Tiny houses: The next big thing, or too close for comfort?

[this is a reprint of a feature article I wrote for our local newspaper, published June 1, 2015.]

Tiny Houses are built on dual-axle trailer foundations both for mobility and exemption from zoning and building codes. In August of 2012 when work dried up in Arizona we simply hitched up and moved our house to Santa Fe, NM. I blogged about our tiny adventures at http://clotheslinetinyhomes.com.     photo by Carrie Caverly

by Carrie Caverly

In the land of “McMansions” where the average house size has swelled to 2,600sf, a petite countercultural version of home is rolling into the neighborhood: the Tiny House.

“Drawn by the prospect of financial freedom, a simpler lifestyle and limiting one’s environmental footprint, more buyers are opting to downsize—in some cases, to space no larger than 300 sq. ft.”—Tiny House Nation reality TV show.

Small living quarters are not entirely novel, or inherently hip, but they are enjoying wild popularity.  No longer the sole realm of online bloggers, tiny houses are all over the media, featured on Oprah, in Forbes magazine, CNN, the BBC, and a slew of local news stations.  There are two documentary films now: Tiny: The Movie, streamable on Netflix, and Small is Beautiful: A Tiny House Documentary, with select screenings starting in April 2015.  There are three reality TV shows: Tiny House Nation, Tiny House Hunters, and Tiny House Builders.  Fortune magazine lists micro dwellings in the top 5 home trends of 2015, saying “micro and tiny are huge.”

Tiny Houses and Disaster Preparedness

Good morning, happy monday!

I am so happy to be working from home again this week after an ill-fated venture into substitute teaching.  (what was I thinking?!)  Does everyone pretty much know that substitute teaching is horrible?!  yeah, well, now I know too.  fortunately, pain is the touchstone of all growth, so any awful experience is bound to be highly instructive, and the past two weeks have indeed been revealing.  I am just not suited to teaching – any group larger than about 6 people causes a noticeable amount of anxiety, and ideally, I prefer to interact with 1-2 people at a time.  so.  until I find a school with class sizes of two students!  I will stick with design work.

I wanted to share a few interesting tiny house related links with you…

first: tiny house for rent!  this would be a great way to feel out if a tiny house is right for you.  I like how this place painted the walls white but left the ceiling natural wood.

Tiny House for rent – interior view.

secondly, I wanted to share a blog of a friend of ours who lives in Crestone, CO – a notoriously rugged and self-sufficient community in an extremely beautiful environment in southern Colorado. 

Why Tiny? … Economic Reasons for Living in a Tiny House

We were recently featured on cable show HLN’s “Making It In America” where the emphasis was on people downsizing due to economic struggles.  This was also kind of the focus when we were featured on CNN’s website and on ABC news in Phoenix.

Money is only ONE of the reasons we decided to live in a tiny house (check out the FAQ page for more reasons) but I thought I would write a series about Why Tiny?  and I’ll start with economics, because that seems to be the most urgent motivator for most people.  (excepting maybe No Impact Man…?  his motivation seemed to be a desire to make his wife miserable!  oh, wait, saving the environment.)

WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE AN OPINIONATED RANT.  🙂