I could not do the really micro ones. Not even as a tent replacement for camping. I need something I can stand up straight in. Love cabin tents, which I can actually walk across! But I’m getting old and hedonistic - gimme a camper. We did downgrade last year - got rid of the 20something foot trailer and replaced it with a pop-up (awesomeness! It’s a camper mated with a tent on each end to sleep in! Best of both worlds!), but that’s as small as I want to go. When I get where I’m going, it goes up and I can stand. And hop around on one foot trying to put on my boots.
Once these microhouses get big enough to stand in, they get heavy and aren’t great for transporting or moving into tight camping spots at festival. So, in all, inferior to a pop up trailer camper, I think.
If I was in a place with nice weather and had a good outdoor living space? Absolutely. Whenever possible, I try to take advantage of outdoor living.
One of the best living situations I ever had was as a Peace Corps volunteer-- I lived in a horrible tiny bug-infested mud-brick box. In reality, I’d only go in there to shower, use the toilet, change clothes, store valuables and take the occasional mid-day nap out of the sun. The rest of my time was spent in my neat, charming little yard.
I had some lightweight furniture and matting that I’d switch around through the day according to my needs. In the AM, I’d hang out on a floor mat (my yard was filled with a thick layer of clean gravel, which is a good lounging surface) or my stick bed listening to the shortwave and reading. In the afternoon, I’d set up a table for food prep and make my meals (I had a little propane-stove kitchen in what was essentially a storage shed on another part of the property). In the evening, I’d arrange my stick bed into a couch and set up tables and chairs to receive vistors. At night, I’d do some exercise in or bucket-wash clothes in the open space and then fall asleep on the stick bed or mat. For entertaining, I’d bring my good table outside, spruce it up with lace table clothes and cut flowers, and string home made christmas lights (light bulbs stuck in colored soda bottles) around the yard.
It was a happy, energizing way to live- nothing beats waking up to the sun and the birds, or falling asleep under the stars. But then again, even in the states I tend to be a one-room girl. Whenever I’ve had a house with more than one room, I’ve always ended up neglecting all but one. I tend to end up with beds in my living room a lot. I don’t spend a ton of time at home, but when I am home I want everything in reach.
That said, I adore how well-designed the tiny houses are. What I could picture would be a family where each member had their own tiny house, and shared a nice outdoor living space. If you had a space where a lot of people were tiny housing, you could perhaps have a central activity room/large kitchen that people could reserve for more elaborate entertaining.
That’s basically an apartment building/complex with a common/party room, although the tiny houses would cut down on the noisy neighbor/thin walls problems.
When we moved 5 years ago we were planning for life with no kids and so we bought a tiny house. Daughter was to be home for two years and then gone to school and son had already moved out. Now daughter is back for a year, we’re both working from home and this 1100 sq ft house is way too freaking tiny for anything. Even when the kid leaves in September it’s not going to get any better as her room won’t really fill any of the needs the house is missing. There’s no way I could go smaller without killing off my husband.
I think it’s a pretty different situation. The tiny houses are (often) mobile, can be configured and reconfigured at will, are well-designed with high-quality materials, and can be placed on property like a house.
I can’t buy a piece of land, move mine and my honey’s apartments to it, build us some decks and breezeways to bridge our abodes and enjoy living in a place that is more than the flimsy poorly designed paperboard boxes most apartments are.
There are a number of cottage communities out there that are just that. Small houses for singles or a couple (you probably wouldn’t want families, the houses are pretty small and kids would change the community), with some shared space. Unlike an apartment or condo, you aren’t sharing walls and hallways and there tends to be an emphasis on outdoor space - the houses are often on small lots, but there is some green area and trees - less density than multi unit housing. I think they’d be really nice to retire to - with kids in the house, I want a lot more space and they have a ton of stuff.
I think that’s the difference between small houses and apartment living - with a small house there is more density per indoor square foot (or maybe the same), but less density per outdoor square foot. Many of the small house people have small houses on many acres.
While this certainly happens, for the most part it’s confined to pricey neighborhoods that are relatively close to city centers. As you get further out into the suburbs (or to more rural areas), Americans seem to value their outside space in the form of front / back yards.
Traveller families would live in a horse drawn caraven (this sort of thing). The adults slept inside while the kids slept underneath. They’d park, build a fire, fetch water in buckets and were pretty much self sufficient. Nowadays they live in static caravans that aren’t exactly huge, but contain a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living/dining area.
Before the Celtic Tiger years people used to stay in static caravans parked at the side of the road in order to qualify for Local Authority housing - often with several children.
I knew a family who had to live in a ‘glorified shed’ for months while waiting for planning permission to build a house on their own land.
I’ve been living alone in a 350 sq ft apartment for the past six months. It was in no way too small. Not saying that I wanted it smaller (though it could have lost some living room in exchange for some kitchen) but was absolutely fine, even when I had guests staying.
I think there are some cultural expectations at play here.
I don’t think so, no. Did you guys look at the links?
I know we Americans are widely viewed as fat asses who “need” walk in humidors in our walk in closets in our bathrooms, but this isn’t a culturally determined tiny. This is actually tiny that we’re talking about here. You two are talking about 350-450 sq ft, which is the size of a good sized camper or studio apartment, which many Americans enjoy quite a bit.
This thread is about micro living spaces, where the *largest *model available is 24 sq feet, with a 5’10" height. I’m not sure there’s any culture where 24sq ft is equivalent to 400sq ft.
A related topic. Some sailboating people are really into using the smallest boats possible. Google “microcruising” to find some info. And for boating, it really does make sense to use the smallest you can stand, because things get pricey fast as the size goes up.
Here is a link to get you started. These folks have done a lot with a really small sailboat.
What I find interesting is the trend to convert cargo containers into housing. A cargo container is 8ftx20ft for 160sqft or you can get a double unit 40ft long for 320sqft. These cargo containers and can be stacked 5 high to create an apartment building. I started thing about them after Japanese tsunami last year when I figured one container ship could carry housing for 10,000 families.
The OP’s links are not really representative of the tiny house movement, which tends to focus on very well designed small spaces with distinct living areas. Most tiny houses are in the 100 - 200 sq. foot range, which is well within the global norm for reasonable living space.
In America nomadic Traveler and Roma families (usually people who work the carnival and festival circuits) still live in rather small trailers. It’s actually very pleasant if you like the lifestyle and spending time outdoors. You don’t store up a lot of possessions that way, but many of them find that an advantage (it’s seen as emotionally liberating). If my family adds anymore outbuildings or additions to our homestead we are definitely looking into the tiny home concept.
