inspiration of the day: tiny houses

small houses are beautiful.



this is a real family's hobbit-hole home in wales that you can read more about here on a wonderful blog about living small.



doesn't it remind you of one of the best dwelling places you could imagine as a child?




i love the idea of living smally and simply. and maybe that stems from my love/hate relationship with that lame phrase "give a woman a bag and she'll fill it," which i sadly have to admit fits me pretty well. my purses are always a giant mish-mash of random tidbits and, likewise, the spaces in my home are mostly filled to the brim with piles of books, skirts who need new elastic, strange pieces of art darin bought at thrift stores, indian blankets, glass jars, craft supplies, and antique lamps who don't work. i guess i just imagine that if i didn't have extra space i couldn't fill it.


so needless to say, i dream of living in a tidy and eco-friendly and beautiful little place like the tumbleweed houses that jay shafer brilliantly conceives.


or even build my own funky two-story version. darin says if we can buy some land he's game.



this post is to remind myself...self, keep trying to simplify. i know it's hard for a natural pack rat but we can find joy in giving things away and then even more joy in cherishing the tiny amount of important things we do have. or we can think long and hard about thoreau's view that a human's life is wasted by his or her endless accumulation of STUFF. his cabin by walden pond was about the right size, i'm thinking. a patch of beans growing in the sun, an open doorway, freshly grown foods. the kind of life i loveworks best with a tiny home!

Comments

Amy Beatty said…
I love cozy little homes. But you know us, we are not much better than you. We probably would have us much as you if our house was as big as yours. So I guess thats a great place to start. Start in a small home. but every home I'm looking at to buy is bigger than the one we are in now. It's really hard, I want two bathrooms. The tumble weed homes are so cute. I looked at them all. I would love to fit into the biggest one. I really don't need much house, just lots of land.
May 7, 2009 at 12:06 PM
Hoodoo Voodoo said…
wwwwhhaaat in the.....?!?! Those are ALL I WANT IN THE WORLD! And I want to fill them with kitties up to the chimney!
May 7, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Papa Dan said…
I like the hobbit house the best because it fits well into the landscape, where as the tumbleweed and the 2 story house seems to contrast too much with the natural setting their in. I am sure there would be many, many examples of small but natural looking residences, such as log built home. Heck I can think of an example that would fit the bill perfectly in my opinion. The cabin type built house that Susan almost moved into a couple years ago. Now that is a great compromise because of the beauty/nature around and yet not too far from necessary conveniences. What do you think?
May 8, 2009 at 1:07 PM
mattbeatty said…
I love heather that you posted this, i didn't read it, then I saw the same thing and was inspiring (at least the Jay Shafer bit). it truly is inspiring. you can do it right, live with less, but live happily and comfortably! have land, commune with it, let it nourish and try to nourish it (however we can) a little bit in return. i like that our current house is quite spacious but still humble, squat and small. pretty much exactly what i want. maybe a little more.
August 12, 2010 at 10:05 PM
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