Could you live in a house smaller than a large closet?

These little homes look a lot better than the McMansions built in haste over the past decade. Great post!

I think it's a great idea and hope he does well.

Ty

I recently took a trip to Kauai, Hawaii, and there are people there who live in tents on the beach just so they can be in paradise.  They could live in these homes.  Me, on the other hand, not so much.  My 4 kids are too close in a 3,000 sq. ft. home.  No way I'd put them in those things.  But, great concept for some.

Wow! Lots of folks checked in on this one! Interesting post! Small but smart living...great idea! It would be a breeze to clean, wouldn't it! And then, I guess a good breeze could clean it!

I'm Featuring this at the ECO-ALL-STARS Group. A developer friend of mine is looking at working with this concept as an alternative for senior housing down by the River . The homes would be positioned along already existing trails.

Chrissy - I agree that this might not be the option for me personally, but what a cute home! This idea of small housing is becoming more and more popular. I have read quite a few stories about couples living in really tiny flats/apartments in large cities like NYC. It is definitely an economical choice, so more power to them!

I'm all for downsizing....not sure I could downsize that much but it is an interesting concept that I think is starting to take hold throughout the country...people are finding they can live without all the stuff.

Yep sure could (and did). Actually years ago I found myself almost homeless after a contractor screwed me over (long long story). I owned land so I built what was meant to be a very temporary cabin. It was 100 sq ft with a loft. It ended up taking 6 mo to get our house completed so my two kids and I spent 6 months in that little cabin. Of course I designed it with lots of windows so it wasn't claustrophic and I had 5 acres to roam around on outside. It is doable and it taught all of us that we can live without all the things that clutter our lives.

Looks cozy enough! maybe it is time for me to downsize. I'm going home to clean out my closet..,

Chrissy, I saw a feature on Texas Tiny Houses on TV just last week...it was very interesting to watch, so it was nice to read your blog about a similar company in Sebastopol. I'm going to re-blog this. :)

Leilani

I read about Tumbleweed homes last year and bookmarked it in my favorites.  They are just adorable. 

Wow. You really picked a good topic given all the posts. I think most people like the idea but is it practical. I've noticed that the owners who are usually featured are younger, single people who live a certain type of lifestyle. I don't think most of us want to live that way, however, the idea of scaling down the abode appeals to me. One of the best way to down size everything is to buy a smaller home. I did this about 5 years ago and had to let go of a lot of stuff, which in the end, was a good thing.

I love the trend toward smaller homes. Thanks for the great pics!

Most of us would have to get used to it, but it is doable. A student that hasn't accumulated material things would fit more readily. The rest of us would have to do a lot more that de-clutter. More like divesting of material possessions. 

The Tumbleweed homes are well done. There is an elegance in such efficient design and we see parallels in motor homes, boats and vacation homes. Pioneer log and sod homesteading structures are also scale related precedents.

Houses are sheltering structures that fundamentally provide a dry place to sleep and the means to heat (or cool) it. Then a room is added to store, cook and serve food. Then a room for bathing and plumbing... a room for entertaining...a room for granny...a room for baby...   ...   ...   ...   ...   ...a home office...a home theatre...

It'll never actually stop. We naturally like the convenience of...everything under one roof. When there is the means (usually finances) the trend is to larger and larger (or multiples and more complexity.)

That inertia like tendency will continue till countervailing trends introduce change. One of those will be the 'green building ' awareness and rising cost of planetary ecological limitations.

In that light Tumbleweed homes are right on trend. Realtors used to describe smaller homes as 'starter homes' and while that will always be apt, it would also be wise to market them as 'retirement / aging in place' homes. 

Any modest, easy to maintain home, especially those adapted or easily adaptable for handicapped access, will always have a solid market resale value no matter what's happening in the finance markets.

RB