This is a true find. The Tumbleweed Tiny House Company was started by Jay Schafer around 1997 when he began pioneering the art of building and living in small spaces. "Subtractive design" or "low-impact architecture" he calls it, and, as a professor, he has spoken on the subject in many places, including the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, where he taught for ten years.
All of the ten buildings his company sells are less than 500 square feet, including the one that he currently lives in, which is 70 square feet. The biggest is "The Bungalow" at 500s/f and the smallest is the"Elemeno House," which is 50 s/f and based on Buddhist story of Hojoki which translates to �The 10 Foot Square Hut.�
For anyone interested in building a similar structure of their own from the ground up, I recommend reading "A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder" by Michael Pollan. It's a fascinating pairing of Thoreausian wisdom and experiences. Written by a transplanted New Yorker who had never picked up a hammer.
Make that "construction experiences."
I remember one of the guys in the new small houses show in HGTV living in a super small and super cramped house like this. Not sure if it was from Tiny House Company.
Jay Schafer IS the same guy from HGTV's "Small Space, Big Style." When he got to the bathroom and its "composting toilet" (read: trash can), I tuned out after that.
Um, $15,000 to $40,000?!?!? FOr ten square feet?!?
I thought this idea was absolutely ridiculous before...
I so do not see the point in this whatsoever. This self-imposed confinement is as disturbing to me than compulsive packrat woman. Don't shrink your house... go see one.
Whoops, make that $15,000 to $40,000 for 50 square feet.
Oh, NOW I get it. Not.
Yeah, I couldn't get my head around using a trashcan as a toilet either. For that price, I would rather buy a nice used mobile home, or maybe a tricked out chevy van with a waterbed - the kind my mother forbade me to ride in.
its like that Geico ad, "TINY HOUSE"
what if you wanted to make an omelet?
Aw, c'mon. While they may be problematic for comfortable permanent use as a home -- I'm thinking the "composting toilet" here -- there are many suitable uses for such small structures... a writer's retreat, hunting or fishing cabin, etc.
These may just be a little to decked out for roughing it. (Although the trim details are very pretty.) And without defending the pricetags, it is useful to keep in mind that a prefab garden shed is likely to run you from $5,000 to $10,000.
I think they're cute, although maybe not 40k cute... Still, I'd be better off in one of these than in a big ol' McMansion in the woods...
If you live somewhere that will even let you put one of these in the backyard, why not do a Cob structure instead. I noticed the tour is missing Sacramento completely which is silly as Sacramento homes, for the most part, have enough room on the lots to put one of these. SF lots are crazy small.
view Renngrrl's profile