Andrea Tremols and Cedric Baele of Charleston, S.C. spent a year researching tiny homes at their local library and on the web before they decided to actually build one. Then they tore it down and started over. The couple is attempting to build the house out of 90 percent reclaimed lumber and materials while still utilizing every bit of space they can in order to obtain their ultimate goal of more conscientious living on the Earth.
After graduating from college, the couple lived communally as organic farm volunteers in Europe. As a child in his native Belgium, Cedric lived on a 38 foot steel sailboat, and after school he lived in a re-built 27 foot sailboat in Charleston Harbor. So the 200 square foot home they are building will not be a far stretch. The couple (Cedric is a seasonal bicycle tour guide and Andrea is a Spanish teacher) also knew that they did not want to go into 30 years of debt for a home during an uncertain economy.
“People my age, people I talk to that don’t want to be indebted, people that are coming out of college in an economically unstable time…many are interested,” Tremols said to her local television station.
When complete, the home will have a kitchen with a stove, a small refrigerator and a sink with an on demand water heater. There will be a bathroom, a composting toilet, shower, a living space and an enclosed loft. The couple based their design on a photo they saw of a Protohaus, and most of the materials for the house came from the Sustainable Warehouse in Charleston. The house design utilizes cross ventilation without air conditioning and will eventually be hooked up to solar power. When the summer heat and hurricanes converge on Charleston, Andrea and Cedric plan to move their tiny home into the mountains.
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