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| The Roving, 84 Lumber |
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Whether these houses have the footprint of a trailer or the shape of an egg, they're considered 'tiny'.
Alec Wilkinson in his article Let's Get Small (a truly good read), describes those who live in tiny houses like this:
People who live in tiny houses, or aspire to, appear to fall into one of three overlapping categories. The first consists of young people who see a tiny house as a means of owning a place while avoiding property taxes and maybe rent, since they can often find places to park their house free. The second group includes older men and women who have either sold or walked away from a house they couldn’t afford. A subset of this group is retired couples whose children are gone, and who want to live more simply. Both of these groups include transients; that is, people for whom a tiny house is temporary. Among these is a woman named Elaine Walker, who recently listed her house on eBay, although she didn’t find a buyer. She had built the tiny house, in New Hampshire, to live in while selling a house. She had planned to build another normal house, then decided instead to move to California. She found a man who would tow the tiny house there for her. Before he delivered it, he took the house to a car wash. The third group is composed of people determined to live environmentally responsible lives––to live “lightly,” as they put it. According to Greg Johnson, the publisher of a tiny-house Web site called ResourcesForLife.com, to inhabit a tiny house “you have to remodel your sense of what success is and how important it is to you to convey to the outside world ‘Hey, I have a big house and big car and I’m successful.’ If you have a piece of inner tranquillity, you don’t have to prove anything to anybody.” A tiny-house builder describes this group as including people who “want to live off the grid. A lot of vegans. The younger people are idealists. They’re big into off-the-map and sharing their experience.”
A recent article in Gizmag announced Roving tiny house kit caters for DIYers or unhandy buyers.
US building supplies firm 84 Lumber has joined the burgeoning small living movement with the launch of a new tiny house range that aims to cater to anyone's skills and budget, from screwdriver-phobes to DIY experts. Its debut model, the Roving, looks a good balance between size, price and amenities, and costs US$19,884 for the Semi-DIY option, which includes a basic shell, doors and trailer.
84 Lumber's tiny house models page showcases the current release, The Roving, and two planned releases, the Degsy and the Shonsie. Some specifications are included.
For an idea of the variety in tiny houses existent, check out Country Living's gallery. Some, such as the vintage sheep cabin (not sure it qualifies as a tiny house, though), are being used to generate income. Another point of interest is the variety of uses.
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| Heward Family Ranch in Wyoming, Vintage Sheep Wagon, Country Living |
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The egg-shaped tiny house, dubbed the Ecocapsule, has been in the news since mid-2015. It's now in the prototype stage and available for pre-order. Take a look at this video to get an idea of why people are tracking its progress.
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-- Marge
