Tiny House Blog

by Jessica Tenny

I work with the guys behind YouTube’s home and design channel SPACEStv (NYT) and wanted to send you the newest episode of “Tiny, Eclectic, Amazing Spaces,” a show which profiles people living large in small spaces. Michael Pozner (former Head of Retail Development for American Apparel) and Darrick Bowoski (Creative Director at Jordan Parnass Digital Architecture) take viewers on a tour of Michael’s 500 sq ft apartment, filled with more than 50 bespoke cabinets and drawers in New York City’s East Village.

Michael and Darrick also offer two pieces of advice on how to maximize and re-discover space in any teeny apartment:

• To find hidden spaces in any apartment, Michael says to try doing some “exploratory demo.” Hidden behind Michael’s bedroom wall was nearly 30 inches of dead space, all of which was turned into floor-to-ceiling white-lacquered storage units. “Don’t be afraid to punch holes in your walls,” he says.
• Work with negative space. Every step of the stairway leading to Michael’s lofted bedroom is a storage drawer. Behind that stairway is a cabinet. Michael’s advice is once you find and create a new storage space, always try to build upon the negative space that’s created.

Continue Reading »

A reporter reflects on the Tiny House Movement

By Sarah Protzman Howlett

I’ve always, always loved small spaces. As a kid, I’d scoop up my dolls, Walkman, blanket and pillow, and move into the half-bathroom, settling into the tub with a Beverly Cleary book. It sounds silly, but it was freedom: I could fit every thing I needed into that room. Years later, when I moved to New York City, I was largely unfazed by my 7-by-11-foot bedroom. (It only took 60 seconds to Swiffer—what’s not to love?)

So last fall when I found myself in Boulder with filmmaker Christopher Smith and his 130 square feet of freedom, I couldn’t have been more excited to talk tiny with a kindred spirit for an article in Denver’s 5280. The duo’s project will become a documentary called Tiny: A Story About Living Small, out this spring. When it’s complete, the house will sit on five acres near Fairplay, Colorado.

Smith and his girlfriend, Merete Mueller, invited me to observe as they labored under a steamy sky one Sunday. My hand stuck to my notebook as I wrote furiously, recording everything about the house. Red paint on the outside bids you welcome; the indoor wood siding feels and smells like your favorite uncle’s cabin. Though only the exterior was complete at the time, Smith showed me where the bathroom, lofted bed, and built-in shelves would go, and told me about their sustainability efforts, such as using beetle-kill pine. What surprised me about Smith’s tiny house is how even with exposed wires, sawdust on the floor, and camera equipment strewn about, the space already felt like a home. Continue Reading »

New Yorkers know about tiny house living even though most are apartments. It controls careless purchasing. Biking through Elmhurst Queens in New York City I came upon the cutest little house I’ve seen anywhere in the city. Manhattan likes to claim the narrowest townhouses and a couple are a bit narrower at the front, but this Elmhurst house is wedge-shaped and nearly comes to a point at the back. The side view shows the angled wall. It can’t be more than one room on the main floor but there is a basement.

-David from Astoria, New York

Angelica and her fiance Nic have recently decided to build their own tiny home, they have also decided that by helping someone else build theirs first it would give them an opportunity to prep for the real test, building their own.

Angelica and Nic would like to help someone build their tiny home and are willing to help for FREE. They live in New York City and would be willing to travel a ways to gain the experience. Nic has a lot of experience in carpentry and Angelica was previously an architecture student with experience using heavy duty machinery. They could start as early as this weekend.

If you could use their help please contact them at: amorales1219@yahoo.com with information for them to call you and they will call you back.

Derek Diedricksen (Deek) is continuing on his ultra-tiny house tour and will be in New York City this weekend September 25-26 at the Make Magazine Maker Fair 2010. His little “Boxy Lady” will be seen by thousands of people on the highway to and from the event. Plus Deek will be showing off his tiny abode at the fair and promoting the Tiny House Movement through a sign advertising tiny house blogs such as this one.

If you are in the area and would like to see Deek’s “Boxy Lady” and visit with Deek please be sure and attend the fair. I’m excited to see this tour going on and hope you will take advantage of it and enjoy it for me. Read more at Relaxshax.com.

My email account was very busy yesterday with many of you letting me know about this article in the New York Post. I thought I better jump on it and share it with those of you who have not had a chance to read it yet.

Zaarath and Christopher Prokop bought this 175 square foot apartment in New York City for $150,000. Seems expensive to me but I know real estate is very high in NYC.

The couple lives a not so normal life at least to my way of thinking. They store most of their clothes off site at dry cleaners and at work. They also eat out, so no cooking is done in the apartment. They share their home with two cats. Here is what Zaarath has to say:

“I’m amazed we can fit two people and two cats in there,” Zaarath said. “But it’s harmonious at this point. I have friends who say they could never live with their husbands in a place this small. It’s a good thing we like each other enough to live there.”

Read the “Cozy-crazy couple makes tight all right in the city’s tiniest studio” at the New York Post.

Photo Credit Angel Chevrestt of the New York Post