7.31.2012

tiny house!

lately i have been all about downsizing, reducing, minimizing...you get it. i feel like americans in general are experiencing some sort of cultural disease called OMG GIVE ME MORE BIG NEW SHINY THINGS ALL THE TIME. i sometimes find myself experiencing this phenomenon, walking through the store with glazed over zombie eyeballs, drool hanging from the corner of my mouth, mindlessly putting more and more stuff in my cart. it's real cute. and what i mean by that is it's totally disgusting.

did you know that according to the National Association of Home Builders, the average home size in the US was 2,169 square feet in 2010? what are we doing in all that space? how are we filling up all that room? i'm just as guilty as the next person. if i have space to fill, i'm gonna fill it with more crap i don't need. cause it's super fun and fulfilling to spend money on things we don't care about...right?

anyways, i heard about the tiny house movement a few years ago and have been so intrigued by it since. i would totally looove to live in one of these! it's eco-friendly/responsible and puts an actual physical limitation on how much you can own. brilliant.


besides the obvious, 'what exactly is a tiny house?' you might be asking.
in 1997 a guy named jay shafer decided that he wanted to minimize his environmental footprint and unused space. he started a company called Tumbleweed Tiny House Co.



you can buy blueprints to build your own tiny house from his website. there are even plans for tiny homes you can build on wheels, so they are mobile! plus, they're all completely adorable. 

a couple months ago (on may 19th, i think) i went and spent the day with my friends jeff and margo  who are in the process of building their own tiny house. jeff actually drew all the house plans for this tiny house himself! 

jeff and margo are the kind of people who care deeply about our world and everything in it. they're also ridiculously fun. they have a blog called Our Life to the Fullest where they're documenting the process of the whole house build! here is a little from their "why this?" section:

"We are a couple that is interested in exploring our relationship with our world, and how we can minimize our commitment to our stuff while maximizing our relationship with one another and our community. [...] This is an opportunity for us to take a very large step in the direction of simplifying our life. We want to live in a space that is only what we need, and stop living in spaces where we waste so much energy by heating and cooling spaces that we seldom use. [...] We are so excited to be on this journey together, pursuing a dream for a sustainable future. We are building our home primarily from salvaged (reused) goods, in an effort to show what a classy, well-crafted space you can create without creating new waste for the landfill." 

so great, right? go check out their blog to see all the progress they have made. they're almost done! i'm so excited to go out again this saturday see it! 

here are a few pictures from when i was out there in may helping. and when i say helping i mean mostly standing around eating snacks and watching. 















they totally inspire me. 






5 comments:

homebuilders pittsburgh said...

i am planning to built my new house and i am looking for some sites who can help me in dealing with this..the designs are great and its cool..i love designing my new house and i am dying to it..i can't wait that my house would be built in.

homebuilders pittsburgh

Unknown said...

THIS IS SO AWESOME. From now until success, my new goal is to get Nick to come up with the idea that we should build an adorable tiny house together.

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Einstein's Brain said...

Congratulations on your home!