Tiny Houses

[hunter63]

Came across this site, or blog or whatever on Tiny Houses while checking into washer/dryer units for "The Place".

Early on when "The Place" was just a dream/goal, I had kinda researched these as a possible option for a dwelling to our land.
As we did end up with a small Amish cabin, a lot of the furnishings and such were designed/built just to fit in the available space.

So it seems like I'm on a e-mail list....and have to say been finding it a lot more interesting than most I get.

Any way...so cool stuff....
http://tinyhousetalk.com/category/discussion/

Remember wives like "Big" rather than "small".......just saying.

[natertot]

Kind of a cool idea..... don't know about practical though......

[harleyrider1]

A "tiny house" would make an excellent get-away/hunting/vacation cabin.

[randyt]

I lived in a boarded up corn crib for a spell, does that count as a tiny house?

[hunter63]

One thing to keep in mine....nothing fits....no storage........

But what crazy is that many places have ordnances on minimum a lot size, and minimum square footage of housing.
Town ship just to the east of me .......need 30 acres to build any dwelling.......

[Rick]

That would take a drastic change in lifestyle. I mean, no beans. Am I right? Is the bathroom also the recliner? That wouldn't be so bad. Multi Use is always good. Looks like the TV would sit in your lap. And the icebox would be right next to the toilet/recliner. Say, this could work.

[hunter63]

Well lets put it this way......If you have windows that swing in....how high can a table be.....?
Square furniture doesn't fit well in a dome.....
Can't walk away if you get pizzed off.....for very far.
Details, details.....

[randyt]

The bathroom is politely called a path bath.

[1stimestar]

My last cabin was 400 sq. ft. The 4 of us lived in it for over a year. Yea, it was too small!

[aflineman]

I live in an 18' work trailer for a good portion of the week. Sometimes it is to small. Especially when I work overtime, and stay for a few weeks. Easy to heat and cool though. Plus, I remember all of the times I have been deployed, and would have loved living in this.

[BENESSE]

My first NYC studio apt. was less than 300sq.ft. (rent $1000, 24 yrs ago)
Thank God, the bafroom was normal.

[crashdive123]

Lots of room in those.....compared to a Submarine.:whistling:

[hunter63]

LOL, Yeah, I'll bet.

Although these small offering are cool, we found that small is better for heating, cooling and such.....not too many people can live ther for any lengh of time and continue your big house life style.
We accumulate stuff....and need(?) space to store it......It becomes a complete life style change.

The old saying kinda applies....Nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there.

I do like the space saving ideas though..........from the site.

[Wildthang]

If I was single, I could live in a fairly small house as long as I had a 5000 SQ foot pole barn for my tools and toys!

[BENESSE]

Why not just live in the pole barn? It would be the best of all worlds.

[hunter63]

Pole barns are kinda breezy and the mice run around at night......making the scurrying sound.....Just saying

[Old Professor]

Benesse has the right idea. I know of a retired couple near me that live in a loft in their pole barn and are very content with their living situation. Of course they are "snow birds" and leave for the winter.

[Wildthang]

Actually I could live in my shop because I have a part of it that is sealed, insulated, heated and air conditioned. But if I lived in there all the time, I would do nothing but shoot pool, watch football and drink beer, so thats why I have a house to live in!

http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/Rocketman14/family%20pitures/shop004.jpg (http://s773.photobucket.com/user/Rocketman14/media/family%20pitures/shop004.jpg.html)

[hunter63]

Waaaaay to clean...........LOL.
Nice

[Wildthang]

Waaaaay to clean...........LOL.
Nice

That picture was when I first finished it. NOw there is a couch, flat screen tV, stereo system, tables chairs and lots of crazy stuff on the walls. It is my winter survival cave. After being stuck in the house with 2 girls for a couple of days, it is a nice place to go hang out, and tinker with some of my projects. I have an old boat for my project this winter. A friend gave it to me and I'm restoring it. It's going to be my BOB, ( bug out boat ). Since I live right on lake Erie, it would be fairly easy to bug out to Canada which is only across the lake!
I really like my shop but would onlly live out there if it was all I had to live in!

[Oddmott]

Since I live right on lake Erie, it would be fairly easy to bug out to Canada which is only across the lake!
I really like my shop but would onlly live out there if it was all I had to live in!

Hey now!

We're full up!

[Rick]

One does not necessarily want to bug out across 57 miles of open water. And I will gaurandamntee you when you reach the beach on the other side there will be a Canadian Customs official with their hand out saying.."Passport please". Those Canadians are so polite.

We had to fly out over Lake Erie in the company plane once to skirt around a line of thunderstorms. A Canadian Coast Guard plane escorted us all the way. Never fired a single shot at us. You won't get that from the Ruskies.

[Wildthang]

One does not necessarily want to bug out across 57 miles of open water. And I will gaurandamntee you when you reach the beach on the other side there will be a Canadian Customs official with their hand out saying.."Passport please". Those Canadians are so polite.

We had to fly out over Lake Erie in the company plane once to skirt around a line of thunderstorms. A Canadian Coast Guard plane escorted us all the way. Never fired a single shot at us. You won't get that from the Ruskies.

We all have passports, so whats the big deal:smartass:

[hunter63]

Leave your guns at home.......boat, lake, foreign country ....just saying

[crashdive123]

We all have passports, so whats the big deal:smartass:

My passport has never been turned down.

http://antoniosmarket.com/351-857-thickbox/passport-scotch.jpg

[Faiaoga]

I think small, even tiny, houses an be lived in. Habitat for Humanity builds houses that are about 650 square feet (25 x 25 ). There are pictures of Abraham Lincoln's boyhood homes, and these look quite small as well.

[Phaedrus]

I'm intrigued by tiny houses, been studying them for years. It does seem that the amount of crap I pile up is directly proportional to the amount of space I have to fill. But how much of it do I really need? How much does it contribute to my happiness? Certainly I want/need space to set up my sharpening gear, and ideally I need a certain kind/size/shape of space for my audio & HT rig. But there would be some virtues to downsizing my living space, too.

[Oddmott]

Agreed Phaedrus. Just this week I cleaned out my garage so we can actually park the car in it. SOOOOO much CRAP. Most of it we haven't touched/needed since we first piled it in the garage a year ago.
A lot of it was simply shuffled inside to the basement and added to the piles of crap down there that we rarely use either.

My wife and I are about 2 years away from building our own home. She says she wants small and cozy (we have 2 kids) and I'm going to challenge her to see it through. We're likely building a 2 storey 25'x25' to save lots of $$$ for other pursuits. It will mean eliminating all the "junk" and i am really looking forward to it.

[crashdive123]

As I near retirement I need to keep all of the junk I've collected. Never know when it might come in handy, and probably won't be able to afford to replace it.

[hunter63]

I'm keeping as much as I can as well.........difference between a collector and a hoarder:
Storage space and organizational skills.

[Oddmott]

As I near retirement I need to keep all of the junk I've collected. Never know when it might come in handy, and probably won't be able to afford to replace it.

You're confusing junk with assets Crashdive :D

Junk - the stuff i want to get rid of - is cluttering decorations and knickknacks, candlestick holders, picture frames that never get used, carpets/rugs, etc

Assets - all the things my wife WANTED me to get rid of like scrap wood, scrap wiring, several project small motors, etc have been moved to other storage areas because they could come in handy later. ;)

[crashdive123]

You're confusing junk with assets Crashdive :D

Junk - the stuff i want to get rid of - is cluttering decorations and knickknacks, candlestick holders, picture frames that never get used, carpets/rugs, etc

Assets - all the things my wife WANTED me to get rid of like scrap wood, scrap wiring, several project small motors, etc have been moved to other storage areas because they could come in handy later. ;)

No. You just lack the experience and foresight to properly classify assets. :whistling: There is no junk.

[hunter63]

The secret to Tiny houses....is a bigazz pole barn/ag. building....Just saying.
Junk is just an asset that you haven't figured out yet....and it's not laying around....it's deployed.

[SlowRide13]

The secret to Tiny houses....is a bigazz pole barn/ag. building....Just saying.
Junk is just an asset that you haven't figured out yet....and it's not laying around....it's deployed.

Yes! Years ago, I designed my dream house: a 600 sq. ft. log cabin, with a 6,000 sq. ft. basement.

[Wildernesstech]

Living in the "small" space on the sailboat in the Caribbean means that the polebarn in the Ozarks is too far to carry the stuff I want to store! I do like the tiny efficient floorplans, and if you had storage nearby they could require minimal energy. Here in the Caribbean they build parts of some houses seasonally... It is all on one deck or foundation, then basic living quarters are built housing a bedroom, bath and kitchen. The next year they add separately a master suite with kitchenette and bath. The following year they add a large great room. Each year after that they add another bedroom with bath, or laundry/shop space or whatever. It can be accomplished in about any fashion. The separate areas are sometimes linked with purgolas, and sometimes share a roof, but often not. Heat is not an issue here, but cooling is now only required for the areas in use. With the property built as such the owner can rent out rooms when not personally using them to augment the high costs here. I would emulate this were I ever to build again.

[randyt]

Isn't a tiny house the same as a cabin?

[Wildernesstech]

Isn't a tiny house the same as a cabin?

"Practically"

[randyt]

My wife is from a family of 14 kids. She was raised in a house that measured 24' by 24' with two rooms upstairs, one for the boys and one for the girls. That was a tiny house LOL.

[hunter63]

I think a "Tiny House" is sorta a uppity way of saying "cabin".....of shed with a view.....LOL

At Old World Wisconsin there is a Norwegian cabin that is 14' X 14'x 14 high.....that was disassembled, brought there and re-assembled, story goes, at one time 14 people lived there....with a bunch a piglets over the winter.

Pretty cool place.

[1stimestar]

That is indeed a tiny house!


Here a cabin normally means no running water. Sometimes they are large but most of the time they are smaller.

[hunter63]

So where does "cottage" fit in....MIL calls "The Place" a cottage.

[randyt]

cottages are rich folks cabins. LOL.