TINY: A Story About Living Small

This week I finally had the opportunity to see the movie TINY: A Story About Living Small, which is now available on Netflix and iTunes. I saw the preview last year at the SF Green Film Fest so I fully realized this film is not a how-to manual for us tiny home enthusiasts. It is, however, a good introduction to tiny homes as it looks at some of the trials and tribulations one couple experiences as they build their own tiny home. The film also has a number of brief interviews with thought leaders such as Jay Shafer, Dee Williams, Tammy Strobel, and others. I highly recommend this film to anyone with a remote interest in tiny homes, as well as friends and family of anyone, like me, who seems hopelessly obsessed with tiny homes.

Outdoor screening of TINY in downtown San Francisco

Last night I enjoyed an outdoor screening of the entertaining short film TINY - A Story About Living Small in a downtown San Francisco alley. The film, which recently premiered at SXSW 2013, was sponsored by the community nonprofit SPUR and is part of the upcoming SF Green Film Fest (which includes a number of intriguing films). Squeezed into a narrow alley amongst tall downtown buildings with an almost-full-moon in the background and a SolMan portable solar generator powering everything, we watched the story of a couple building and living in a tiny home.

I was selfishly hoping the movie would be a how-to about building a tiny home, but that probably wouldn't appeal to the general public. Instead, it's an interesting look at the ups and downs of building and living in a tiny home as well as brief interviews with a variety of people involved in tiny homes. It's actually a great introduction to tiny homes for anyone either unfamiliar or just starting to consider them. The screening even concluded with a Sundance-style panel discussion where the filmmakers along with Jay Shafer answered audience questions.

Filmmakers and tiny home builders Christopher Smith & Merete Mueller with SolMan solar generator to the left

Ella and Little Yellow

Little Yellow with Ella securing the stairs

I really enjoy meeting other "tiny home people" not just because of the obvious shared interests, but also because they are frequently interesting, engaging individuals who build tiny homes at least in part because it enables them to focus on other interests. Ella is no exception. She studied in Scotland, plays the harp, and recently built, with limited carpentry skills, a tiny home she calls Little Yellow. She also maintains a very interesting blog which chronicles the build. Earlier this month she moved Little Yellow from Southern to Northern California and stopped at a couple of spots on route for brief open houses. It was great to see her home in Soquel and to chat with Ella as well as others. The exterior is essentially a Tumbleweed Fencl, but the interior is customized. There were a number of aspects I particularly liked including:

• Use of natural wood. The first thing you notice is the interesting branch that serves as the corner post (purely aesthetic) near the door. The interior also features natural wood in places such as the coat rack and bench legs.
• The kitchen counter, which she had done professionally, is spectacular. The interesting grain patterns and natural, biomorphic edge turn a kitchen counter into an objet d'art. I definitely see the merits of having a professional complete certain focal aspects of a tiny home.
• Custom trim work. Ella cut attractive designs in the trim which seem to automatically draw the eyes.
• The shower is a converted livestock trough: significantly less expensive with more character than a traditional shower. I assume it also can be used as an old-school bathtub.

The loft is a traditional Fencl loft and I remain convinced that such a loft is simply too small for me. At the risk of sounding like some sort of tiny home prima donna, I'll require both a loft skylight as well as an alternative roof design in my tiny home.

In Soquel several people asked Ella what she was selling or which company she represented. She indicated she wasn't selling anything and she scheduled open houses simply because she knew many people were interested in tiny homes. I'm certain I'm not the only one who is both grateful and inspired.

Beautiful kitchen counter

Livestock trough becomes shower

Traditional Fencl loft

Natural wood, custom trim

Tiny mobile home at Fleet Week

Last week San Francisco hosted Fleet Week, an annual event where military ships dock in the Bay and different branches of the military demonstrate their wares. This mobile unit displayed on Marina Green immediately caught my eye. Unfortunately, they weren't permitting tours at the time. Nonetheless, I particularly like the open-air design and integrated jack stands.

Pepper's open house

This past weekend I thoroughly enjoyed an interesting and informative tiny home open house in a Sonoma County park next to the Russian River. The home was built by Pepper and Dylan who run a company called Bungalow To Go. They work closely with Tumbleweed (Pepper presents at some of their workshops), but also provide some flexibility since Tumbleweed adheres to its own designs as well as a specific aesthetic. I plan to build my own tiny home, but like to see what others have done and exchange ideas.

This home was clearly well-designed and well-built. There were a number of elements I really liked including an attractive octagonal window that filled the loft with natural light, efficient toe kick drawers that help maximize use of all space, and a closet lined with cedar that was pleasing to both the eyes and nose. The bathroom (see image below) was actually more spacious and comfortable than you might think. One thing I noticed that might be an issue for me was the size of the hot water heater (19 gallons) that together with the expansion tank took up a significant amount of space in a closet. I may go with a tankless/flash water heater that will cost more initially, but require significantly less space and reduce ongoing energy costs since there is no tank of water to heat continuously. More research is required on this issue as there are tradeoffs associated with tankless water heaters.

The best aspect of the open house was the opportunity it provided to chat with Pepper and Dylan who are both passionate and knowledgeable. They shared ideas and the logic behind many of their design and construction decisions. Even though I plan to build my own home, I hope to work with Bungalow To Go in some capacity.