I’ve always wondered that. I’ve just always thought that it is smaller than the average US house for Americans. The rest of the world it is probably dependent on their average sized house.
The main reason I think this is there are some homes lumped into the tiny house movement that I don’t consider that small unless I use the above criteria.
I would love to find a way to have a tiny house in Brooklyn. I now live in a 325 sq ft walk up apartment and pay $1,500 a month. I love my apartment, but would love my own home and would love to not have this rent payment.
Once again, the microwave oven is spurned by someone in the tiny-house movement. I presently live in a tiny house (240 square feet) with no kitchen: it was originally a cottage built for the 80-year-old mother of the homeowner from whom I rent it. My microwave is essentially my kitchen. I boil water for tea in it, bake casseroles and even cakes in it, steamed vegetables, made sauces, and of course, heat up ready-to-eat meals in it. Later I added a toaster oven, crockpot, and an induction cooktop, but none of these is as versatile as my microwave. I actually gave away the toaster oven because it got too hot to be safe in a small space, and it seemed to use more energy than the microwave. (The lights went out one night after I made the mistake of plugging the toaster oven into the same outlet as my dorm fridge.)
I think a number of tiny-house advocates assume that all small homes have a complete kitchen built in, but I can tell you that my situation isn’t unique. I’ve met a number of people, many displaced by the recession, who also live in spaces with no kitchen.
For many households, the microwave is an accessory, used to thaw things and such. Thus a space waster. Many tiny designs favour a convection oven because they’re better than conventionals and can brown and bake. They can take about the same amount of space as a microwave too. I’ve even seen units that combine the 2.
The “many households” you’re referring to are homes with kitchens. If I had a kitchen with a conventional range and oven (and prep space and kitchen sink—the things I miss the most about having a real kitchen), I might not need my microwave as much. I looked at convection ovens when I was thinking of ways to prepare food in my no-kitchen home, but decided that the microwave could do a number of things that are normally done on a stove (boil water, steam vegetables, make popcorn, sauces, gravies, etc.) without the danger of an open heating element, as you would have with a hotplate. Another thing that tiny-house advocates don’t discuss much is the danger of fire. In a large house, there’s space between the kitchen, where most fires occur, and the sleeping areas. Not so in a tiny house, where you’re sleeping right next to where you cook and might have only one way of escaping outside.
If one of the main points of this is to be environmentally friendly, then why a trash can and a throw it out attitude? What happened to donate to charity, have a yard sale, and then recycle as much of what is left as you can? Maybe that’s too much for an info graphic, but at the very least they could have had “Recycle” instead of throw it out, and a recycling bin or symbol instead of a trash can.
I took the “throw it out” in the sense of “get rid of it”. I am sure they meant it be mean get it out of the house however you can (donate, recycle, trash)
I agree with Eliza about the microwave. I never use the cooktop in my apartment and rarely use the oven. I could save a significant amount of space by removing the oven/cooktop and the vent and just using a microwave.
Some people seem to think that tiny house and off the grid mean rejecting modern technology, but I say it makes tiny living easier. You can store thousands of books in a e-reader, cook or heat most meals in a microwave, and a flatscreen can serve both for entertainment and work if hooked up to a laptop.
I am starting to grow weary of the “tiny ” talk.
Smaller is better if it is more efficient and affordable for the young people and others , but this constant media push and race to the smallest possible build is becoming a drag , to be blunt.
Too mnay are selling their ridiculously
tiny creations and going more “reasonable” in their living choice.
Tiny is not bad for a certain stage, but it is not the end all for mature individuals.
Too many are trying to make a living as parasites on the so called ‘tiny movement.”
The object is better housing, not a online hustle for those seeking funds for any type easy paycheck. Hard work is not a sin.
Yes, there is a official name for those who engage in making these types of comments, but he won’t like it because includes the verbiage he despises… It’s called being a “Tiny House Troll”
😉
Hello DeWhit,
I think you are commenting as a possible devils advocate- otherwise, why are you writing this negative junk that has nothing to do with our reality?
This is a website for those of us who believe we do not need a McMansion our even a 2000 sqft home to be happy. Better for us, better for the world. Maturity has nothing to do with it.
Your idea of mature is not the same as mine. I am 51 more, and am comfortably living in an under 800sqft home. I don’t want a ton more space. I would rather be making art, playing with grandkids and going for a ride to the mountains than cleaning all that space and working to pay a mortgage for another fifteen years.
Many people are not making enough money, and never will, to pay for a large home in the city, the suburbs or in the country side. Reality bite is that more than 50% of the population over 18 is living on an income under the poverty line. Those above the poverty line usually work more than forty hours a week. They may not want to work that hard anymore, but still want a home. A good solution is a small or tiny house.
Everyone has their own reality. Mine is to find the information and let others have the rest, not write an underserved flame. If you don’t like ours, go to Google and find a different one. Our appreciate all of the wonderful ideas on cool storage, alternative furniture, and excellent deck plans that might suit you.
Good luck in your life and thanks for reminding me of what i believe in.
For me, I have found living in a travel trailer both liberating and challenging. It’s nice to have a small space to clean but it’s tough finding room for what I want around me. With my health as it is it’s the best choice as I can be near family yet independent. I am in a 24×8 trailer and have a storage unit but will be moving up into a larger one, want about 30+ feet with freestanding furniture. I will move out what’s in and move in my antique dining table, it’s smallish, and Ikea sofa set that’s also smallish. I still need to get rid of some things but am working on it. Eventually I will probably move into a regular home but maybe not. I figure I can afford to have two places for the price of one this way, my neighbor does. :).
I like the comprehensiveness of why we want to downsize and be happy with less. I can’t wait for my tiny house!! I raised my 2 children in a 565 sq ft cottage with their “rooms” in the 175 sq ft loft (3′ walls and 6′ peak). Checked out Compact Appliance for their refrigerator I will get: Avanti, 4.3 cubic foot with separate freezer that sells for about $250 at Home Depot and compact appl is selling theirs on sale for $399 usually $500, so check around!!!! I’m so grateful for all these blogs and websites to help each other through the process.
At what point is a tiny house not a tiny house? Has an official range (for example: 0-999 sq ft) been established for tiny houses?
I think over 1000 is considered a “cottage”/small but not “tiny”.
I’ve always wondered that. I’ve just always thought that it is smaller than the average US house for Americans. The rest of the world it is probably dependent on their average sized house.
The main reason I think this is there are some homes lumped into the tiny house movement that I don’t consider that small unless I use the above criteria.
I think “tiny house” is quantified roughly at under 200 sf.
Under 1000 sqf. Reference Wikipedia.
I would love to find a way to have a tiny house in Brooklyn. I now live in a 325 sq ft walk up apartment and pay $1,500 a month. I love my apartment, but would love my own home and would love to not have this rent payment.
Interesting graphics.
But do the statistics used for the graphics go far enough back in time to graph how house size and ceiling height have changed over 200 years?
A comparison of how the height of humans has changed in that same time span would prove interesting.
What about former traditions of multiple generations living together in the same house?
Statistics are all relative and need to be properly applied when trying to make a case for a certain type of house size.
AVD
I’m thinking 1000 plus a shed. Need a place for ladder, lawnmower, garden tools.
Once again, the microwave oven is spurned by someone in the tiny-house movement. I presently live in a tiny house (240 square feet) with no kitchen: it was originally a cottage built for the 80-year-old mother of the homeowner from whom I rent it. My microwave is essentially my kitchen. I boil water for tea in it, bake casseroles and even cakes in it, steamed vegetables, made sauces, and of course, heat up ready-to-eat meals in it. Later I added a toaster oven, crockpot, and an induction cooktop, but none of these is as versatile as my microwave. I actually gave away the toaster oven because it got too hot to be safe in a small space, and it seemed to use more energy than the microwave. (The lights went out one night after I made the mistake of plugging the toaster oven into the same outlet as my dorm fridge.)
I think a number of tiny-house advocates assume that all small homes have a complete kitchen built in, but I can tell you that my situation isn’t unique. I’ve met a number of people, many displaced by the recession, who also live in spaces with no kitchen.
I couldn’t agree more! Each person’s need is unique. I’ve yet to see a Tiny House Ten Commandments….in other words it’s not written in stone… 🙂
Sounds like my current living situation.
For many households, the microwave is an accessory, used to thaw things and such. Thus a space waster. Many tiny designs favour a convection oven because they’re better than conventionals and can brown and bake. They can take about the same amount of space as a microwave too. I’ve even seen units that combine the 2.
The “many households” you’re referring to are homes with kitchens. If I had a kitchen with a conventional range and oven (and prep space and kitchen sink—the things I miss the most about having a real kitchen), I might not need my microwave as much. I looked at convection ovens when I was thinking of ways to prepare food in my no-kitchen home, but decided that the microwave could do a number of things that are normally done on a stove (boil water, steam vegetables, make popcorn, sauces, gravies, etc.) without the danger of an open heating element, as you would have with a hotplate. Another thing that tiny-house advocates don’t discuss much is the danger of fire. In a large house, there’s space between the kitchen, where most fires occur, and the sleeping areas. Not so in a tiny house, where you’re sleeping right next to where you cook and might have only one way of escaping outside.
A lot of tiny houses are off grid. Microwaves pull a lot of power. I think the spurning of microwaves is simply a practical matter.
If one of the main points of this is to be environmentally friendly, then why a trash can and a throw it out attitude? What happened to donate to charity, have a yard sale, and then recycle as much of what is left as you can? Maybe that’s too much for an info graphic, but at the very least they could have had “Recycle” instead of throw it out, and a recycling bin or symbol instead of a trash can.
Agreed. Thought that odd.
I took the “throw it out” in the sense of “get rid of it”. I am sure they meant it be mean get it out of the house however you can (donate, recycle, trash)
I agree with Eliza about the microwave. I never use the cooktop in my apartment and rarely use the oven. I could save a significant amount of space by removing the oven/cooktop and the vent and just using a microwave.
Some people seem to think that tiny house and off the grid mean rejecting modern technology, but I say it makes tiny living easier. You can store thousands of books in a e-reader, cook or heat most meals in a microwave, and a flatscreen can serve both for entertainment and work if hooked up to a laptop.
I am starting to grow weary of the “tiny ” talk.
Smaller is better if it is more efficient and affordable for the young people and others , but this constant media push and race to the smallest possible build is becoming a drag , to be blunt.
Too mnay are selling their ridiculously
tiny creations and going more “reasonable” in their living choice.
Tiny is not bad for a certain stage, but it is not the end all for mature individuals.
Too many are trying to make a living as parasites on the so called ‘tiny movement.”
The object is better housing, not a online hustle for those seeking funds for any type easy paycheck. Hard work is not a sin.
Well it seems sort of silly to come to a tiny house site and then complain about tiny house talk!
Yes, there is a official name for those who engage in making these types of comments, but he won’t like it because includes the verbiage he despises… It’s called being a “Tiny House Troll”
😉
Hello DeWhit,
I think you are commenting as a possible devils advocate- otherwise, why are you writing this negative junk that has nothing to do with our reality?
This is a website for those of us who believe we do not need a McMansion our even a 2000 sqft home to be happy. Better for us, better for the world. Maturity has nothing to do with it.
Your idea of mature is not the same as mine. I am 51 more, and am comfortably living in an under 800sqft home. I don’t want a ton more space. I would rather be making art, playing with grandkids and going for a ride to the mountains than cleaning all that space and working to pay a mortgage for another fifteen years.
Many people are not making enough money, and never will, to pay for a large home in the city, the suburbs or in the country side. Reality bite is that more than 50% of the population over 18 is living on an income under the poverty line. Those above the poverty line usually work more than forty hours a week. They may not want to work that hard anymore, but still want a home. A good solution is a small or tiny house.
Everyone has their own reality. Mine is to find the information and let others have the rest, not write an underserved flame. If you don’t like ours, go to Google and find a different one. Our appreciate all of the wonderful ideas on cool storage, alternative furniture, and excellent deck plans that might suit you.
Good luck in your life and thanks for reminding me of what i believe in.
For me, I have found living in a travel trailer both liberating and challenging. It’s nice to have a small space to clean but it’s tough finding room for what I want around me. With my health as it is it’s the best choice as I can be near family yet independent. I am in a 24×8 trailer and have a storage unit but will be moving up into a larger one, want about 30+ feet with freestanding furniture. I will move out what’s in and move in my antique dining table, it’s smallish, and Ikea sofa set that’s also smallish. I still need to get rid of some things but am working on it. Eventually I will probably move into a regular home but maybe not. I figure I can afford to have two places for the price of one this way, my neighbor does. :).
I like the comprehensiveness of why we want to downsize and be happy with less. I can’t wait for my tiny house!! I raised my 2 children in a 565 sq ft cottage with their “rooms” in the 175 sq ft loft (3′ walls and 6′ peak). Checked out Compact Appliance for their refrigerator I will get: Avanti, 4.3 cubic foot with separate freezer that sells for about $250 at Home Depot and compact appl is selling theirs on sale for $399 usually $500, so check around!!!! I’m so grateful for all these blogs and websites to help each other through the process.
I definitely agree. Since i moved to my small house from the 5 bedroom one, i sleep and rest better. My health has improved.