Tumbleweed Tiny House Company is announcing a new product. The Tumbleweed Hollyhocks Poster and I wanted to be the first to share it with you. Designed by Jay Shafer, the poster is 18″ wide by 24″ tall, and printed on 80# recycled paper. It features the Anderjack model and some beautiful hollyhocks.
Tumbleweed is offering it on sale for $8.99, regular price $15.99. I have a copy of one here at my house and my wife likes it so well she wants to frame it and put in the guest room. You can purchase yours NOW by Clicking Here. Show off to your friends your love for tiny houses!
So do companies pay you to feature their products like this as blog posts? I’m neither supporting it or knocking it necessarily, just curious.
Hi Shelly, yes I am what you call an affiliate of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and a few other businesses and the Tiny House Blog gets a percentage of sales made through the blog. This helps keep the blog running and is a win, win situation for both parties. So if you are buying Tumbleweed products please use a link through the Tiny House Blog 🙂 -Kent
While I think this poster is really beautiful and I love the Tumbleweed House Company + all of the positive press around it (Jay’s website is what got me into tiny houses) I believe tiny house merchandise goes against the whole point of the movement.
I agree with you, not to mention that I usually expect posters that advertise things to be given away, not sold at tremendous profit. $16 regular price??? When you put “Tumbleweed Tiny House Company” across the bottom in giant letters it becomes more advertising than art.
Amy, the Tumblweed website got me into tiny houses too! I understand your feelings, but I’m a little ways off from being able to build my own tiny house, so in the mean time I think it’s nice to have a pretty poster of one in my apartment, something to dream about…
I am in similar situation, I am not close to having my own tiny house but I too think it would be great on a wall in my apartment. 🙂
With all the big houses being built in NJ, it would be neat to live in a small house. 🙂
I am getting one immediately! Via Tiny House Blog of course, Kent has earned a percentage of my sale by providing hours of entertainment and inspiration!
Anything for more money.
I also think this has crossed the line from supporting the site via ads (per the side ads that show) to becoming a vehicle for stuff sales, directly.
This looks like a convention nice poster that if you get one would become a collectors item. And it would be better for me as something I’d possibly want if it showed real flowers and real house and not a Peter Max type of visualization.
So, this misses the boat for me.
Good on you, April! Affording to be purists would be lovely…wouldn’t we all? However, the purity of Kent’s honesty and the work and time he spends to bring quality content to us seems not at all outside the boundaries of ‘the movement’ but rather an embracing of it – pay as you go with what you’ve got that’s good? That seems right to me.
Thanks MJ! I’m a Sustainable Management student, basically I’m learning how companies, organizations, non-profits and individuals can sustain themselves in a way that is beneficial to communities and the environment. epperson, Angie, and Niall, I totally get where you are coming from. But Kent is doing a lot of good sharing information about smaller living for our environment, and he has created a fantastic community and started a lot of dialogue for the tiny house movement. He is completely transparent about being an affiliate and as long as that is the case I believe he is completely within his right to share posts like this one.
Diversifying revenue stream is a sound approach to business management. However, if the business tangents away from its traditional base, it runs the risk of alienating its core market–the Movement.
It becomes an “issue” or a turn-off if the profit motive shapes the content.
Epperson, you have a really great point. I guess to me,
‘The Movement” encompasses the qualities of change and growth, change in the way our society views living space and growth in terms of sharing these ideas with more and more people. I think its about finding that balance between keeping the earlier adopters of this idea happy as well as growing and sharing these ideas so that society can enjoy the positive effects of them.
$$$ is probably high on the list of reasons why people are enthusiastic about the movement.
Smaller home means less stuff and less stuff, reduced obligations and it follows, greater independence from the grid, the Matrix, consumer-culture society, banking cabal, etc.
So in the minds of people of people who hold money and financial independence as primary objectives in the movement, things like art ads and photo-shopped books are superfluous and even antithetical.
I feel the site has suffered in terms of quality since it transitioned from an indie-information sharing site to a business advertising space.
As others have noted, selling an “advertisement” is in complete tension with the Movement.
I’ve always admired Jay’s work but I get the impression he’s more interested in generating consistent revenue stream from the Movement than he is about the Movement itself.
Isn’t the whole argument behind the Movement about affordable building-methods using reclaimed material by means of open source forums?
When you get to the point where “art posters” and “photo-shopped coffee table books” are marketed as Tiny House novelty items (for huge mark-ups), you wonder about the sincerity and intentions of these businesses.
Would it be better if it were just a pretty graphic?
Why not give people the option to buy it?
Is anybody forcing you to buy?
Don’t hate success.
Monica,
Conflating what you construe as “commercial success” and my criticism is simply a very superficial way of looking at the issue.
If you require clarity, here it is: there are two different arguments here.
1. People who think its a grand idea to pay Jay so that you could advertise for him because they naively think they’re promoting Tiny House enthusiasm.
2. People who who are savvy consumers and critical thinkers who see it for what it is–an Advertisement priced regularly at $16.
Lastly, I don’t control people’s wallets or impulsive habits. People are free to be duped.
All of us need to produce an income, including Kent. Maybe this post should have been an ad in the sidebar. Not that big of an issue.
I’m a free market purist of the Austrian School. I believe in open exchange of ideas and services for fair market value without the hindrances of unconstitutional regulation and taxation and a draconian central bank printing fake money.
While many in the Movement may not agree with my economic views, we share a common approach in the Do-it-yourself attitude.
Our Movement’s founders are people like Lloyd Kahn–a true Do-it-yourselfer–who built his home using reclaimed material.
And there are serious do-it-on-the-cheap builders like Peter King in Vermont who doesn’t want to sell you frivolous “stuff” with his name on it to promote enthusiasm for the “movement”. Rather, he wants to teach you to frame a house with reclaimed material in one weekend.
So when Jay wants to continue to sell “stuff” at jacked-up prices, he becomes fair game for criticism.
$9 for short-run posters made in the USA and on 80# recycled paper are not necessarily ‘jacked up’ in price. It seems reasonable to me and shouldn’t be compared with remainders prices from discount warehouses.
If Kent likes a product and wants to promote it on HIS website, that’s fine with me. It’s not necessarily commercialism to share something you like. I hate that he has to be nervous about criticism in these comments every time he wants to mention or even offer something he likes.
(The ONLY commercialism that bothers me on this site is those annoying popups (double-underlined blue, often unrelated) embedded in the text.)
Thanks for all the wonderful things you do, Kent!
Subjective view, I guess.
I think $16 for the poster at regular price regardless of what its printed on is a tad steep considering that its essentially an advertisement.
$29.95 for the hard version of Jay’s photoshopping manifesto “Small House Book” is simply ridiculous.
What next? A fee to watch his videos on YouTube?
This isn’t commercialism. This is shameless self-promotion.
Oh I love how petty evangelicalism is seeping into the tiny house movement. Gospel purists are way more entertaining than the piss in the cornflakes kvetchers of late that have to find fault or complaint about every project. Its all so pretentiously adolescent.
Don’t overcomplicate things people, if you want one buy it, if you don’t, well, keep your money. There is no single focus “movement”. There are a lot of people with some overlapping ideas on a spectrum encompassing many aims and ideals. If there are more people interested in DIY and doing things as cheap as possible or free, that’s fine and they can exchange information to their heart’s content as can those who care more about any other aspect of tiny houses. HOWEVER, there is no need to fight over any supposed moral high ground in the process. If a person is managing to make money while doing something they love and there are enough people to support that endeavour, then more power to ’em as long as what they do doesn’t take anything away from anyone that they’re unwilling to give.
BEST take on this yet here! Thank you, Alice, for ‘putting the finger on it’.
Any information portal/blog becomes stale and a vacuum if it provides a one-note theme and hardline purism.
The ‘overlap’ is what makes it appeal to a bigger audience!
If a few here had their way, Kent would be discussing and reviewing 100 sq. ft. or LESS ‘tiny homes’ (100% built of reclaimed materials) and nothing else!
There are several LAYERS to the ‘tiny house movement’ that a few people want to ignore, for some reason… there are those of us who WILL start work on our own ‘tiny home’ soon, but plan to purchase a pre-built shed type model to begin with… there are those of us who want a custom vardo/gypsy home on wheels but HOPE to find info on making one a little bit bigger (say 9X20) than some of the 8X10’s we’ve seen featured… there are those here who dream of a tiny home of their own, but perhaps more in the 300 sq. ft. range (some of us older/disabled folks can’t do the loft bedroom thing)… and the ‘tiny house’ movement might be better called the ‘tiny home’ movement, because we’ve learned of so many options, and many are not even ‘houses’, per se (the vardo, float homes, railcar adaptations, etc.).
I think the gist of it all is that we are all bonding on one thing in common, and that IS to find a way to live bigger by housing ourselves smaller.
As to the poster being offered for sale, I would be interested in frameable ART, but not an advertisement. Sorry, Jay. I think it’s pretty and all, but should be a GIVEAWAY, maybe for the cost of postage and handling or something. Even CALENDARS are given away for free (or at S&H only) if they have the business name/logo on them. To offer an item as ART (and, especially, to SELL IT as ‘art’!), it would have to be an original painting or photograph, something an artist or photographer can claim as their own with a signature!
I spent 30 years as a commercial artist, so I’m pretty ‘educated’ in this area (please don’t hate me for this): the poster, again, is pretty, but it does not qualify as ‘art’. Its a very pretty ADVERTISEMENT – which is OKAY, too.
I think if it were offered, instead, as a ‘fund raising’ item, so to speak, to help offset the expenses here for Kent, asking $5 to $10 to cover a ‘donation’ and postage and handling, perhaps, would go over a little better.
But if Jay is trying to market them as a ‘product’, and giving Kent a ‘percentage’ of SALES, well… that’s just not quite kosher… for me… sorry.
I hold no ill feeling toward either Kent or Jay for it, none at all. We ALL have to try to cover our expenses, the best way we can, in this world, regardless of how ‘unpure’ it might seem to some. I’m sure a few people here do everything by barter and exchange, but the rest of us still have to work in and around the ‘money world’ (I still use electricity, still use a roll of paper towels a week, still take a ten minute shower that probably uses up hundreds of gallons of tap water, but I hope to move away from all that SOON).
Think of the content, theme and purpose here as feeding many different needs in the form of LAYERS, all of them relevant and of the same general idea: living better lives through smaller homes.
Plus, if you really like the picture and don’t like the ad part, just frame it up with that part hidden. You buy it, it’s yours, you can do what you want with it. Some of my favourite framed images started life as magazine ads, luckily with the blah blah easily hidden. Adopt, adapt, improve . . .
It’s fair game folks. The internet allows for feedback as quality control. See: Amazon and other sites. Moreover, it encourages dialogue–assuming the parties involved are mature and rational.
That said, it’s not only appropriate to point out dubious offerings to casual observers and neophytes to the movement but it’s also helps to keep it from becoming too commercialized.
Commercialism is not exactly compatible with the Tiny House movement. It brings unnecessary focus and attention from the greedy, over-bearing tentacles of the Federal Government through its regulators and tax collectors. Secondly, it could end whatever loopholes currently exist for Tiny dwellers.
This isn’t a question of Morality or Relativism or allowing the scam artist to operate in the public square. It’s a question of quality.
Obviously, there are people willing to pay a small chunk of change to advertise for Jay. Then, there are others who rightly call it out for what it is.
I think this is being blown WAY out of proportion!
Wow, people! I thought the “movement” was just a bunch of individuals who were inspired in some way by tiny houses and a vision of a simpler lifestyle. Call me crazy…but I thought that Jay was just some artist dude from Iowa who liked tiny spaces and designed a piece of art he could live in. Then some other people wanted to build or buy them & he started a business selling his art. I, for one, am glad he did. I was in tiny Tumbleweed loft on a peaceful, moonlit night…enjoying Kent’s blog, as usual…when the peace was shattered by blah blah blah blah judgement blah opinion blah blah. Let’s all try some love, peace, meditation.
I have to say to Josh that a lot of advertising is art. Most of what we have from Toulouse-Lautrec is his advertising. Don’t knock it.
The way I see it is that one of the problems of the free, capitalistic world (which I am not disagreeing with or berating capitalism – I think it’s just a natural unintended consequence of capitalism); is that money becomes king. When money is king in society the most effective way to vote is with your dollar. That is in my opinion one of the reasons for going small – I am voting with my dollars to spend less on housing and make it higher-quality, environmentally sustainable, and capture the essence and meaning of what a home should be.
The Tiny House Movement is in my opinion an expression of free voters to choose to spend dollars (and much less of them) on sustainable housing.
Jay’s poster is a wonderful way of advertising to all those who enter our homes or offices about the tiny house movement. I think it’s a great idea. The free version is to print off tiny house pictures yourself and put them up on the wall for all to see. 🙂
Geez…so much politics! I was just going to say could he make a similar BUMPER STICKER? A lot of “mainstream” people don’t know anything about tiny houses. I’d like to put one on my truck with my “grow local, eat local” sticker! It’s called education…
Then again…I just noticed my capitalized word “bumper” got turned into a potential “auto zone” ad. All I wanted to do was make a comment!
Deb
All of you ‘art purists’ should take a stroll through a poster store or the t-shirt section of a clothing store, see how much ad-art you find, and take a look at the price tags on those posters and t-shirts, then tell me all about how this poster is different.
That is a beautiful poster! If I had wall space and some excess discretionary income, I would happily buy one. I think it is great that people can earn a living – or supplement their income – by sharing their passions with others. I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from this website as well as Tumbleweed. I may never make it into a tiny home, I have received many hours of happy daydreaming.
More power to you, Jay and Kent! And thanks…
Wow. Quite a stir here.
Cynicism is the most emphatic form of ignorance. I think I may hear a question behind some of those accusations.
A: I love what I do, and what I love to do is make positive change artfully. A little pocket change is welcome too, so long as getting it doesn’t eclipse the first part. I wish more folks could do the same.
Jay,
I’m not sure which is worse–calling critics here “ignorant” or insulting our intelligence.
According to your explanation, what you “love doing” is essentially selling items of questionable value at inflated prices.
Consider this poster. It screams “Advertisement” to most casual observers. What could gratify the spirits of the Tiny House enthusiasts more than an Ad designed and sold by Jay.
At $16 a pop, this may seem unreasonable but it has nothing on your “Small House Book”–a collection of your favorite Photoshopped images along with a few Fortune Cookie messages about this and that. Throw in a floor plan for a box on wheels and there are enough morons willing to pay $29.95 for it.
What’s the secret Jay?
Dear Epperson,
I’m sorry. My qualm is not with you, it’s with the argument you’ve been trying to pursue here.
So long as people buy into the idea that doing good work and financially sustaining our good works are two mutually exclusive endeavors, that which so desperately needs doing in our world will not get done.
I like to think that small house philosophy will lead folks toward figuring out what it is that makes them happy so they can streamline their way past the stuff (and the ideas) that stand in the way of that happiness. I include my company name on almost everything I make in hopes that it will, ultimately, lead them to this aesthetic/ethic. This is the only “secret” behind my work.
You are very wrong about my motive, Epperson.
Thanks for posting your perspective. It gives me a chance to make myself and my perspective better understood.
Jay
Jay,
The conundrum is that you’re asking people to pay you so that they could advertise for you. In other sectors of the economy, consumers are usually inundated with free advertisements and other useless circulars.
If your intent is not driven by profits, there are more productive ways to bolster Tiny House enthusiasm without asking the consumer and advocate to fork over their change.
By “productive”, I mean the sharing of open source information which this forum regularly engaged in before it converted into a commercial space for profit-driven tiny house businesses.
So your response failed to clarify the high price point for an Advertisement and secondly, it didn’t even address your own small house standard for happiness, unless you mean the happiness derived by personal profits.
I live in a 450sq ft house, and when I saw the poster, I thought it was adorable! I would love to see it on a t shirt, Or a beach towel? I plan on planting hollyhocks next year. :). . If this is a way for Jay to make a living, continuing to let others know about tiny house movement, it’s ok by me. I wish there were more ads about where to purchase actual products you can to use in your tiny home, like a 2 burner gas stove. I see the pictures inside the home, and wonder where they found the products.