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This is the perfect opportunity for those of you who have been considering moving into a tiny house but haven’t experienced it yet.
To get to vacation in a well built 120 square foot tiny home on wheels that has a very modern design to it.
It’s located in Portland, Oregon which I hear is such an awesome place to tiny house people. Don’t expect miracles (like tiny houses and communities everywhere), but I hear it’s a really cool place.
I think this would be a great vacation to get to know a cool place with open minded people and get to stay in a tiny house to try it out for size.
You Should Take a Tiny House Vacation Before You Build One!
Enjoy the rest of the tour below:
Kitchen and Living
Modern Tiny House for Vacations in Portland
Way Better Than Getting a Hotel in Portland, OR!
The sleeping loft looks cozy, doesn’t it?
If you’re interested in seriously booking this tiny house on wheels for your stay in Portland, OR or maybe to schedule at the right time when there’s a Tumbleweed workshop in the area, a Jay Shafer (Four Lights) workshop in the area, or even better a Dee Williams workshop in Portland… You can check available dates and book it right here directly through Airbnb.com.
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Alex
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Good Mornin’ to you, Alex. Another fine posting from you with loads of food for thought.
I’m of two mind-sets about your topic: Trying out a tiny house to see if it’s right for you.
First, I believe your recommendation is bang on for folks that are thisclose to commiting to the tiny lifestyle. They have the land, they have the stuff to create the house (or money to order one) and they are in the very final stages of creating one. Living in a tiny house such as this for two or more weeks would give that person the ability to *tweak* their design before construction and either add or nix ideas they wanted to incorporate.
However, I firmly believe that for the person who is only in the “dream stage” of permanently LIVING in a tiny home, that vacationing in one for a couple of weeks only creates (what we call in the scientific community), a “false positive” and doesn’t represent what a drastic lifestyle change it would create.
Example: In my very early years (8-17 y.o.), my truck driving daddy, mum and brother and I would road trip throughout the United States each Summer, sometimes being on the road for over 6 weeks. We did this ALL from the either the back cab of a semi truck or a “woodie” station wagon. We were too piss poor to even stay at a roadside motel, so 100% of what we needed was stored in the vehicle. We’d shower at truck stops or in streams/lakes at roadside stops. We’d eat what a picnic cooler could hold and would ONLY eat out at a diner once a week. Drank water from a cooler or for a real “treat”, mum would mix up a container of Kool Aid for us kids.
We saw the entire Lower 48 States this way. Now, could I permanently LIVE in a car or back of a semi, living this lifestyle? OMG…NO!!!!! Could we manage this way of living for short term? Yeah, we DID do it…but only because we knew that we’d ultimately end up “back home”…with a nice soft bed, showers/tubs, frig, stove and everything else you’d need/want.
So, I feel that when a person goes on ANY holiday, they are NOT living their true life that they normally live of a) working; b) hobbies; c) meal preparation; d) friends and family. When my husband and I go on holiday, we don’t pack SKIL saws, shovels, irrigation lines, and hammers. We bring clothes specific to THAT period of time, so if we holiday in December, we’re not bringing shorts/tanks/flip-flops and visa versa for warm vacation weather. We’re not dragging file folders/bids/paperwork with us and have no need to look for storage for it, either. I’m not dragging along my loom, bead tables nor is my husband bringing his work bench for designing stained glass windows. See where I’m going with this?
I feel that if a person TRULY wanted to know if they could downsize to any of these micro-tiny homes, they’d have to pack what they needed/wanted for a full year’s time (in that climate), let the person who rents out the unit KNOW the experiment that they were trying to achieve, and move into the space for no less than one.full.month. You’d have to a) work from the tiny home; b) cook your normal meals from the tiny home; c) invite X-amount of folks over that would represent your friends; and, if you have PETS, d) see if the person renting out the tiny home would allow you to bring them along so you could see how you and the pet(s) would react. THIS would be the ONLY way that you could get a true “positive” read on the situation vs a false positive I wrote about.
Last example: I adore San Francisco and have been on holiday there a great many times. Dreamed about living there for years. That is, until I was hired to design and create a guest house and garden for a friend who moved to within spitting distance of Coit Tower on Montgomery Street. Only then, when I had to wrangle deliveries up steep one lane streets; drive 80 miles round trip for a lumber store; find parking spots for 20 employees…did I realize that VACATIONING in San Francisco was radically different than LIVING in San Francisco and owning a construction firm! I vowed “Never Again!”, even when neighbors saw the finished cottage and wanted me to work on their places; I had to turn them down and head back to the flat prairie from whence I hail, where parking is abundant and lumber yards are within 5 miles of my job site!
So, I learned through that last work experience that you truly and honestly do NOT know what it’s like to actually LIVE in a place or situation until you duplicate your lifestyle; everything is just fiction and fantasy, otherwise.
I can’t wait to read what others have to share on this topic. 🙂
Much depends on how things are set up. Kids just don’t need and are happy in a small space of their own, move cave like the better in many cases. A 4x4x8′ space for those under 5′ and a 6×6+x8′ for taller ones.
And again it’s best to start tem that way.
I say rent a cabin for at least a month or as you say, block the home off which is something I do anyway to save on heating/AC costs in the hottest, coldest times.
A lot depends on the family. If they are a loving one this will work. If it’s not so good, it’ll finish it.
One good thing is the family will develop interests outside the home ;^P
Many people are home just to sleep as just too busy so even a TH with 4 people not get crowded.
All up it depends on the people and how it’s set up. 100-200sq’ for the first and 50-100sq’ for each added done well I really don’t see many having problems they wouldn’t have anyway.
They in fact might be far happier as they have far more money they are not paying to rent or buy a larger one. I haven’t paid a mortgage payment in 15 yrs and even then it was just $300/month.
Buy a run down mobile home on land and build a TH on it’s frame legally, even without permits here in Tampa, other places.
Cahow,
Thank you for your open, honest and frank insight. I support what you are saying.
I’ve worked in resort areas and being on vacation and working there is totally different. It’s still fun but not 100% of the time.
I’ve also worked on jetliners. There is some adjustment to being enclosed in tight spaces and with limited resources. You do learn to get creative while living out of a suitcase. I’d say that is probably a good lifestyle to prepare a person for a Tiny House. LOL I once had a pilot tell me anyone thinking of becoming an airline pilot should dress up in a suit and tie, put a chair in his linen closet, turn on a loud fan for constant noise, add a laptop for lights and moving pictures of the sky, put on the big headsets that pilots wear, and close the door. Every now and then have someone knock on the door to ask how much time is left or does he need coffee or water. And from time to time spill come coffee or water on himself. Do this for three days for 10 to 12 hours per day with a few short bathroom breaks and a peanut butter sandwich and a banana . At the end of three days, if you liked it…a airline pilot you should be.
Nila: I enjoyed your analogy SO much, I copied and pasted it into an email and sent it out as this morning’s funny email to friends! Your pilot friend knows the score and his description of being a pilot convinced me…I’m NOT cut out to be a pilot!!! (LOL) So, I take my farmer’s hat off to HIM and other’s like him (male/female) that can tolerate “living in a linen closet” so that our fat arses can be dragged to exotic locals. 😉
Cahow,
Glad you are getting some “sky miles” out of my description. No doubt other pilots will agree with that scenario. Still, they will contend that “for those who love to fly the sky is home.”
Like I said, perfect candidates for Tiny House living and many flight crews would take a clean Tiny House over some of the hotels and “crash pads” I’ve stayed in. All a person would need to do is find some land near a crew-based airport. Put a few of these Tiny Houses there. Rent each one to about six pilots. (You can do that because they don’t all stay there at the same time.) At $150 per month(some areas you can get more) you’ve got $900 coming in per TH and if the crew base gets moved you can move/sell your Tiny Houses and still have the land to sell. Although, not too many crew bases are moved unless an airline goes out of business. I’ve never ever seen a pilot tear anything up or not respect someone’s property. They are neat, clean, and looking for a comfortable quiet place to sleep. If it was built like a little village with a main building where there is a washer/dryer, computers, and some fitness equipment, and maybe even a nice trail for walking/running, cable TV, and a kitchen which would allow the Tiny Houses not to need a kitchen. I would imagine it would fill up in no time with pilots looking for crash pads.
Moving from a linen closet to a cockpit and staying in a Tiny House “crash pad” pretty much would explain why pilots like to own large homes! But when starting pay is less than 20K per year that doesn’t always happen. And since 9/11 tens of thousands of pilots have struggled just to keep a roof over their heads.
I totally agree with Cahow. A vacation in a tiny house is more like a honeymoon than an actual marriage. Those little day to day irritations are missing and it’s how you deal with those that really let you know how it’s going to work. It could let you know if you absolutely couldn’t stand being in a tiny space but that’s not the same as knowing you would be willing to live tiny on a regular basis.
Hi, alice h.! Brilliant analogy on your part, comparing a holiday in a tiny home akin to being on honeymoon vs. marriage! And so very, very true to life.
I know that when we’re on holiday, we eat out for at least half our meals; go to concerts/plays; antique; sit for hours by the shore or in the Highlands; sleep late; stay up later; and generally recharge our batteries. No alarm clocks, no bills to pay, no long term grocery shopping beside a wedge of cheese, some fruit and a crackerjack bottle of local wine. This is what a false positive means.
An accurate reading for full-time tiny house move involves shared space, working 8-10 hours from your fold-down desk (if you do computer work), or storing enough clothes for outdoor seasonal work; food storage and preparation; any holiday decorating; pet needs; spouse/lover needs; alarm clock-alarm clock-alarm clock…and how YOUR wake up time impacts your partner’s lie in time.
When single, I commited to living in micro spaces, twice. Once, in Uni by living in a truck camper (the type that sits on top of a truck bed) and second time, was a 144 sq.ft. studio apartment for a year while my husband worked abroad. I lived hourly with fold up/fold in/fold down tables, chairs, beds and learned that THAT lifestyle was anathema to me…and this was while I was in my teens and 20’s (when a person is their most flexible both in the mind and body!) I grew to loathe tearing apart my fold out bed each morning so that I could reach my closet to get clothes, only to have to rebuild the entire thing each night. I hated that only 3 of my closest friends could come over at a time because seating was limited in both the camper and studio to 3 fold out chairs or seating at the built-in camper table. I hated that on consecutive cloudy/rainy/snowy days, I felt absolutely trapped inside the confines of the walls and it forced me to get into my car and drive to anywhere else but HOME to not feel like a bunny in a Have-A-Heart trap! And I was most sad when I could lie flat on my back, not move my head an iota and eyeball the total square footage of my surroundings. <THAT was my lowest point. 🙁
It's only from LIVING in a micro-space twice, that I learned about my inner needs and that I absolutely required at least ONE additional room with a door and at least a chair that I could walk into/relax/and escape into. I needed a bed that was permanent, same went for furniture that you didn't hourly/daily need to collapse in order to live your lifestyle. When I was living in that camper and working on blueprints for Uni, I was either forced to remove 100% of my drafting project to eat a wee dinner or sit with dinner on my lap, on the bed, as there was nowhere else to sit or go.
So, I guess I'm lucky in the fact that I was able to do a hard-core test run of the micro space for 2 years time (without husband or kids tossed into the mix) and realized that living in less than 400 sq.ft. was NOT for me!
*User Experience May Vary* , as they say in adverts. (LOL)
Sorry, your “lowest point” made me laugh. I went crazy lying in bed in the Boler with that tiny useless window in the door so I cut out a bigger hole and stuck in an 18″x18″ plexiglass window. Much nicer! Even better is when it’s warm enough to leave the door open (one of the first things I made was a screen door). I hear you on all that shifting stuff around. Drives me batty to move 10 things to get at 1 stuffed at the back of the storage space. Seems like it doesn’t matter how you arrange things, the stuff you need is at the back at some point.
Same with beds. A nice daybed with storage is always ready for a nap, maybe just toss off a cushion or two. No slipping, sliding, flipping, flopping, folding, attaching/detaching. I need to be able to nap or sleep or just get horizontal without fuss. Same goes for the kitchen. Tea kettle, toaster oven and hotplate should be action-ready at all times and not have to be dragged out of storage or dug out from behind a pile of other stuff. There should always be a spot to sit and eat at a table (even if it might be covered with projects from time to time).
” No slipping, sliding, flipping, flopping, folding, attaching/detaching.”
alice: You ‘get it’. THANK YOU!!!! 🙂
365 days of dissembling/assembling a bed? Nevermore!
Nice tiny house and nice layout. I like the bathroom is in the front for a change. But from what I’m seeing it ‘s lacking closet space. There seems to be none at all..
Since my husband and I built this particular Tiny House I thought I’d chime in on the closet space 🙂 More interior photos from the original design can be seen at http://www.shelterwise.com. There are three “under seat” storage bins (since the dinette converts to a bed), loft storage above the bathroom, cabinet storage under the counter and a tall (albeit narrow) closet between the bathroom entrance and “kitchen” area. The design definitely lends itself toward a minimalist lifestyle, so storage was not the number one need, but there is more than meets the eye in some of these photos. Hope that’s helpful and thank you for the compliment!