Out Buildings: The Tiny House Movement

Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller with their Tiny House

Over the weekend in my struggle to find something educational and interesting to watch on Netflix (watching something educational mitigates being lazy right? At least that's my rational.) I stumbled upon this documentary titled " Tiny : A story about living small." I had heard about the Tiny house movement before and found it interesting so I decided to give it gander. The movie follows Christopher Smith on his journey of building his own tiny house. It is defiantly worth watching if you are interested in learning more about the tiny house movement. 

Found on cdn.homedit.com

Here at Michael Jameson Interiors we are interested in the connection between the indoor and outdoor living space to create a seamless design. While doing so we strongly believe in doing it the right way, meaning keeping mother nature in mind. We strive to do things in the most Eco-Friendly ways possible. That means using reclaimed or recycled material, organic fertilizers and organic weed killer, making the best use of a space while making it beautiful and energy efficient. What caught my eye about the " Tiny House Movement" is that these people are making a huge difference by cutting down their carbon footprint by living a more simple lifestyle. Most of these tiny homes that I have seen have a great connection to the surroundings around them. " Connecting the inside with the outside." So what is the "Tiny House Movement" anyway? Basically these houses are built with conscious effort to limit the impact on our environment and not to mention the impact on their wallet. The tiny house is usually as low as 300 square feet. Most people use solar energy for power, rain collecting barrels for running water, and composting toilets.   

Photo from Apartment Therapy

So how does one live in just a couple hundred square feet or less? The secret of maximizing a small space is designing multipurpose uses for an area. In the above picture you can see this tiny room functions as a kitchen, dining area, living room, work space  and bedroom. This tiny house happens to be just 125 square feet.  Helpful drawers and nooks help to eliminate clutter. Without as much square footage there is no wasted space. A couple who were featured in the documentary live here together.

An inside look at Christopher Smith's Tiny House

 Assuming that while lacking indoor square footage this may help people connect more with their outdoor surroundings. One tiny house homeowner described the outdoors as their living room. I believe that our connection with nature has been severed in our culture. A connection that has been lost due to materialistic values. While having less space to store things you cut down on the things you want and begin to find place for the necessities. 

Great use of outdoor space: thecreativemama.com

 The idealism that more is better is a concept that may lead to our demise if we don't start to rethink how we live our lives. We may not all give up our big houses, I know I'm certainly comfortable living how I live, but learning about the "Tiny House Movement" shows us that these peoples lives have changed so greatly just by reducing the amount of space they live in. They have become more self sustainable, some even live completely off the grid. It has changed their perspective and values. So maybe we won't go off into the woods and build a tiny house, but maybe we can start to make changes elsewhere, convert to solar energy, collect rainwater to water your plants and better yet start a vegetable garden. Look around your house, maybe there are spaces that can be redesigned to work more purposes without expanding square footage. It is our job as designers to unriddle tricky layouts and make functional spaces that can be enjoyed. The small things we can change may make a huge impact on our future here on Earth. Especially as a designer it is a duty to inform people of ways they can help in the effort to cut down our carbon footprint in the most eloquent beautifully efficient ways possible.

Tiny Guest House on designsponge.com

Written by Michael Jameson: Interior Designer