Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Small House Movement

Have you heard of the small house movement? It's a fast growing trend towards building and living in tiny homes that range from (on average) 100-600 square feet. As a response and solution to the recent economic downturn, these mini's have started sprouting up everywhere. The media, from The Wallstreet Journal to the New York Times and blogs such as Apartment Therapy are buzzing about it. And it's no wonder as the benefits are endless! Some of the incentives include:

- They are significantly less expensive to build/buy making it a realistic purchase for first time buyers or people who want to downsize.
- Your heating and electricity costs will significantly decrease due to less energy spent on wasted space
- You will lead a less cluttered and more organized existence as you will have to be more picky when it comes to choosing furniture/art/ appliances
 - Smaller homes equal more money saved on building materials so you can invest in sustainable solutions such as solar power
- Less spaces to clean! 
- Smaller homes lessen the emitted pollutants that your homes generate.
-  My personal favourite: You will have additional land around your home for trees, gardens, greenhouses, beehives, chicken coops, etc.,

The focus shifts from quantity to quality and promotes the idea of living artfully. The simple elimination of hallways and dining rooms can already reduce the size of your home. Architects and builders  popping up everywhere and designing savvy homes with nifty storage units and dual purpose rooms. Design and functionality trumps size and allows you to get creative. Suddenly every square inch of your home serves a logical purpose.

I've always wanted to live in a small home and have never really understood why most people choose to buy the monstrosities that are on the market today. I mean, what's the point of having a 3,500 square foot home on a tiny lawn besides status? I don't get it. Personally I look forward to the day when my tiny home is surrounded by acres of nature and areas that promote sustainable living. I honestly can't imagine my future any other way...








You can read more about the movement here and here.

7 comments:

  1. Building this kind of houses can be a bit of a challenge since you have to maximize the limited space for all your basic functional rooms. This is an example of the old saying, less is more! Just see how much more benefits it can offer to the home owner! This is a good housing option we should all consider!

    Linda Wise

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those houses are so cute! I love how they look so beautiful despite being so small. I wonder how many persons can fit inside each of those comfortably. Anyway, this is a very nice idea.
    Son Lakhani

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with you, Linda. It’s a bit challenging to make use of the space, however, that’s the best part with designs with smaller spaces. It’s actually beneficial as it will save households a lot of time and effort, from have to fix up and clean the whole area.

    Santo Caridine

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think this idea is great. It’s basically living with only what is necessary, and removing excess. It’s also a great way of saving money on building and construction materials. You wouldn’t have to put a roof on as much space as most homes do, so if you wish, you can actually splurge a bit on an eco-friendly concrete or metal roof.

    Roslyn Petermann

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this! We have a wooden home of 3m by 4m and it fits the for of us comfortably. But to be honest it stands in the middle of vegetable gardens, orchards and at the foot of a mountain,so we do spend allot of time out there.And the comfort of drinking water and solar power for light and mobile phone make life very comfortable.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for all your comments! It's so nice to know that like minded people are reading my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Those are cute houses – from the roofs, windows and door designs. If I’m not mistaken, tiny houses are common in Sweden. They are mostly considered as tourist accommodation in their villages and campsites. Anyhow, I wonder what it is like to live in one of those cute houses.

    Richard Boles

    ReplyDelete