Let’s Get Small

With the purchase of my fabulous, energy efficient, metallic blue Smart Car (AKA Bix), The Amazing Bob and I are now fully, officially trendy.

‘But, but....Smart Cars have been out for a few years now,’ you say (in Europe since 1998. In the US since 2008). Yeah well, the whole Let’s Get Small movement is becoming/has become all the rage with home buyers too.

In this, TAB and I were totally ahead of the wave. We're just SO damn hip!

Our house is somewhere in the neighborhood of 900 square feet, MAYbe. Dunno the exact dimensions but we’re in a different universe from most American homes, particularly ones built in the 1980s and later.

From an MSN Real Estate article:

The average American home swelled from 983 square feet in 1950 to 2,349 square feet in 2004 -- a 140% increase in size.

There’s a backlash happening now. It’s not only us ecologically minded lefties and the fashion forward who are steering away from the mega excesses of ‘starter castles,’ Hummers and living room sized SUVs.

Turns out those suckers aren’t just rockin’ all the magnificence of a steroid-ally freaked up, zit encrusted body builder, strutting around in Nike Air Zoom Kobe I’s -- those big ass babies are also insanely expensive. Huh. Who’d a thunk, eh?

So yeah, regular folk are beginning to pare down and get small or, at least, less big too.

The Not So Big House book series by Sarah Susanka brings to light a new way of thinking about what makes a place feel like home - characteristics many people desire in their homes and their lives, but haven't known how to verbalize. How big is Not So Big? Not So Big doesn't necessarily mean small. It means not as big as you thought you needed, but designed and built to perfectly suit the way you live.

How much stuff do any of us truly need? I’ve begun looking through all our accumulated  crap-oleo with an eye towards giving away, donating, tossing and otherwise purging the dross we’ve amassed over the years.

There are things with which I can’t part of course -- the tea cups that Mary Ann gave me (they were her mother’s, my grandmother’s), my grandfather’s desk, my childhood dresser, albums full of photos and more. Still, there’s so damn much that can be dumped. Yeah, I’ve got this image of a spartan, Japanese-y kind of a vibe in mind. And I totally know that this kind of look doesn’t work for us. TAB and I are the king and queen of clutter. Everywhere you turn in our wee cottage, there are newspapers, books, paintings, notebooks full of writings and cat toys...lots of cat toys.

Have you heard about the Tiny Home Trend. I haven’t found a square footage listing, to define what an official Tiny Home is, but there are loads of pics to be found on line. e.g., here, here and here.

Here’s what I’m wondering -- are these primarily second/vaca home options for the McMansion set? You know, a more affordable, less gas guzzling version of the Vantare Platinum Plus RV (recreational vehicle)? Are they second/vaca home options for thoughtful condo living city dwellers? Better than roughing it in tents? (**snort** what isn't?) Less expensive than summer Cape/Catskills rentals?

Or are these number one homes?

Does it have to be one or the other? I prefer the idea of all of us getting singularly small, reducing our size 14+ carbon bootprints BUT I can also see the fab-ness of having a second ultra wee home -- up in the Berkshires, for instance.

Here are two interesting folks found at the MSN 11 Terifically Tiny Homes article:

To test the boundaries of small-footprint living, interior designer Jessica Helgerson moved her family to a 540-square-foot cottage that she designed 15 minutes north of Portland, Ore.
By using mostly reclaimed materials to construct her minuscule maison, and by adding a moss-and-fern green roof, Helgerson completed the project for less than money than she anticipated. The home requires little energy to heat and cool.

Brad Kittel of Tiny Texas Houses believes there are already enough building products out there, so why buy new? His small structures use 99% salvaged materials, including doors, windows, siding, lumber, door hardware, flooring and porch posts.
Tiny Texas Houses have been designed and built with 99% vintage salvaged materials. Each hand-crafted Tiny Texas House is a unique piece of sustainable, energy efficient, healthy, livable House Art. I hope you get a chance to visit and see in person what 99% Pure Salvage Living looks like. Then you’ll know why it makes perfect sense to Build the Future from the Past.

 This is giving me more, big ideas for getting small!