I’ve seen a few videos about the Tiny House Thang that’s going on, like this one. I can understand people wanting to live within their means especially after the Mortgage Crisis but this seems like an example of going from one extreme to another. Why not just have a Sensibly Good Size House Movement?
I’m struck by all the talk of the advantages. I haven’t found much talk about disadvantages like any impact on safety for instance. I think I’d rather be in a normal sized house if a robber tried to break in.
Well, in some cases, it’s less a ‘we are seriously going to live here’ and more ‘project to work on in the backyard on the weekends’. Given the wide range of skills and tools needed for creating a small home, it’s a delightful challenge to the DIYourselfer. A lot of them are done mostly as proof-of-concept for low-carbon living.
You also have the advantage of portability. If you build on a trailer, you have a stylishly unique mobile home for vacations. Or you can use the designs for a nice cottage in the woods or the like.
As for security, the opposite of what you might think Peter: Most burglars don’t want anything to do with someone inside the house. They may be armed, or have a golf club at hand. Therefore, a large house that they can break into as far from the bedrooms as possible is ideal. Also, people with big houses tend to have more expensive stuff.
I’ve actually looked into these though rather extensively, not for a home but for a vacation ‘cottage’ if we bought land a distance from here.
The idea of having something like this for a home would be difficult since we have too much ‘stuff’. Also, because I’m retired, I don’t leave the house the way I did when I was working so it would be like being in a closet all the time. For a single person who was gone all day long and was really only home to sleep, or for a person who’s work kept them on the road for weeks at a time, this might be do-able.
As Robin has pointed out, a robber is more interested in larger homes where there is actually stuff to steal.
I was reading a website about it and it had links to companies who’ll design you these tiny houses. Alternatively, you could move to Britain! Our house is smaller than a lot that were mentioned - about 625 sq. ft - and is considered an acceptable size of family house here. I’ve noticed that houses in the US tend to be bigger than here. I try to follow the Flylady housekeeping plan, and there’s often people saying that they’ve downsized to a little house after children moving away, then they say that their house is ‘only’ 1300 sq. ft!
ETA: THe idea of a tiny house is nice, like the room setups in Ikea that show you how you could fit tons of storage and multipurposeness into a teeny apartment. They don’t allow for all my stuff, though!
Alternatively, you could move to Britain! Our house is smaller than a lot that were mentioned - about 625 sq. ft - and is considered an acceptable size of family house here.
Maybe they should have a “Build houses like they do in Britain movement”. I have to admit the house I grew up in was a lot smaller than a lot of houses being built here in Australia today. Then again having a little extra space is always nice to have.
Our house is 0oughly 1200 sq. ft., but about half is being used for storage for Erik’s daughter, and when I moved here I brought an additional house of furniture (I’ve given most of my own away. There is very little closet space. Erik has been collecting books as well for decades so these are stacked everywhere, including many bookshelves in every room, the stairs, and als.. ... ...................he is a typical professor.
My place is about 900 sq ft and it about the right size for me. I think I would find it rather claustrophobic being in a place the size of some of those tiny homes. Besides I have too much stuff to fit into my own place much less something like those described in the video. If I were going to go the route Robin described, building one on a trailer I think I would probably just buy an rv or trailer premade.
As a vacation home somewhere though one of those would be perfect.
