Tuesday, November 29, 2016

The pros and cons of tiny houses


It has become an established way of living now in the USA, but there's increasing interest in the tiny house movement in the UK. Generally, people are pretty positive about the experience of living small, but as in all things, not everybody believes it's a great idea. Recently putting the case for it being a 'good thing' (though also in a very balanced way recognising it is not necessarily for everyone) is Nione Meakin in The Guardian ('We moved to a tiny house to get more room – and it worked'). Here's a snippet: 
Limited indoor space means more time outside and in the two allotments they have taken on across the road. “We’re far more aware of the seasons than we ever were in London and the fresh air, exercise and intimacy is making Tim and me the most content and fulfilled we’ve been in our adult lives,” says Laura. “We don’t need to earn as much as we used to, so we don’t have to spend as much time working as we used to. We have time together as a family.” 
Writer and filmmaker Chuck Wendig on his terribleminds blog is not so convinced and has written 'An open letter to tiny house hunters'. He itemises his concerns including this (my asterisks for poor language):
Fourth, your bed is going to be a claustrophobic morgue-drawer nightmare. The ceiling will be three feet above your head and that’s only if the mattress is of the same material they make diapers out of. If it is a proper mattress, your nose is probably going to be pressed against the top margins of your tiny house. Beds, actual human beds, are ******* huge. Perhaps extravagantly so, I dunno, but we have left the era where we could comfortably sleep on a pile of reeds on the hard rocky earth and now we sleep on giant mattress configurations that are basically as big as half of a tiny house. If you want to practice what it’s like sleeping in a tiny house, sleep in one of your drawers, or in the crawlspace under your existing normal-sized home.
Both pieces are well worth a read if you are thinking going down the tiny house route.
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1 comment:

  1. The... um... gentleman who criticizes the ceiling height in a sleeping loft obviously hasn't spent any time checking out the variety of options in loft designs. There are also many TH's with bedrooms on the main floor for people with disabilities or who dislike climbing ladders or stairs. It seems those who criticize TH's are more interested in having a McMansion. To each his own. I don't criticize those living with excessive space so I don't understand their need to speak ill of different lifestyle choices. And that's what the TH movement is about to ME, having a CHOICE.

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