Building

Live Small, Walk Tall

My name is Jay Shafer and since 1997 I have been living in a house smaller than some people’s closets. I call the first of my little hand built houses Tumbleweed. My decision to inhabit just 89 square feet arose from some concerns I had about the impact a larger house would have on the environment, and because I do not want to maintain a lot of unused or unusable space. My houses have met all of my domestic needs without demanding much in return. The simple, slower lifestyle my homes have afforded is a luxury for which I am continually grateful.

So begins the main page on tumbleweedhouses.com. Jay has created an ultra-cool portfolio of tiny house designs – some are even on wheels, and none look too hard to transport!

Jay raises a good point above – in regards to maintaining "a lot of unused or unusable space". If you’re considering a serious carbon footprint reduction, swing over to Jay’s site for a look. Amongst other things, he’s put together a great resources section with links to other sites – with all you’d ever want to know about living small.

We’d be keen to hear your experiences if any of you have tried these or something simlar.

Here’s a link to an interesting option for Australians. Feel free to comment with any other resource suggestions.

One Comment

  1. A year ago I read the book from Sarah Susanka, “The not so big house”, and was very facinated. See her website here: http://www.notsobighouse.com

    Now I’m reading the book “The phenomenon of life”, one of four in “The nature of order” by Christopher Alexander. What I realize is that Suzanka almost complitely builds her work upon the theories of Alexander, and this is why I regard her even more. I strongly recommend both these books, and Alexanders book I can assure will totaly change the way you look upon architecture and nature. This day I was skiing and now I evrywhere see the nature unfolds its beauty according to the 15 properties stated by Alexander, and I find the nature even more rich than before. With following Alexanders wisdom we can create our homes and villages, even cities, equal as beautiful and full of life, as nature itself. Like people did before, before the mecanical rationalistic modernism destroyed our architecture, towns and homes. Learn more here:

    https://www.livingneighborhoods.org/ht-0/bln-exp.htm

    and here:

    https://www.patternlanguage.com/

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