaking in someones diary or journal. The sketches are interesting and creative. His writing style and drawings are quirky and funny. However, if you are looking for a how-to, this is certainly not the book for you, but it isn't marketed as such. The photographs are limited, and mostly just b & w drawn pages and a bit like daydreams. It's fun to look at, but not one I'll keep for my personal collection, or use to build my cottage or shed.

Absolutely love the book! Can't understand why some give this book a low rating. Yes, even though a good portion of the book contains comic book-style drawings, a good portion of the book is also packed with great information. The author even tells you that he doesn't intend for the book to be filled with blueprints. Instead, he wants you use your imagination and what good ideas there are in his book to create your own unique tiny structure.

Deek's book not only ignites the flames of imagination, but also taps into the idea that you can do whatever you put your mind to. By creating a book full of illustrations, it feels welcoming and inviting, beckoning you to explore each new page with fresh eyes. Want to make something crazy that sprung up in your mind? Draw it out.. Build it! This is what I got from reading Deek's book, and was my first ever "Tiny Home" style book. I'm glad I got this first, because it showed me just how much fun I can have with ANY of my building ideas. The inspiration to use recycled materials really resonated through me as well. Thanks Deek!

This book is such a great resource! Deek's creativity and enthusiasm is infectious and will have you in the backyard in no time building a structure. His techniques are applicable for anything from tree houses, sheds, to a full time residence. We are so thankful to have come across this great book!

A great book for those DIYer's who like a little whimsy mixed into their reclaimed projects. Humble Homes, Simple Shacks, Cozy Cottages, Ramshackle Retreats... is a long name for a artfully drawn book that has a ton of drawings and building ideas for small forts, shacks, and other simple shelters.

Came across this book at a yard sale and paid the rightful price of 10¢. My review is based on having read many books on the topic of tiny houses and rustic shelters. What you get here is a collection of very busy and crudely drawn comics with way too much information to be even the slightest bit useful (see example photo). It's not to say that there aren't any good ideas, but the medium is poorly chosen. To be fair, the author does throw in a bunch of photos at the end, scrapbook-style, that I guess are supposed to tie in to the comics. There is no structure to this book, it's all over the place and is about much fun as a bad trip on acid. Tiny "Deek" Diedricksen maybe an "expert" of some sort, but this book suggests more of an expertise with recreational drugs and ADHD.

This book is a great addition to the library of anyone interested in tiny housing. It is wacky and interesting, imaginative and inspiring. Some of the designs will make you want to pick up a hammer and start building immediately, others will make you think of the kinds of elements you might want to include in your own tiny house plans. In any case, the book is great. Experienced builders will appreciate the ingenuity of some of the concepts, while those who are merely hoping to get their feet wet will appreciate the clarity with which they are presented. It makes micro architecture accessible and completely unintimidating. The emphasis on recycled materials makes building possible. Derek Diedricksen truly proves that anybody can build a tiny house.

Derek is a very nice man! Ordered this book for my husbands birthday and wrote to Derek and asked for a note for my husband (he loves Derek's videos and blog) and Derek obliged!!!

Thank you so much for being a good human and having some awesome and ingenious ideas!!

This books is a visual wonder - the comic book of tiny house design - it's filled with great ideas and wild visions from Deek's imagination.

Deek has also begun to build some of the micro homes pictured in the book, and you'll find some photos of those too as well as other tiny house. Most of the book is filled with notated drawings in many visually loaded pages.

If you're looking for some outside of the box brainstorming ideas and a bit of entertainment at the same time, this is a great book to have.

Absolutely fun book. Do not expect any hardcore "how-to's" in this one, it make you think about how you would build it, but with much inspiration and ingenuity. I already made the Spa for the winter, so much fun!!

Deek's style for constructing this book parallels his approach to his design and carpentry - it's fun, fully of personality, and allows the average, novice builder to feel comfortable and confident as he/she works on a project. There a lots of cool ideas here - from the more simple, beginner-level to the more advanced - and you can feel Deek's love for the tiny housing movement spilling off the pages.

Love Love this book. Gives you great ideas on GREAT projects and shows you how to do it (yes lots of pics) for CHEAP. Also inspires you do create you own ideas and how to adopt info to your very own inspired place. From itty bitty tiny shelter to tiny house, this book has it all. Can't wait for the inspiration?? Check out this guys blog [...]

This was a very fun book with lots of useful information. It would be great for anyone that wants to tap into their creativitvity and/or learn some new skills. I actually had an opportunity to attend one of the RelaxShack workshops with my son and we learned a lot of great skills as well as a great bonding opportunity.

For a poor quality woodworker like me (someone who likes banging and crashing in the shed) this book is great , it says, use what you got,find or scrounge and have a go. No right or wrong but it,s all yours, buy the book and open your mind to a new way to build.
Wayne

This book is filled with ideas on how to use salvage materials to create tiny shelters, treehouses, cabins, forts, decks, and cottages. It's a great book. I really enjoy it and it's seriously packed with useful information/ideas for construction. It's awesome, honest, and just a lot of fun.

Like you get too old for those things? Never! If you think you are, then you're likely just a curmudgeon who can't appreciate the little things in life. :) I hope to build myself a nice sleeping bunkhouse in the woods one day.

Great read fun read i would recommend this book to anyone. Filled with really good ideas for anyone on there way to building anything from a club house for there kids to a tiny house. Cant wait for the one.

This is a great coffee table book for my tiny house! (My coffee table is an old painted, wooden crate!) I love all of the ideas crammed into this book and the cartoonish format definitely kept me awake while perusing! I love this guy and his awesome ideas!!!!!

This book is an awesome piece to have, whether you want to build something on a budget for children to play in, or you want to explore your wild side and live off the land.

There are many different designs, each one ingeniously sketched out for you. Why live life like the common-man when you can build your own comfy little paradise from used and recycled materials?
The author's unique styling and design personality brings a great touch what would otherwise be a 'normal' recycled building.

I was able to walk away with some very cool ideas I surely will be implementing, and will have a blast doing it!

For the price, I definitely expected better. I thought it might be a great how-to book with ideas and suggestions of things to implement in our own tiny house building. Instead, it was super difficult to read, disorganized and limited. He could at least have typed up his writing - it was almost impossible to decipher the handwriting.

I gave the book 3 stars because it had a some good ideas and good resources to check out for more ideas. I did not enjoy reading the book though. It was like reading a comic book or off someone's doodle pad with chicken scratch.

I have become interested in small homes for a weekender place but this is way out there. It reminded me of a young boys doodlings to avoid homework. I tried to like it but could not get there. I do know the author does some cool stuff though.

This is a humble, simple and funky book. I use it as a coffee table book because it's to be browsed. I now have a few short of dozen such books. This is not a staple but it is fun. A book of clothes from the sixties came out years ago ... no one read it but everyone flipped through it. This is such a book. There are better books on small and tiny houses but this is a keeper.

I love the idea of the book, however it's too animated pictorials are hard to follow in a practical sense. It is a fun book and amusing and full of creative and inventive ideas but it's not full of building plans or schematics that are useful. Nevertheless fun to look at... Hope this helps!