Friday, February 26, 2016

Tiny Homes at the Home and Garden Shows

This weekend and next is the Minneapolis Home and Garden Show. People will be flocking to this event in hopes that winter will eventually end, and the season of home improvements will begin. I'd like to go next weekend, though the thought of spending $12.00, pre purchased or $14.00 at the door to basically see infomercial after infomercial and a few HGTV celebrities annoys me. Another annoyance is that they would charge kids over 13 at the adult ticket rate. I haven't met many teens in the home improvement market, and what a way to dissuade folks making a family day of the event.  I can get boredom and eye rolling for free at Menards or Home Depot. 

Still, I am in desperate need of both design inspiration and getting out of the house in a way that will break up my winter induced melancholy. As we know we have some big ticket structural fixes that need to be done first, I'd be gleaming for the purely cosmetic idea to get inspired. I also am fascinated with the whole tiny home movement and there will be five different version on display. Tiny homes are more than just a very downsized house, or a little house like my first 650 square foot number. These are usually moveable, fully functional houses often taking up less than a couple hundred square feet of space. 

I admit I truly don't understand the difference between a tiny house and a small camper trailer, other than the house looks more like a house and seem to be a little more structured. Are these just a hipster way of rejecting societal norms, but in a way that is way cooler than squatting in an old pop-up trailer tent? If I furthered explored extreme downsizing in retirement, would living in a tiny house as opposed to a little efficiency or studio condo be a good option? Seeing these five models in person might be worth a ticket for me at least. 

I've watched YouTube videos about tiny space living, and it is good fun for me to imagine living in such restricted spaces. If I am able to retire where and how I want, this is good exercise in deciding mentally what makes the cut to keep and which of my possessions would need to be sold, given away, or discarded. I've also decided two things are nonnegotiable; a full kitchen for cooking and baking, and a bath within the home that minimally had a shower. Here's one of my favorites-if I could get over the graffiti doorway and scary staircase.Trading space for a whole city like Barcelona for my back yard? Tempting.




8 comments:

  1. I could never live in a tiny home unless I lived somewhere warm.
    The problem with these types of homes is that in many(and in every increasing places where they are passing laws against them)places they are not legal to live in fulltime. You have to park it on someone else's lawn/and hook up to their utilities or use their bathrooms when you need to bath/poop/etc. They are NOT self-sufficient unless you can park it somewhere on land you own and deal with the utilities/water issue.
    I view them as very expensive(unless you build it yourself)hobby house and really not something the average person can afford or use long term(at this time).

    I love your line about eye rolls at Menard....hehehehe

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    1. Those are are the thoughts/questions I have. Are they jusy a camper trailer?The small space flat seems more conducive to being able to actually live there, but in retirement, I plan to chunk out my year basrd on season.

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  2. I love home and garden shows!!! They give me such hope for spring and make me plant seeds... Plus I usually get a free yardstick.

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    1. Well thetes is the freebies, but darn, I'm trying to declutter. Yes-hope for spring would be good.

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  3. Am also fascinated. This is one of my favourites too. She is so creative with space!
    I think these appeal to the nester in me.
    Would love to see one in person.
    Home and garden shows are noisy and crowded but might be worth it to see tiny houses!
    xo Jazzy Jack

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    1. I've seen makeshift abodes but tge they have a shared bath-no way-or hotplate and microwave and dorm fridge is consideted kitchen. I cook; I bake; I bathe.

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  4. I'm fascinated by them but mostly because I truly am all minimalist at heart and also an artist. These tiny homes are so creative, generally. I get the tiny home fad but in my mind I'd rather build something small myself on copious amounts of land and it'd have to be sustainable.

    I could never in a million years actually live in a tiny home unless I had something like 30 acres to garden on, fish on, run around and do all sorts of living on. But, the other kicker is my child. I don't understand how anyone with children can ever live in one. My son spends at least 1/4 of the day running from one end of our house to the other. The days would have to be significantly shortened if I were to expect him to survive in close quarters (and again, the land, and it'd have to be someplace without long winters). I won't even get started on the hubby, haha!

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    1. I think about college and how much "living" we did in small spaces because the whole campus was part of home. Then we had minimum allowable variation but designing for life needs could really work. I agree on kids-stress!

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