Tiny houses range in size from 250 to 400 square feet. There are also micro houses in the 75-250 square foot range. For someone who’s never lived in a tiny or micro house, apartment, or bedroom, this amount of square footage would probably seem unlivable to you. It may feel like that at first, but you quickly adapt.
My first apartment, at 18 years old, was 105 square feet. That was an upgrade from my bedroom in the house I grew up in, which was 63 square feet. I describe these spaces and my experience living in them in this article entitled “My Tiny Life.”
The low rent attracted me to the apartment, and privacy attracted me to my tiny bedroom. In both cases, I easily adapted to these tiny spaces. I learned to be more efficient and creative in organizing my possessions. I also discovered that living with less stuff made my life easier. Then, after a short time, I enjoyed these tiny living quarters.
When you’re doing an activity like sitting in front of your computer, like you may be doing right now as you read this article, the amount of space you’re using is very small. And when your attention is completely focused on your computer screen and the words in this article, the square footage of the space you’re in is inconsequential. The same thing happens when you’re living in a tiny space. After a while, you don’t think about its smallness when surfing the internet, reading a book, eating a burrito, or watching TV.
Having said all that, I should tell you that at this point in my life, I would favor living in a small house (400-1,000 sq. ft.) over a tiny house. But I still prefer to have everything else tiny, including my car. My next car purchase will be an extra-small car. I still think tiny houses are charming, though. Some brilliant exterior and interior designs people have come up with are amazing.
One of those brilliant designers is Jay Shafer. He founded Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and is considered one of the early pioneers in the tiny house movement. Shafer sold Tumbleweed to his business partner and started the Four Lights Tiny House Company. Shafer also conducts workshops on how to build micro and tiny houses across the US.
Shafer’s company grew out of an 89-square-foot micro house he built. After family and friends saw his micro house, some wanted one for themselves, so a new business was born.
Shafer’s micro house was featured on Oprah some years ago. I found that pretty interesting since you could fit 258 copies of Schafer’s micro house inside Oprah’s 23,000-square-foot mega mansion in Montecito, California.
HGTV’s “Design Star” had a micro house challenge in 2011. The competition began with three identical Tumbleweed micro houses. These designers demonstrated that you can do many incredible things with these micro houses.
There’s one thing that you can only do with a micro house, and that is to build it on a trailer. Schafer’s own micro house is built on a trailer. Several of his micro house designs can also be built on a trailer.
There are several advantages to having your micro house on a trailer. The first is obvious. It’s mobile. Mobility can be a huge advantage if you have noisy neighbors, nasty relatives, or want to move to a cooler or warmer climate.
The most significant advantage is that a micro house on a trailer can often circumvent city ordinances that require a home to be a specific number of square feet. This issue can be challenging for micro and tiny house builders, so check with your city’s building department before buying plans or supplies.
A tiny or micro house can make huge changes in your life and instantly launch you into the tiny lifestyle!