The tiny house movement
According to NPR’s “Do-It-Yourselfer Downsize: How To Build A Tiny House,” the uses of the small house are varied. Derek Diedricksen, a small house do-it-yourselfer, built a “hickshaw” (a rickshaw for hicks) on a wheel-barrow platform. The hickshaw is essentially a room with a view for one that can be wheeled to a specific location of choice.
Another small house enthusiast Peter King, 51, has several tiny houses on his geodesic dome property in Vermont. His words sum up the heart of the movement. “I just like the sense of economy…The sense of: you can’t put a lot of stuff in there, so you have to be careful of what’s important. And another beauty of the tiny house is that you can put them almost anywhere. They are moveable at this scale.”
A moveable house that holds the essentials — it speaks to a challenge that most of us feel, which is the desire to de-clutter. In response to society’s super-sizing on purchases and accommodations, the small house movement embraces frugality. If you’re interested in a small house but don’t want to build one, you can purchase a kit from Tumbleweed Tiny House Company in California for about $20K. It might be a long time coming before the small house is a prototype for new housing developments. For now, it’s an ideal option for communities surviving environmental disaster, serious campers, and those who seek sanctuary in a separate home office or playhouse of sorts.
