videos of 12 teeny tiny houses

I have had an idea floating around about buying a small building with an upstairs apt. That way I could either live in the top half while I renovate the entire building as a home or use the bottom as a store.

And it isn't uncommon for a small barn or garage w/upstairs apartment to be turned in to a home in the rural areas. There are so many possibilities when you aren't looking for the cookie cutter mcmansion.

But the reality is...who knows. I have given up plans set in stone because I always end up going down a completely different path. The main goal is to relocate and go small. Get some dump and make it heaven.

you know, I just love your posts.
thank you

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He who thinks he knows, doesn't. He who knows he doesn't know, knows.~ Joseph Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeMrK...AE7062ADE5A19C

I lived in a 550 square foot cabin for 6 years and that was as small as I wanted to get. Even as a single person I can't imagine living in anything much smaller indefinitely. Unless, as Angie mentioned, there was a large storage shed, which I didn't have. But I must say that smaller homes of 1000 sf or less really is the way to go for cheap living.

Raven, sounds like a good idea. I use to dream about buying these two story building we have here in brooklyn with a shop on the ground floor and an apartment above, then renting the store to pay the bills and living upstairs, but then I talked to people who own buildings and who have renters and I realized that I dont want the hassle. One of the reasons I want to live in a small house and go off the grid is because I want to get away from hassles.

I lived quite happily for 2 years in a 240 square foot small cabin that I built myself. I had a fully functional kitchen as I rarely eat out. I loved it and would go back to a really small place in a minute. I now have about 1,000 square feet and it's way to big for me.

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Boldly going nowhere.

These tiny houses are really fun to look at-they often give me ideas for our house. I'm sure they work for some single people/couples, but I think it would be tough for a family to live in. We love our house, and at less than 800 sf it is "TINY" compared to the huge houses that surround us. I don't want huge, but another 100-200 sf would be nice for the 4 of us/dog/fish. It is hard to store up food, and to have company.

Tiny is the extreme, but small could be very doable for many if they would try. There are so many benefits.

Peace-Cathryn

yeah, tiny is tight, small is cozy.

I see alot of folks on here saying that livin' in a tiny house is just for the yuppie/buy everything crowd..Well, I am a far cry from a yuppie and live on next to nothing.I have a nearly non existant cash income..I get a very small check from the VA..Most of what I do is Hunt,fish,garden and barter...
I left Alaska back in 1995 with 2 small boys,a 16 year old truck and a cabover camper..we lived in the camper for awhile until I prepared a 10x16 foot lofted barn storage building for us to live in.The boys slept in the loft and me downstairs..we had an open floorplan..kitchen/living area...We lived in it for nearly 3 years as I worked and built a small house (20x32.) we were off grid for a year and a half..then had power the remainder of the time. I never had a utility bill greater than $40 ..When we moved out of that small building..my sister and her family(4 ppl) moved in while they built a house...I eventually sold the other small house and land to another sister and her family..I moved about 10 miles away and built another 20x32 with a loft for my sons and I until they both graduated..and went to college/Military.. I could easily live in something half this size with room to spare. In this part of the country many raised large families in small log cabins in the hills.
If I could sell this house and land..I'd be off to build my very last cabin in the woods..and it'd be no bigger than 16x24...But reeeeally nice .

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Have Gun,Will Travel...

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That is exactly the perfect reason to go small. I've seen this same concept completed with churches, old school houses, firehouses, etc. Keep it manageable and the sky is the limit with a little imagination.

I used to live in a ex gas station ,
The perfect bachelor PAD!
His and hers bathrooms (Or mine and companies) small well lit living space and a attached garage...WITH A LIFT!

Do you have any pictures? I have seen a couple used as restaurants but never a home. I would love to see the pics.

there was an old gas station near me and whenever I passed by I would day dream about turning it into a little homestead. break up most the concert, put in a garden, build large walls around it.

Honestly, I would try to make a home out of any decent shell of a place if I could afford it and the land was good around it.

I would love to make a secret homestead in the city if I could, like inside an old factory with a glass roof. My house, the garden, and the animals would all be hidden behind brick walls so no one outside could see what was going on. it would be like a fort and a secret world, that could only be accessed through a garage door and locked side entrance.

Raven, back when new york city took a nose dive in the 70's and 80's and we were on the verge of bankrupcy, there was all kind of creativty going on. Squaters were very creative, they turned abandoned buildings into places to live using junk to make repairs and doors. People turned abandoned garbage fiilled lots into community gardens. It was very creative. In my teens i use to walk around the remnents of those squaters and admire their creativity. Those days are gone, the squaters have been forced out when the area turned yuppie.

Raven, I think you might of liked that creativity also. If you dont have the old Shelter book from the 60's check it out, it has all kind of cool housing ideas and there is even a chapter on squaters. In that chapter on squaters you will see some pictures and in one picture you will see a beam made from welded car tire rims and pipe. That is the kind of creativity I am talking about. Who comes up with beautiful ideas like that? I love it.

I will have to check that out, CB. I love old architecture paired up with unique remodeling. I have visited many art districts that were started under similar circumstances. Eventually, the quirky neighborhoods were discovered and the yuppies moved in and pushed out the cool artsy types. Everything changed except for the buildings. Revitalization seems to follow the same arc.

How did you get interested in homesteading if you grew up in NYC? Do you realize what you are in for once you leave the big city?

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I don't know, what I am I in for? What do you mean? I wont take on anything that I think would be too much to handle. There are all different degrees of homesteading. I dont want to be a farmer, or have cows and horses, or to do anything large scale. I just want a small home with a garden, some rabbits, and some ducks, and then work a part time job. maybe I am nieve or completely stupid, but that doesnt sound like too much work.

I got into it when I was a cub scout and a boyscout. We always went away camping each month and weeks at a time in the summer and I loved that life better then the city. I loved to just be with nature.
Then as I got older I became deeply unhappy with my life and I felt something was missing. I started gardening and things took off from there, I found what nourished my soul and I found a power greater and richer then human civilization,and that great power was, dirt.

I also have a need to get away from the world. I am tired of it. I want to be alone with my own thoughts for a while.

Honestly, I really dont know why, I am just interested in it and I feel i want to do it.

I only meant that the country can be a big culture shock. The differences can be drastic depending on where you move and how rural you go but that seems to be what you are looking for. Anyways, best of luck to you!

Raven, I hope I didnt seem hostile. I was actually curious if there was something dangerous that i needed to be aware of.

No worries. It's all good.


Oh...wait...there is one thing...those crazy Amish and their wild parties that last until dawn. You may wake up to a bunch of buggy donuts on your front lawn.

hahah.

There's a lot of people on here knocking the tiny house down. Who says it has to remain tiny forever? My grandparents started out in a tiny house. It was about 12 wide by 20 feet long. Maybe not quit as tiny as mentioned in the video's, but still yet it was tiny. They built it theirselves while still living with his side of the family. Then once they moved in, they started adding on, as well as adding a corn crib, smoke house, hen house, cellar, and the old outhouse. They never borrowed a dime on the place, they saved till they had enough money and then they would build more. By the time they had raised 11 kids their house had been added on to twice.

So what's wrong with starting out tiny, and then adding on when you get enough money saved?

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r.h. in oklahoma

Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy.