This guy takes the tiny house to extremes. There’s a picture of one thats basically a coffin with a higher roof.
Here’s a 125 sq ft one
I think these people are kidding themselves. Yes you can build a tiny box to sleep in. I give the guy in the first link credit for creating some stylish boxes. But they are still just boxes you crawl in to sleep.
Living in a home is more than that. Where are these people going to raise kids? Don’t they want to have activities in their home? A place to watch tv, cook, get on the computer? That’s what makes a home special. Its not just a box to sleep in.
I hated living in tiny 2 room apartments. I got so fed up with just living in those two stinking rooms. My house isn’t huge. Its 1350 sq ft
I just couldn’t live in a 200 sq ft house. I would be miserable.
But 125 sq foot is not tiny. It’s micro. That would be a great weekend or summer home, when you’re going to be spending most of your time outdoors. But I wouldn’t like living there on a round-the-year basis.
I currently live in a house that’s 700 sq feet. At first I thought it would be too big, but it’s the perfect size for me. I could see shaving off another 50 and being okay, but I couldn’t have two cats with anything less. And I love my cats.
I think people who live like that enjoy being a little hermity. I don’t think they do plan on having kids (its rare to find a couple who survives very long in a micro house). A laptop is tiny and meets the TV requirement. Some of them have kitchens (though the ones you pointed to don’t, and wouldn’t be sustainable as really anywhere other than a spot to sleep). Jay Shafer has been living in his house for ten years or longer now: http://news.yahoo.com/video/secondact-20246210/second-act-jay-shafer-20910195.html
There is a certain appeal to being very minimalist. I think I would be miserable, but still, there is a seduction there.
I know some people find comfort in tiny spaces (I can think of a couple people I know personally who are very happy with this). Obviously a lot depends on a person’s desires and needs. I personally would be fine with a small space - easy to clean and there’d be a requirement for frequent review of what is necessary vs. desired to keep in that space, which would suit me well.
But - I don’t have kids and am not particularly sentimental about objects. My husband, on the other hand, loves space and room to store all kinds of things that I would never keep if the decision were left solely to me. Fortunately he is also happy to be responsible for some upkeep of that space, though housecleaning is not his forte and so there’s also some stress on me for that - I simply am not capable of keeping all this space as clean as I’d like and that’s a source of dissatisfaction for me. I think we together overall are better off in a larger space, though if something happened and I was just on my own, I’d probably sell this house and move into someplace more manageable for me. I’m just a control freak that way, though.
I’ve never lived in a home bigger than 2000 sq ft. and that was my parents. I always wonder why people think they need a 3000 sq ft home.
All the homes in my 1950’s neighborhood are 1050 sq ft. 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. Really they are 2 bedrooms and a nursery. Lots and lots of kids were raised in these houses in the past 60 years.
Mine had a 12x16 room added on the back. I added a full bath to that room. Raising my sq ft to barely 1300.
I would be very comfortable living single in 600-800 square feet. I’d do one of those Tumbleweed trailer jobs as an extended camper, but not a place to live.
Those are intended as tent replacements at festivals, not permanent residences. There’s an obvious theft risk, living in a place that’s so small and transparent. I could happily live in a 250 sq.ft. studio, but anything smaller than that? No.
I lived in a 10’ X 30’ trailer home (yes, trailer-it had tail lights) for about six months. It wasn’t that bad at all. It had a full bathroom, kitchen / living room and a bedroom. A 300 square foot house with some loft sleeping space would be better. I could see myself living in something like that again if I ever decide to move- now I own a 1600 square foot house on two acres.
I love the idea, but impossible for me, I use a wheelchair about half the time and you really need space around stuff to function well.
I have previously lived in studio apartments, my first place ever was an unconnected 2 car garage converted to a seriously small apartment. I ended up building a loft bed and putting the sort of dining/study table and 2 chairs under it, and had one of the seriously old school all in one sears kitchens,[sort of like this one but really ancient like 1950s] and enough space for an ancient recliner. I think it was about 250 sq feet.
My SO and I lived in a houseboat for a time, 32 feet by 12 feet. It was great, cheaper utility bill, and way more comfortable than had been expected.
We learned to value the space, and how to minimize our belongings, so as not to crowd ourselves out with things.
The experience simplified our lives, forcing us to clear out the clutter.
Also, we learned that we could work as a team; and, after a time, how NOT to get in the other’s way.
I get the tiny house trend, and support it. I also subscribe to the news letter, and enjoy seeing how people live in yurts, gypsy bardos, float houses, trailers, and in other types of tiny homes.
It’s horrifying to me. I can’t imagine actually living like that. Even my RV has twice that much area, and we’re shopping for a bigger one as we find it a little cramped, even just for weekend trips. Is this actually a trend? I haven’t noticed it in the US.
I’m not advocating McMansions, but I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t last as a couple if we had to trip over each other constantly in a cramped house like that. We need space to get away from each other on occasion.
I notice both examples are from the UK. I think people from the southern US have a lot larger personal space requirements (body-wise and house-wise) than Europe or UK.
There is a tiny house on my way to work, I see it each morning and daydream a bit. It’s about 500 Sq feet, with a small porch on the front. After two years though, I’ve noticed a trend on the property: about every six months another 10x15 shed appears. Hmmmnnn.
As for the “Coffin on wheels” check this out fro comparison: http://cernulois.cgsociety.org/gallery/ full sink and toilet in less space, and it’s motorized!
If it were just me, I could totally see living in one of these cottages: Tumbleweed But Celtling needs elbow room.
I can imagine living in a place like that myself. If you were in a warm climate and were comfortable with spending a lot of time outdoors and not doing much cooking, it would be pretty manageable.
It isn’t a trend like “every other purse you see has the Coach logo splattered across it.” But smaller spaces have been being pushed by some people for quite a while. Probably most notable after Katrina, small houses (Katrina homes or Katrina cottages) were designed as an affordable way to rebuild quickly. And as was said upthread, neither of the first two examples are really “homes” - they are more both “shelters.”
I own a 700 square foot home that I don’t live in - my brother in law does. And the thing is that its affordable. Its actually a lot of space for one or two people. Not everyone wants to partner or have kids. Its big for a “tiny house.”
For big small houses, Susan Susanka’s work on “the Not So Big House” is worth looking at. Her houses really don’t tend to be tiny or cheap, but rather than living rooms with sixteen foot ceilings or master baths that could sleep four (attached to master suites as large as my little house), she’s into making the space you have the space you use.
I was thinking … this would be a really nifty thing to have in your backyard when company comes over. It’s tiny, yes, but if all they were going to do is sleep there it could work.
I’ve always like the idea of a retreat house. A friend of mine is really into these as a concept, and I think in part because she’s lived in small city homes with three kids, her husband, multiple cats and a dog and teaches middle school - so she’s always been into the idea of a retreat house. Enough kitchen for a pot of tea and a light meal. Enough bed/couch for a good book and a nap.
I think that’s true, but I also think Brits value outside space more than inside space. It seems to be a trend in the US to build as big a house as possible on a given plot, almost right up to the property line on all sides in some cases.
Whereas my hous is about 950 sq ft, which I imagine counts as “small” but is pretty average in my area, but we have a decent sized garden. If we adopted the American style of building using the whole plot we could have a house four or five times the size, I guess.
Lots and lots of kids were raised in these houses in the past 60 years.