Fun
Tiny Houses
Dear Kay,
I’ve been thinking about the nest, now that mine is half empty. What’s necessary and what’s just a pain?
This circular bit of thinking keeps me fantasizing about all sorts of things. In the past week, I’ve (imaginarily) built a lake house, moved to an apartment, rented out the extra bedroom, and planted a grove of fruit trees in the front yard. What is wrong with me?
It’s a movement, the tiny house thing, according to Wikipedia. Small environmental footprint, extreme economy, a home on a trailer that travels with you. Less is more. A lot less is a lot more. Does that mean that nothing is everything? I can go all the way with the imaginary thinking these days.
For some women I know, the tiny home is a kind of wishy dream. A turtle shell of sorts—just hook your house to the back of your car and off you go, not a care in the world.
Is it a vestige of childhood, when we craved a playhouse? A room of one’s own in a life where no such thing is possible? Is it actually about sustainability and the small footprint, or is it simpler than that? Do we just want to bug out?
Honest Home podcast has a good interview with a designer who built her own tiny house for interesting reasons. Meet Vina Lustado in this episode. You can also take a tour of her tiny house, which is of course the first thing I did when I came upon this podcast. Highly recommended.
Of course, we’re not seeing Vina’s tiny house on an average Tuesday. Beer cans and Cheeto bags all over the place, you know it.
What if I could just hook my house on the back of my car? I’d miss my ungainly, unwheeled house so much. A friend once told me that a house is the exoskeleton of a woman. What about that? I like having an exoskeleton with a basement.
Does anybody know a tiny house dweller? I would love to hear about it. They can come plug in at my house anytime.
Love,
Ann
PS Also highly recommended: Portlandia’s classic take on tiny houses.
How about a tiny house for me and a regular house for the yarn stash;)?
Living on a narrowboat – as we do – is perhaps the UK alternative to the tiny house. Our space is 293 square feet: 6 ’10” wide and 43 ft long. We have plenty of room for everything we need, plus more than a few things that are just ‘wants’. It was interesting downsizing from a three storey townhouse, as you can well imagine!
The best things about this lifestyle is the ever-changing view of England from the waterways, and also the gentle pace of life. You just can’t be in a hurry!
I’m really intrigued by these, but the happy people never seem to live in a cold climate. No year round deck living in Minnesota! A knitters retirement community?
I knit pretty regularly to HGTV-LOVE House Hunters and Flea Market Flip but they do have a show called Tiny HouseHunters.http://www.hgtv.com/shows/tiny-house-hunters
Also In Portland where I live there is an incentive for people to have a tiny house provided by city to house a homeless family for a certain time and then they can keep the house.
One other comment-we stayed one night in a Tree house in TreeHouse Point in WA. http://www.treehousepoint.com
Paid $$$ to sleep up high but no bathroom. Not fun limping down dark stairs at 2am to find the bathroom. I need at least 1000 sq ft to call home.
“A house is the exoskeleton of a woman.”
THIS! I am going to contemplate the mindblowing nature of these words as I putter about today with my planned housework-and-mending fiesta.
Last year I downsized to a house half the size. I can’t tell you how freeing it is to get rid of things you don;t really need or use. I actually use all my rooms every day. If I lose my phone, I don’t have to search long to find it.It was a blessing.
I foresee a problem: stash! And ALL your knitted items. I don’t think they’d all fit. I think in a tiny house one gets 1 of anything, and not more. Altho I suppose if you just use it as a 2nd vacation home to bug out in now and again. But I’m not sure that’s the point.
You should check out RowdyKittens.com, Ann. She and her husband have a tiny house, which they lived in for years but now use more as a vacation spot. You can read her adventures about living in one, and enjoy her photographs. I quite enjoy her writing and insights.
I don’t understand the tiny house thing. Small house trailers have been around forever. With a trailer, you can visit campgrounds, National Parks, and just travel where you can drive. OR, you can rent a motor home in foreign countries, where it is safe to camp out at night. With a “tiny house” you would have no room for a weaving loom, spinning wheel, and your stash. So much for my thoughts on the subject.
I’m with you, Marta!! A little Silverstream would be great!
I like the idea of tiny houses and love watching Tiny House, Tiny Luxury (I think that’s right) on DIY but can’t imagine living in one with three sewing machines plus my fabric stash and yarn stash. As a bug-out device it might work. We’re in a 900 sq. ft. duplex with a full basement which is where all the craftiness lives. I think that’s my limit of tiny-ness, although I do plan to begin divesting clutter and unneeded “stuff” now that I’m a retired woman–once I’m over my sewing-an-entire-new-wardrobe-with-mostly-Sonya Philip’s-patterns jag, that is.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for introducing me (and the rest of your readers) to her. These clothes make me want to grin and twirl, and I’m too old for such foolishness.
Grin and twirl to your hearts content – if the desire is there, and it obviously is, it sounds super joyous to me! Go with it!
This is a recurring fantasy of mine, to live that small, travel, explore, knit and teach.
perfect
I harbor a tiny house fantasy, too. A year ago, I found myself in a situation where I had to downsize, and I now live in less than half of the square footage. Still, though, not a tiny house. My most significant issue with tiny houses: sleeping lofts and nooks look so appealing…until you have to change the sheets. I hate changing the bed, anyway. I cannot imagine how much more I’d hate it if I had to crawl around on my knees to do it.
My sister-in-law and I had a discussion once about whether my in-laws (her parents) are hoarders or just “hoardy.” They definitely have a lot of unnecessary stuff hanging around. Anyway, one day her dad said to her, “You know, I’d really like to live in one of those tiny houses.” To which she replied, “Hello– have you MET you? Where would you put all the stuff?” Reply: “OK, maybe I’d need a tiny house with a huge barn.” 🙂
My almost 30-year-old son (that’s a scary, scary phrase), his lovely wife, and their Labrador retriever live in a tiny house built inside a 1996 BlueBird school bus. It’s remarkably swanky, for a bus. They’ve made it through 3 Vermont winters and show no signs of needing or wanting more real estate.
My favorite story about their tiny house is that when I first laid eyes on it I recognized the tiny wood stove in it: it is the stove my husband and I had in the first house we owned. The kid who first fitted out the bus was the son of the farmer we bought milk from in those days (old hippy here), and he acquired our old stove (a British stove lined in soapstone which burned a 12 inch log) from our old house.
I’m kinda jealous of the tiny house, and frequently fantasize about one of my own.
I like to watch the Tiny House shows, but I get kind of anxious. Don’t they craft? What about their stash!
Last year I built a barn, because I realized that I could put myself in a barn, but I could not put my horse in a house. So I have a tiny space in my barn, 170 ft.², and it has everything I need. I have a wonderful outdoor shower, and I love entertaining there: I can easily fix dinner if I plan ahead and think about what I can do with one burner, and I have three chairs set outside my front door so that we can have a glass of wine and watch the sunset together. It is perfect in every respect, And the horse is certainly happy! Claire, in middle Tennessee
My 9yo knitter child and I were talking the other day about having a tiny knitting house for the backyard. It was such fun to talk about what we would want in our yarny retreat (she had a great idea about needle storage!) I then had a dream about a tiny knitting house that same night. I do sometimes feel very, very burdened by all our stuff, but it would take a lot to downsize all in one step. Maybe a little retreat (crafty or otherwise) is the answer!
We downsized to 1700 sq ft and I think we will go smaller next time. Thinking of that I am definitely mindful of the tools. I am purposely not buying a floor loom even though I’ve got great space for one in this place.
My husband’s grandmother lived in a tiny house next to her daughter for many years and that worked very well. It had been a little flower shop run by the previous owner so they put in a tiny kitchen and she had enough room for a little living space with a small table for eating breakfast, her bed behind a partial wall and a bathroom. Grandma lived there for many years until she needed more help and moved into the main house. I’m sure having that space of her own made losing independence much easier to bear.