Dear Familia,
This is going to be a bit of a long story, so get comfortable. It all started with this article I came across on Real Simple's website. The article tells the story of a family that has just finished renovating their 1,400 square foot ranch when disaster struck and a fire destroyed their home. They had a couple of shed/cottages in the back that they were going to use for either a guest house or home business, but they decided to live in them instead. At 351 square feet, every single square inch is used to it's maximum potential. Read the article, it's great.
I'd already started down the path of trying to figure out how to reduce my carbon footprint and this idea of living in a much smaller space went hand in hand with that lifestyle. Growing up in Arizona, well in the United States for that matter, when it comes to houses...the bigger the better, right? A mansion is the ultimate status symbol. Even middle class families end up with way more house than they need. People have dining rooms, and formal dining rooms, game rooms, family rooms, home theater rooms, guest rooms, offices, the list goes on and on. Most of that space goes unused for the majority of the time. However, building these spaces uses an incredible amount of resources. Heating and cooling these giants is another financial and environmental burden.
After a bit of roaming around on the good ol' internet (you know I was interested because I spent hours using my slower than dial-up internet while in Peace Corps to check it all out), I stumbled across the tiny house movement, specifically the work of Jay Shaffer at Tumbleweed Houses. Jay has lived in tiny houses most of his life (one at just 89 sq feet) and considers his current home that he shares with his wife and baby to be big (500 sq feet). While down in Guatemala I downloaded the pdf version of his book and the free pdf version of some tiny house blue prints. I was totally hooked! Check out the video on the latest creation a Tumbleweed Bungalow that can be customized to a home owner's needs. I love the japanese style tub.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wci9ab8P0eI&feature=player_embedded
Over the course of the last year or so I've visited hundreds of tiny house sites and follow a handful of tiny house blogs. I also have at least 50 bookmarks of interesting/creative/amazing tiny houses. For example, this guy lives in the most beautiful and tiny Airstream trailer I have ever seen. And this floating guest house could easily serve as someone's primary house. Projects like this mining hotel got me thinking about how tiny homes could be used as temporary shelter in disasters or even as permanent housing in developing countries. That is something I will definitely have to explore while I'm in school over these next few years.
Anyway, fast-forward to last Friday while I was at work. I see this guy walk in that looks very familiar, but I can't quite place him as he walks past. About 15 seconds later I realize that it's actually JAY SHAFER...what?? I totally freaked out and even interrupted him as he worked with another Specialist. I told him what a big fan I was and how great it was to see him on this coast (he lives on the West coast). He told me he was in town for a workshop and I was totally bummed that I had somehow missed that he was going to be in town. And then he INVITED ME to the workshop. I spent the rest of the day telling all my coworkers about Tumbleweed houses and being unbelievably excited for the next day! I learned so much in the workshop...I'll share the highlights another day though b/c I have to head out :)
Love,
Jem
