This is a true find. Sebastopol-based 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," as he calls it. As a professor, he had 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 eight buildings his company sells are less than 800 square feet, including the one that he currently lives in, which is 70 square feet. The biggest is the Enesti at 774 square feet and the smallest is the XS-House at 65 square feet.
All of the houses are finely crafted and designed to be used as a home, a weekend escape, or as a garden hut. Prices start at $38,000 for the smallest home. A few are within the legal limits for travel on U.S. roadways and come on wheels, so you can take them anywhere you want. You can also purchase the plans and attend a Tiny House Building Workshop to learn how to build a tiny house from the foundation to the roof!
• The Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
(Edited from this post originally published 09.01.05 on AT:NY)
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
OMG!! I love this idea.
view ltblmr's profile
I absolutely adore this!
view sallyTV's profile
Though I couldn't actually do the really tiny ones. I felt claustraphobic just watching Jay's house tour.
view ltblmr's profile
i could probably live in it... for about 8 hours. about as long as i can sit in a office at work each day.
view dM's profile
I'm so into it. And yurts.
I worry that I will end up on Wife Swap, trading with a McMansion family.
view gquaker's profile
Yay Iowa! :)
view Marbargarbo's profile
I really like these homes and looked into them, but it's hard to get permission to put them in a lot of places, and traditional mortgage financing is out of the question.
view madampince's profile
I couldn't live in a space this small, but it's an inspiration to see what can be done. Mainly, my problem would be the kitchen being so small. I couldn't deal with the tiny refrigerator (though my current refrigerator is about 2/3 the size of the average one in the U.S. and small by most standards) and not having an oven for baking.
I don't think it's the sort of place you can lounge in and feel comfortable, but I think it shows that you can get by with less space than most people do.
view Orchid64's profile
I've been wanting one of these for a while now.
Actually, wouldn't a cluster of three or four of them connected by decking, or common landscaping be sweet?
Also, what agreat idea for a retail space...one store, but several li'l houses!
www.thebitterfoodie.blogspot.com
view thebitterfoodie's profile
i think i would thrive in a small place. i loved my dorm room in college because it felt like a little cocoon...very much want one of these houses. an at-ers willing to let me park it on their lot? :)
view Pistachio's profile
house as chick magnet. awesome!
view bibliogrrl's profile