I do watch that show, and wonder if I could handle a tiny house. I suspect not for long, though I’d be tempted to try it as a vacation cabin in some warm place, where you spend most of your day outside. I also think it’d be fun to have 3 tiny vacation houses close together: one for me and DH, and one for each of my kids. But that kind of defeats the purpose!
Toledo, those are sweet! (for short term).
So maybe you have decide what is “tiny” for you??? 600-800 sq ft done well can not be too bad.
Yes, we watched the show on HGTV and D1’s idea was similar to eastcoastcrazy’s. She wants H to buy a larger tiny house… perhaps a 600sf one, then buy a couple to three of smaller ones, maybe 300sf, place them all on the same property and have a compound for when they come to visit. If we buy a water front property which could generate income, we could rent out the smaller ones.
Yea, not going to happen.
i’m fascinated and could do it for short-term, like a vaca. But are these folks complete minimalists in regards to clothing and possessions? Where do they store stuff.
You can make it work. We have a friend who’s been living on a house boat forever. They have a 100 year lease for the spot.
We live in a NYC city, two bedroom apartment – probably 650 square feet total. But the layout works…my son is in boarding school, which I am sure helps, but we do it full time in the summer and do just fine. We lived in Princeton for years – in a big place. If you would have asked me then if we could live an apartment the size of our living room/dining room, I would have told you no way. But honestly, I am surprised just how little space we need.
For the last four summers H and I have rented a tiny house(less than 200 SQ FT) on the central coast just north of Santa Barbara. It’s fun for three days, especially with the spectacular view off the front porch. But even though we spend most days out of doors, on the porch or on the beach, after three days we are ready to kill one another.
I would downsize in a heartbeat if the right circumstances presented, but I couldn’t go down to a tiny house. D & I watched a few episodes over the Christmas break and that tiny house concept is way too small for me.
I’ve never seen the show, but now I want to.
I wouldn’t mind downsizing from our house to a two-bedroom apartment, but I’d feel claustrophobic in a super tiny house.
Houses on wheels are the latest thing cause they get around zoning laws.
http://rollinghuts.com
But I think I would rather have an indoor bathroom than a microwave/wi fi.
They are attractive but mainly because of the fantasy of getting out from under mounds of family stuff. Our house is the perfect size for us when we are empty nesters. What I have is about 2 houses worth of stuff wedged into a moderately sized house. I am hell bent on sorting and purging (books done the past 2 days!) and I think that will help alleviate by urges to simplicity.
fyi channel has also had tiny house shows recently.
Finished basement SF often counted in Wisconsin (ours wasn’t finished, however). Bedrooms need a closet and window size to count as one.
A tiny house only works if you are only using it for eating and sleeping plus some evening time. Being retired it is so nice to have multiple spaces to be at various times.
We have 3 bedrooms and no basement.
Maybe 500 sq ft but preferably 900 sq ft, I don’t think I would have a problem and have lived in very small quarters. It would depend where and if I could leave the home a lot to walk, venture out, play, etc. Many apartments for 2 in Europe are < 400 sq ft. Studios with large windows are very comfortable and I, D1 and D2 (tiny dorm) have lived in them. I am small and I may have a different feeling about this if I were much larger. I know a lot of people that have lived in small rv’s or on boats for years. My B lived in a nuclear sub for years and was often months at sea.
When we designed our home that we are in now we read several small/tiny home books to get ideas about good use of space and multi use space. It was very helpful.
Surely I am not speaking only for myself, but for a multitude of middle-aged women when I say this - all those people who are willing to climb up ladders to sleep on a mattress in a loft area must have incredible confidence in their ability to sleep all night without a bathroom visit. I would kill myself trying to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night if I lived in that scenario!
Empty nester recently downsized to 2400 sq. ft. I could live in smaller but not so small that it requires a ladder to get into bed. Do love the prospect of reduced housework however.
In our area, whether or not a basement counts depends on whether it has an exit (window and door) and whether it’s finished.
I would like something about 1800 sq ft, all one level, with three bedrooms (two masters) – one of which would be my studio. There was an article in the WaPo the other day about what empty nesters want in real estate, and it was thoroughly depressing. Am not inclined to buy something 2x the price of what we currently have at a point when we don’t want a mortgage after retirement.
Here’s the link: it would appear there are a lot of us out there! http://www.washingtonpost.com/realestate/empty-nester-boom-offers-boon-for-builders-in-washington-region/2014/12/31/169d228c-7f2e-11e4-9f38-95a187e4c1f7_story.html
Re: storage, they showed “closets” and outdoor storage space (think attached closet on the outside) for the units - I laughed out loud more than once! - one of the “outdoor storage spaces” had room for one small folding lawn chair and that’s about it!!!
If you watched, the Oregon orchard people did have some cute options and I did like the one they chose - a couple of them were very attractive on the outside as well.
I could live in a “small house”. I have seen some wonderful models with about 800 square feet and nice screened in porch space. No way would I sleep in a loft! I have seen some “tiny houses” where the bed is rolled, under a study/desk area with raised floor, so that you don’t have to climb up to sleep. We are in 1900 sq feet, but we don’t use about 500 sq ft of that space; a downstairs guest bed/bathroom, and two tiny kids bedrooms upstairs. However, they are necessary when the kids and their significant others are visiting, so I don’t really think that we can downsize unless we build a compound.
My sister has a three room dome house, and climbs a ladder to sleep in loft. Living quarters, studio, kitchen and bath. They converted a school bus for extra sleeping quarters for visitors. Her house has been shown on TV.
My four bedroom house is too large for me, but I haven’t found a better alternative yet.