The Tiny Life

This is an interesting container home because its a home, but it’s actually inside another home.  Basically the owners designed the two containers to handle all the sleeping, dress, and bathroom needs of this family of four, but then placed the two containers inside a huge loft apartment which basically serves as their outdoor space in an area that is very urbanized.  So its a small house, but then it isn’t?  Regardless I like it!

the window below is a electronic glass that whites out for privacy

via

Recently a full length documentary on Tiny Houses called We, The Tiny House People.  It is a great documentary on the Tiny House Movement that even had a few tiny house I haven’t even seen, which is pretty impressive.  The idea came to her when she was sitting around bored at her parents retirement home, way out in the country, where at first glance, nothing was going on.  Little did she know, she was in the hot bed of a social movement that would take her on a wild journey.

My aha moment was cinema-worthy. It was early September 2009, I had spent my first summer at my parents’ home in Cloverdale, California (the part of Sonoma County where few tourists stop).

Desperate to create value during my time here, once or twice a week, I’d been leaving their tightly-planned Truman-Show-style retirement community (you can barely cut your grass without a permit) for surrounding towns where residents were building Permaculture Homes and creating a livelihood from their backyard organic produce.

I don’t remember how I first heard about Jay Shafer and his teeny home, but at the time he was just another excuse to leave the retirement community. It wasn’t until I turned a street corner and was confronted with an impossibly-small-but-perfectly-complete home that it dawned on me that I’d stumbled onto something big.

As I opened his picket fence, Jay Shafer stepped out of his gingerbread house and began apologizing for all the shoes on his porch and mumbling something about being the “Imelda Marcos of Tiny House People” and I understood: I had just met the first of a breed of people who would soon occupy my life.

Today we have a floating tiny house designed by Marijn Beije.  I really like the look of the woods used in it and the very minimalistic design.  The concept of the project was to help people interact with nature and grow their appreciation of it.  Marijn says:

The project basically features is a floating catamaran suite including four places to sleep, two terraces for relaxing, and a crow’s nest to spot birds. The floating catamaran suite aims to lure a broader target group to nature and to help them understand the beauty and importance of nature and the protection hereof.  But also when you’re looking for uncomplicated rest and peace for the weekends it’s good to know that the floating catamaran suite was recently launched on the market. The floating ecolodge enhances the experience you can have while spending the night surrounded by nature and wildlife: here you can watch the beavers swim past as you fall asleep

Today we have a really interesting video of Loyd Kahn, who starts talking about the book he is working on, then starts talking about Tiny Houses in general, key players, the movement etc.  It is a very interesting video and one quote sticks out for me:

I came upon this almost surreal tree house today called the HemLoft.  At first I thought it was a concept drawing, but it is real, this amazing house is so well done with great wood finishes, a high level of skill and a gorgeous surrounding.  I hope they try to work on  the kitchen more, with such amazing wood working a Coleman stove in the kitchen just doesn’t feel right.

Via

I came across a great post today about things you should give up to be happy.  Not only was it a great list, but it was an interesting assertion, we typically try to gain things to be happy.  It could be buying a new TV, taking a trip to some white sand beach, or any number of things that we add to bolster happiness.  Studies have shown that buying things actually increases unhappiness for the most part (beyond necessities like food, medicine, and a few modest indulgences). Studies have also shown that people most happy when they make around $75,000 a year, more so than those who make a million or multimillion dollar pay checks.

One of the things to give up in this article is something that I have talked about on here is ditching excuses.  They can so easily get in the way of so many good things.  Check out my post on setting goals and avoiding the excuse trap:  here

Here is an excerpt by Dana

Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:

1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?” Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

 

Get the full list at purposefairy.com by clicking here

It’s a curious thing why so many Americans don’t recycle, currently just a little more than half of Americans do.  There is a very different attitude than I have seen in other countries and it seems to vary from city to city as well.  I know in some places, recycling isn’t a service offered, while some places its an optional pay for service.  Here in Charlotte, NC it is lumped into our taxes and every home is given a recycle bin.  But even though the bins are provided and people have already paid for the service, they refuse to recycle.  I have heard everything from I don’t know what I can recycle to “I’m not a tree hugger, I don’t recycle on principle.”  :palm to face:  Anyway, here is a interesting info graphic on recycling:

Click image for larger version

Today’s house is from Stockholm, the house is designed for two people and is larger than our normally featured homes, but it is roughly 900 square feet of interior living space and another 4oo of outdoor space.  To boot the owner needed a seperate office space (included in the square foot number). The issue the designer faced was they had to do all of this in a very narrow lot.  The lot was barley 15 feet wide and only 45 feet deep, so the question was, how can we have a house here, but still have an outdoor space?  Here’s how…

Via

Today I found this neat 120 page e-book that showcases 30 container homes for some design inspirations.  Many of these are pretty big, but still they show what you can do with these containers and see how to use what can sometimes be a long and narrow space.

Many folks know Joel Salatin for his progressive farming practices and stances on food, he is a fantastic speaker and was recently invited to speak at Google where he talked about how the way we produce food today is not how humanity has eaten for the vast majority of our existence.