tiny house show...

...in downtown Decatur on the weekend. Nearly a dozen tiny tidily compact houses, much smaller than the average mobile home, completely furnished with kitchens, bath space and sleeping area. Some had ingeniously contrived storage spaces, designed to make every square inch useful, others streamlined, with practically no storage, more towards the vacation hideaway end of the scale.

All were thoughtfully built, either using recycled materials to keep costs low, or using lots of energy efficient, modern technology to help reduce utility expense as well as being 'green' and environmentally friendly.  We thought we would go early, get there before the crowd and peek into the little homes, but apparently everyone in the metro had the same idea. So there were lines standing in front of every little house, people patiently waiting to get in and see the clever ways they were designed to be compact and space efficient. Some of the houses were being shown by builders, some by designers, and one by the woman who actually lives in a tiny house of her own creation.

One of the houses was made from a shipping container, with the end doors open, and a neatly made, coverlet covered double bed sitting there for all the world to see.  Appearing to be much more a DIY job than many that gave the appearance of being professionally designed and built. I firmly believe that a great deal of the sub-standard housing problems all over the globe could be solved with used cargo containers. Big sturdy metal boxes that are currently being discarded and used to make artificial reefs or left abandoned in foreign countries when the military evacuates their encampments.

There was even a developer/realtor with a sales table, showing a proposed design of a place where you could buy a teeny lot to park your tiny house on in a wee little seven acre development someone is starting in east Atlanta. I'm thinking there are going to be lots of zoning issues that will arise when people start to downsize and try to move these little boxes on wheels into established neighborhoods. The idea of developing a space that is for these little miniature homes is probably a great idea, with the developer having perfect timing.

Though I am not mentally prepared to live in such a confining space, there is a lot of appeal to the idea of paring down. Perhaps the solution is to do it incrementally, parting with stuff over time so it is less stressful? I know I would be happy with a lot less clutter, things I never use, enjoy, look at, or at times, unaware of ownership.