Little Boxes

'Little boxes on the hillside

Little boxes made of ticky tacky

Little boxes on the hillside

And they all look just the same'

I read an interesting article today in the San Francisco Chronicle about a man who has 'pioneered' the Tiny House 'movement'. According to the article, this man lives in a house that is less than 400 square feet. He is touting these smaller homes for the new millennium home owners. He says they are 'greener' and much more cost efficient. He sites the Japanese as his inspiration. His company builds them and sells them. Some of you may have even seen them, they look like little log cabins on wheels.

He says in the article that he envisions a whole community of these tiny abodes built around a central meeting house. A commune, as it were.
NEWS ALERT!  The World is full of very small housesI watch HGTV.  I know there are families living in tree houses, boats,cabooses, lighthouses,tents,yurts,horse boxes on wheels and ex-Greyhound buses. There are families living in cardboard boxes, under bridges and in the garages of their ex wives grandmothers house.  I'd say that those things qualify as tiny houses.
Some are even what you would consider 'green'.
I grew up in a small house. At least with five sisters, one brother, a Mom, a Dad and several various and sundry animals it seemed small.

It's not that I find the idea of a small cozy retreat a bad one- I think it sounds charming. I can picture myself tucked into a tiny little cabin with a cup of tea and a wireless router,gazing out of the tiny window at the big wide world.
 Alone.
And that would never be.

*** Sigh***

 I find that small means much more work. More work paring down to essentials. More work not disturbing your 'mates'. More work keeping everything in its place. More work keeping your sanity.

And face it, as American's we want BIG. Big houses, big yards, big garages to put our big cars in. We'd probably skip the big mortgage to go with those things, but you can't have everything.

I hated living in a tiny house. The day to day struggle of where to put everything drives me around the bend. If I had a bad day, there was no where to go to chill out that wasn't already occupied.It's true that  familiarity breeds contempt. Isn't part of the punishment of going to Jail  to live in close confinement with someone else?

As I read further into the article, this architect drops the fact that , well yes, his living space with his family is only 400 sq feet- but his office- well that is another 400 sq feet! And it is connected to the main living space with a covered walkway ( like a habitrail!). And yes; he spends his entire waking hours there! More than likely sans wife and children who are busy putting everything back into their 'cubbies'.

Ah Ha!

I rest my case...