Several years ago, film student Christopher
Smith saw a magazine cover that caught his eye. The auspicious image – a
smiling Washintonian named Dee Wiliams, relaxing in her 84-square-foot house -
was filed away in his mental Roledex. At the time, he never imagined it would
resurface to shape the two largest projects of his life: a house and a movie.
Something of a romantic vagabond,
Christopher, with partner and wordsmith Merete Mueller, harbored a dream of
building his own cabin from scratch in the Rocky Mountains. On an impulse in
February 2011, he purchased five acres in a remote area of Colorado, near the
Rocky Mountain National Park. As the pair moved toward the dream, they learned
that the minimum house size requirement in their country was 600 square feet –
substantially more than what they’d budgeted or had the building skill to
tackle. Surprisingly, minimum house size constraints are in effect in most
countries in the United States t help maintain taxes and home values and to
comply with health and safety codes. One way of getting around the code is to
add wheels to your structure which is considered camping on your own land, just
like parking an RV.
With the full support of family and
friends, plus a hugely successful funding campaign through Kickstarter (the
world’s largest funding platform for creative projects), Christopher and Merete
set their ideas into motion for a mortgage-free getaway cabin on his land.
Thinking about dramatically downsizing their square footage really made the
pair question what would be essential for them. “One of the most appealing
things about a tiny house for me is the limit to amount of stuff that I can
surround myself with,” Merete says, “Everything must be both useful and
beautiful.”
“Everything
must be both useful and beautiful.”
Storytellers by trade, documenting
Christopher’s journey was a natural progression for the team. During the house
construction, they flew around the country to interview a dozen individuals and
families living the “tiny house” lifestyle, including Jay Shafer, the owner of
the small home company Tumbleweed Tiny Houses. The titled their documentary
TINY: A Story about Living Small, it quickly grew into a way of telling the
larger story of the tiny-home movement and exploring the bigger questions that
every human faces: what makes a food home, and what makes a home feel like
home?
“Tiny
house” lifestyle
The intensely personal process of building the
house by hand has created memories at every phase of construction, including
more than a few blunders – life mistaking horizontal windows for vertical ones.
Tiny houses generally have a higher window-to-wall ratio than regular houses,
so that residents don’t feel as though they live in a storage shed. Merete said
interviewees also reported feeling closer to nature. “One of the amazing things
about such small spaces is that even when you’re inside them, the outside world
feels more present.”
Tiny
houses generally have a higher window-to-wall ratio than regular houses, so
that residents don’t feel as though they live in a storage shed.
Christopher and Merete’s tiny house clock
in at 133 square feet and features a composting toilet, solar-powered electricity,
and a small wood0burning stove. Eventually, the couple will drill a well but
until then, they haul water. Though they don’t have plans to host Thanksgiving
at their place this year, the look forward to spending as much time as possible
living large with friends and family in their tiny space.
