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Tiny Living

Posted by fil on June 29th, 2010

I was just about to write BLin an email to discuss the Tiny House Movement and see if his inclination for good/health conscious food had ever spilled over into a want/desire to dwell in a more conscientious space. Then I realized that I really haven’t ever talked with ANY of my friends about how obsessed I am with the Tiny House movement.

I purposefully made this image small.

A recent NPR article on the subject refueled my passion on the subject and I have slowly started to add ‘tiny house links’ to my delicious account for safe remembrance. For the past couple years or so I have slowly started to collect ideas for my eventual dream to either live in a barn (i probably need a lot of money to restore one of those bad boys), or to find a plot of land and build a small modern dwelling for myself. I have to admit that a lot of this started with my affinity towards good design in small spaces (think NYC apartments), but once I began reading about it, it became apparent that people all over the country (and world) are starting to take a smaller approach to where they live.

There are tons of styles of houses, some look like sheds, some like children’s play houses (i kid you not), and some ultra modern. I personally prefer the ultra modern style and love the idea of being able to actually afford to live in a more modern space. If you’re square footage is reduced significantly you can theoretically afford nicer materials. Theoretically.

At any rate, I theres plenty of reading that you can do on your own on the subject… but I basically wanted to know…Does this interest any of you guys in the least? It kind of fascinates me.

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7 Responses to “Tiny Living”

  1. June 30th, 2010 at 8:33 am

    orf says:

    http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

    I would love to get some land in the middle of west bum Montana with a tiny home on it. Forces you to live within your means, which works for me.

  2. June 30th, 2010 at 10:50 am

    Shalini says:

    Yes! I caught an episode of this on HGTV a couple years ago. I’ve always loved the idea of multi-functional gadgets and compact tools.

    But what’s so fascinating about this movement is that an urban concept, basically trying to make the most of a compact space for lack of budget (e.g. New York City and Tokyo), has moved into rural landscapes. Which makes sense of course, why keep yourself cooped up inside when you have such beautiful surroundings to admire.

  3. June 30th, 2010 at 11:10 am

    chad says:

    I want to build my own house with my own hands one day, inspired by the work of my father and our very own Juicer, Joe DeJoia. Perhaps a compact house to shield from strong weather elements is all that’s needed.

  4. June 30th, 2010 at 11:44 am

    chad says:

    Also, I started doing a little research on purchasing cheap land. You can buy some acreage in many of the western states about 70 miles out of nearby towns for less than $10,000. If you pay over 12 years with 12% interest, you could be paying less than $200 a month. Food for thought.

  5. June 30th, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    BLin says:

    Unfortunately, my desire to live more responsibly from an energy standpoint stands directly in the way of me having my dream kitchen. I think a good compromise is in order.

    One of the things you’ll see out West is a bit of buyer’s remorse after purchasing a huge home. The temptation is so sweet because, generally, real estate is relatively cheap in suburban areas. But then there’s a bit of sticker shock that occurs when the July electric bill comes in at over $500, from cooling a home that large.

    Things definitely need to scale down a bit.

    One other thing that I will say is that efficiency is a big player here. You can have a 2000 sq. ft. home that “behaves” like a 1000 sq. ft. home from an efficiency standpoint (space, energy, water, waste, etc.). So I think there’s a lot of easy wins out there for a lot of people to reduce their impact.

  6. June 30th, 2010 at 9:33 pm

    fil says:

    I realize that living in something extremely small seems a little restricting, but my dream set up would be to have a couple shipping containers put on a lot out in the middle of no where that consisted of a Bedroom Container, A Guest Bedroom/Bathroom Container, and a Cooking/ Entertaining Container. Obviously these would all be connected by a deck or a central gathering area that could be a place to eat in the warmer months.

    http://www.2012shelteredtechnologies.com/resources/Shipping%20Container%20Shelter.jpg
    Look how friggin MODERN that it.

    I think this would be such a great solution. Add a green roof to those bad boys, a grey water system, and you have yourself some SERIOUS futuristic living right there. And its not that restricting when it really comes down to it.

    @ Shalini : Totally agree! Thats exactly my point!

  7. June 30th, 2010 at 9:44 pm

    fil says:

    @Brian: Another thing I just thought of…

    If you’re real energy consumption goes into your kitchen, then why not try to offset the rest of your living situation to suit it? I don’t think that having a desire to have a big kitchen really stands in the way of you living more conscientiously , but rather is just a restriction to make your creativity be even sharper. I think this is the main point of why I am so fascinated by this movement. People are still doing what they love to do, but they are finding better ways to do it that directly affect how much of an impact they have on the earth etc.

    There are many examples of this, especially in advertising, but this article talks exactly about this point:
    http://blog.nerdguru.net/2007/02/13/random-thoughts-restrictions-breed-creativity/

    BLADOW.

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