WHY TINY HOMES?

Why tiny homes? Because when we examine America's housing stock we see that Americans have become obsessed with BIG. From super-sized to jumbo. This includes soft drinks, vehicles, waistlines and housing. Not everyone wants or needs a JUMBO home.

R. Buckminster Fuller advised his students to look for the "gaps" in any field. Find the gaps and develop a profitable way to fill them and you will never be lacking for a job or meaningful serviceable work to do. In looking with thoughtful observation at housing, we realized there is a huge gap in choices for what is available. Folks in our society can choose from two basic options: (1.) huge, mini-mansions that are larger than they really need — on the upscale, or (2.) cheaply made starter homes and plastic single-wide and double-wide manufactured homes on the lower end.

Over 50% of all American homes have a single head-of-household, and this is growing. All these single people simply don't need a biggie McMansion. With the baby boomers approaching retirement and more professional single folks in the market place, we expect the demand for quality, smaller custom housing to skyrocket. It's a trend that needs to happen on every level: sociologically, environmentally and economically. People are asking themselves: "how much is enough?"

While it is true that home builders can build any size home you want, most contractors have told us over and over: "There isn't any profit in building small houses. The big bucks are made with big house." That is only partly true.

Smaller homes cost more per square foot to build, because they have all the features of a larger house, including kitchens and bathrooms that are more costly per square foot compared to the other rooms in a house such as bedrooms and dining rooms.

For example, a 2,500 square foot house at $100 per square foot costs $250,000. A 1,000 square foot tiny house at say $125 per square foot totals $125,000. More expensive per square foot, but less expensive overall.

Now here's the big money question. Big houses cost more that little homes. But are they better investments? An article in the May 13, 2001 Seattle Times, written by Elizabeth Rhodes, states that: "Judged not on sales price, but on the cost per square foot — which reveals how much buyers actually get for their money — little houses outperform their bigger brethren not by a little, but by a lot. In the past decade, homes 2,500 square feet or larger have appreciated 57 percent. In 2000 that put the square-foot price at $147. But those under 1,200 square feet — in other words your basic two-bedroom, one bath starter house — have appreciated a remarkable 78 percent to $184 per square foot in 2000."

Small homes appreciated $37 more per square foot than larger houses. Why? Because overall, the smaller houses were more affordable and therefore had more demand from a larger buyer base.

Many people are attracted to tiny homes, cabins, cottages and bungalows, not only because they are more affordable, but also because they are so functional and personal. We define tiny homes as any full-featured, smaller home from a bout 350 square feet up to about 2,000 square feet, or even as large as 1,500 square feet. Cute, cute, cute!

The square footage definition we are using for a tiny home is relative. We are defining a "tiny" home to be from 300 to 1,000 square feet. A "small" home we define from 1,000 to 2,000 square feet. Sarah Susanka defines a "not so big house" as being from 2,000 to 3,000 square feet. It is all relative to one's needs and idea of a small or large space.

Now we are not going to snap a chalk line and say, 1,100 square feet is NOT a tiny home —- size truly varies depending on our individual perspectives. Let's not get stuck on the square footage of "my house is smaller than your house. "Here's the bottom line: you can live in an attractive, aesthetically appealing upscale tiny house AND you can do it so that it is quality built, architecturally beautiful, highly marketable, and profitable.

The basis of this book is that small is beautiful, functional, and economical in housing.

Another problem we find in our search for exemplary correctly sized housing is that our language doesn't have the vocabulary to adequately describe the features and benefits of living in tiny homes.

The tiny home adjectives seem to be limited to "cozy" and "cute". But tiny homes offer so much more than cute. They are magical. Tiny homes have the warm, fuzzy feeling of home at their primal core. They can offer personal safety and deep contentment.

Tiny homes can be truly magical because you set your perception levels differently. You notice smaller things. Your intuition and senses pick up changes easier, especially in the subtle energies. The faintest of smells are more noticeable. There is a totally different ambiance in and around a tiny home than there is in a McMansion house.

Can we define the feelings of living in a tiny home full time? Let's try. To start with, you get a feeling of being closer to nature. Not as close as camping in a tent, but certainly closer than in a full size house. From our experience, the things we find most enjoyable are hearing bird song at daybreak, the wind blowing and rustling the leaves, and rain on the roof. The elements are more intimate to your personal environment. Sometimes it is like being in a small boat on the ocean. The waxing and waning of energy currents help you feel the rhythms of life, and the heartbeat of nature.

Having a very compact kitchen makes it efficient to cook and prepare meals. You don't have to take many steps to do any task. Often you just turn around. For example, an eat-in kitchen is much easier and more efficient to care for than a dining room separate from the kitchen.

Imagine that your entire house can be vacuumed with the cord plugged into one central outlet. A few minutes each day is more than enough to clean house. You might even leave the vacuum plugged in, sitting, waiting for action.

There is also a feeling of confidence you can have when not surrounded by too many things. It is Zen-like. When there aren't too many things, you get a closed-in claustrophobic feeling even in the largest of rooms. Tiny homes have a way of focusing on clutter and disorganization, and forcing us to reorder our lives to revolve around the few things that are most important to us, versus the many things that clutter our space and our minds.

Living in small places brings a forced focus on what is important in life and what isn't. This includes time or friends, studying topics that interest you, or even community service — wherever you sacred soul contract might lead. Let's face it, larger homes can be distracting by the sheer volume of things that need to be done. So much so that you can be held back from doing and being what is really important in your life.

We welcome your suggestions and insights on helping to define a new vocabulary of living life more fully in smaller spaces.

So, how do you make a tiny house a home? You do it through architectural detail, very efficient use of space, and the personal touches that put art and craftsmanship into the building of a home. You minimize transitional spaces like hallways and stairwells and increase transition zones to the outdoors. You maximize the use of storage areas with organization and vertical storage. You create an environment that is not just expensive heated storage for stuff, but an environment that supports you, your interests, and your lifestyle. You build a house that's not just a huge, cavernous, soul-less shelter — it's your home.

Recipe for a Tiny Home
What to Add and What to Leave Out

Happiness does not come with things
It can come in work and pride in what you do.

—Mohandas K. Gandhi