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People Trying to Live in a Tiny House


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The people over at Buzzfeed set up a fun video experiment where they have a few different people trying to live in a 112 sq. ft. tiny house on wheels.

It’s on an 8′ x 16′ trailer. Inside there’s just about 6′ x 13′ of space plus an additional 8′ x 6′ sleeping loft.

BA spent about $25,000 to build this house. Fortunately, she was able to build it herself so she saved over $20,000 in labor costs. If she had to pay for labor, the home would’ve normally cost her nearly $50,000.

People Trying to Live in a Tiny House

people-trying-to-live-in-a-tiny-house

Please enjoy, watch, laugh, and re-share below. 🙂

Video: People Trying to Live in a Tiny House

Learn more about BA in this post:

Original story: http://www.buzzfeed.com/kendallkiesewetter/people-try-living-in-a-tiny-house

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 13 comments… add one }
  • Cahow
    January 6, 2015, 2:14 pm

    Well, the wording “live in a tiny house” is a misnomer, since NO ONE ‘lived’ in the tiny house…they were merely visiting it for a couple of hours, says the video. I would have found it far more interesting and validating if the 2 couples and TALL single guy had to live in it from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. Then, instead of having a “Ha-Ha” video that almost mocks Tiny House Living, you could have a video that really got to the meat of the tiny house living question: “Just HOW much space do YOU need to live?”

    I’ve lived truly tiny twice in my life, first in a pull behind camper (6′ x 12′) for a year while at Uni and then a 12′ x 12′ studio apartment while my husband was over seas for a year. The camper, which was located on my Grandparent’s driveway in Oregon sent me around the bend; I felt as if I were living in a trash compactor and ONLY used it to study in. The rest of my time at Uni, I spent on campus or inside my Grandparent’s home, all to avoid the ‘squashed like a bug’ feeling I had from that camper. The studio apartment I had for a year was better: it was a real vintage charmer from the 1920’s; the entire building was built for “young maidens” who were coming from the Country to City Life and would be nanny’s, the Help, or whatnot. HIGH ceilings of 12′, a true working fireplace and vintage molding all around the ceiling gave it much charm. What finally wore me out was the “Put Up/Take Down/Put Up/Take Down” nature of it…having a fold out sofa and a fold up table. Eventually, unless friends were coming over, I just left the fold out sofa out and the fold down table up and learned to walk sideways past everything to move around the place.

    Our 800 sq.ft. home is about as tiny as this claustrophobe can handle. 😀

  • Bj
    January 6, 2015, 3:52 pm

    The two couples had a lot of valid points and observations.

    Tiny house living is best a “try before you buy” concept. I have had 5,200 sq ft homes doen to a 64′ cabin in the woods. Those best suited are singles wanting an eco kiss (outdoorsy types too) and older people who are ready to downsize to those minimalist things that mean the most in order to reduce responsibilities of upkeep and simplify both their lives and budgets.

    My next Tiny House will be an 8.5′ x 30′ x 13.5′ HOW…. I plan to enjoy it for three and a half decades!

  • Linda
    January 6, 2015, 4:17 pm

    Tiny houses are not for LIVING in; they are for sleeping in. You live outside, silly.

  • alice h
    January 6, 2015, 6:04 pm

    I found the video more awkward than funny but I like that “2 rooms, inside and outside” comment. I’ve lived tiny in a lot of different spaces over the years. As long as I have a place to cook and store supplies, a comfy bed (not in a loft), a comfy seat (can be the bed), a place to eat, a small desk/workspace, lots of windows and a place for hygiene (preferably inside) that are all functional without converting anything PLUS a minimum bare floor open area at least 6’x6′ and a ceiling height of at least 8′ for the lounging/open area I’m OK. Anything more is a bonus, anything less makes me grumpy. It took a long time to settle into that definition of a comfy space so for people just starting out it’s no surprise that they find things a bit weird.

    • Cahow
      January 6, 2015, 6:49 pm

      “Grumpy.” Bwahahahahahahaaaa!!!! GREAT word to use, alice h.!!

      I caught that “two room” comment, too, from the 6’7″ guy. And I can’t tell if Linda’s comment is snark or not.

      THIS is what I’ve noticed with the tiny house crowd that can live in less than 150 sq.ft.: 99.99% of them “live inside their head”, meaning, they run a blog, they have a website…in other-words, their ENTIRE work world is sitting on a chair with their laptop in front of them. Sedentary and isolationist, for sure. So, of course, when they are ‘off the clock’, they want to be outside, visiting friends, and drinking micro brewery beers.

      But, what about the person who WORKS outdoors???? Now, these are real stats from my personal life: 98% of my friends work outside for a living. They are landscapers, tree trimmers, fence installers, painters, builders, dog walkers, and snow plowers. If there was a Bible in front of me to swear upon, “I swear that NONE of us, when we are done working outdoors, whether Summer or Winter, want to spend one.more.moment. OUTDOORS…in what is essentially our OFFICE!!!” We don’t care if it’s the most cerulean blue of skies and a perfect 72 degrees with 30% humidity…we’re OUTTA there at the end of the day!

      Now, think about it: if you work in an office all day long, would you then drive “home” to a place set up exactly like your office? What about if you were a chef? Would you then go home and spend the entire rest of your day off cooking? Of course you wouldn’t! So, for those of us, working outdoors in 90 degree heat or minus 0 degrees for 12 hours plowing snow, we want a warm/cool/dark place where we can spread out and sleep, read and watch TV. Getting any of us to go to an outdoor event is like pulling teeth; many wives threaten their husbands with divorce if they skip one more outdoor party. So, for those of us that are active for 8-12 hours outdoors, we DEMAND comfort when we get home! And a straight-back chair or a ladder that we have to climb to plop into bed ain’t gonna happen!

      I think Bj nailed it with his profiling: Eco-Kiss Millennial’s, Anti-Society Types and Seniors that really want minimalism are best suited to this kind of tiny house living. And if they are happy, then I am happy. 😀

      • Kelli
        January 6, 2015, 8:41 pm

        “THIS is what I’ve noticed with the tiny house crowd that can live in less than 150 sq.ft.: 99.99% of them…”

        This is just generally not a great way to look at people as individuals. It’s much more likely that the people in that crowd are much more diverse than you think, and don’t appreciate the generalizations. Just my .02.

        • Cahow
          January 6, 2015, 9:00 pm

          I understand where you’re coming from, Kelli. We all strive to be individuals but Market Studies and Targeting exists by generalizations. There may be an anomaly or two out there but generally, if you are interested in A, then it’s pretty certain that you are also interested in B.

          I’m basing my generalizations on the various blogs that I subscribe to where ALL of them work off of their computers for a living. Even videos I’ve watched promoting micro houses feature a dedicated space for their laptop “so I can work from home.” I don’t know a tiny house blogger who’s a nurse or a chef or a landscaper or a bank teller. Those individuals that are doing something else for pay are either not blogging about their tiny home or I’m simply not in their blog-o-sphere.

          I didn’t see my comment as disparaging. If you’re sitting in front of a laptop for hours earning a living, all you need is a chair or your bed, so it’s much easier to go tiny. And certainly, if you’ve been staring at a screen all day long, you ache to go out. It’s simply the reverse situation of many people who are out all day and ache to be inside.

  • Mardee
    January 6, 2015, 6:33 pm

    I want to know what happened to the show I just saw one of the tiny house shows and i am waiting for the others and when will they be back on

    • Cahow
      January 7, 2015, 11:11 am

      Mardee: I don’t know if you have ON DEMAND but there are five episodes that have aired; I don’t stream TV shows but perhaps HGTV also offers them online?

      The shows are: 1) Family of Six; 2) Going Super Tiny; 3) Going Custom Tiny; 4) Newlyweds; and 5) SoundHealer Seeks. I don’t know how many shows were filmed.

      Initially, I found the show silly but the later episodes featured people that actually had a clue as to tiny house living.

  • Lisa E.
    January 6, 2015, 11:24 pm

    I felt this particular experiment was very biased. Does the woman who built it live alone? Then an 8 x 16 i s really for a single person. I can’t help but wonder what their response would be to a TH that was, say 8.6 x 26. I think their reactions would be more varied. There should have been another TH next to this one to compare sizes.

    Hopefully these people will always have lucrative jobs to afford their current idea of living. But in the event that a less kind reality descends upon them, then they will have something to harken back to and will come check it out again (only to find that TH come in many, many shapes, designs, styles and sizes.)

  • Annette
    January 7, 2015, 10:04 am

    Charming video — I thought both of these couples were good sports about trying the experience. Their humorous concerns mostly centered on privacy issues and having enough personal space to sustain their relationships happily in such confines with nowhere to get away. “Not very sexy” getting up and down that ladder, and also the reluctance expressed about using the bathroom indicated a feeling of exposure in living so closely together. Everyone likes to project dignity/attractiveness/competence and design details coupled with sheer lack of space can make that awkward. So unless one is living alone I think these are valid concerns that most couples must face when considering radical downsizing.

    But that house is gorgeous…..

  • Robert Fenrich
    January 7, 2015, 1:25 pm

    My wife and I have a Tiny House on Wheels. We have had a considerable number of people tour our place. None have said it felt too small. It was too bad that the folks touring the house featured in her video weren’t exposed to other designs as well. While our house is not designed for a 6’7″ person, our place can accommodate 6’5″ easily. Most of the negative points mentioned can be addressed effectively through design. While a Tiny House is not for everyone, I believe most folks could find a plan that would meet their needs if they are open to the idea.

  • Jennifer Bunting
    January 10, 2015, 5:19 pm

    I’m going from 100sf to a 500-600sf apartment in a couple of months. I’ve gotten the kids to agree to test drive the Tiny Hotel in Portland for vacation. In about 4 years, I plan to be in a model on a trailer full-time. Since I work seasonally, I can get into living in SoCal during my contract and heading north to Oregon or Northern California for the summer months. Guess I’ll be a snowbird. How well do the tiny houses do traveling at least a couple times a year?

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