Here's an interesting video from CNN about a new trend in American housing - tiny homes. You can find the transcript below.
- Slideshow with text commentary on Oprah.com
- Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
Lesson idea: Get your students to design their own tiny home and present it to the class. Better Homes and Gardens has a great online design tool you can use to create rooms.
Downsizing
AZUZ: Ok, so if living beyond your means -- buying bigger homes, bigger cars -- can be a bad thing, then one solution may be to downsize. But some homeowners are taking that to the extreme, condensing their lives into less space than the classroom you're sitting in. Thelma Gutierrez takes us on a tour of a new, tiny trend in housing.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN REPORTER: Some Americans are unloading their possessions, and they're learning to live small for peace of mind. In the middle of California wine country, Bill Kastrinos is learning less is more. How many square feet?
BILL KASTRINOS, TINY HOUSE OWNER: It's 98 square feet on the first level.
GUTIERREZ: For Jay Shafer, smaller is better. How many square feet here?
JAY SHAFER, TINY HOUSE OWNER: Depends on how you count it, but I usually just say about 100.
GUTIERREZ: They live in teeny, tiny homes, not much bigger than a child's playhouse.
SHAFER: On this side of this room, we've got a couple of puffy chairs flanking a boat fireplace.
GUTIERREZ: Oh, my gosh. Where do you sleep?
SHAFER: This is the sleeping loft upstairs.
GUTIERREZ: There's barely enough room for two people.
SHAFER: A stove and a refrigerator, even a little toaster oven.
GUTIERREZ: But Jay and Bill say owning a tiny house is the tradeoff for living without debt.
SHAFER: Oh, I'd say I'm living on less than $15,000 a year, mortgage free.
GUTIERREZ: Jay says thousands of people across the country are unloading clutter and getting rid of big houses to join the small house movement.
SHAFER: I look around and I do see a lot of people who seem like they're slaves to their homes.
GUTIERREZ: Jay says purging allowed him the freedom to walk away from a job he didn't want.
SHAFER: I didn't want to pay rent or a mortgage forever, so my plan was to escape the rat race.
GUTIERREZ: Now, he designs small homes for people who want a scaled-down version of the American dream.
SHAFER: Above the kitchen is the access to the loft.
GUTIERREZ: This is the toilet/shower, and imagine climbing a ladder to bed every night. Are you making a political statement here, or is this about being practical?
SHAFER: Its both. It's a very practical thing for me. If I didn't have a 100-square foot house like this, I probably couldn't afford to live in this county. Aside from that, politically speaking, I like the idea of showing people how little a person could need.
GUTIERREZ: Bill and Sharon Kastrinos joined the movement out of necessity.
KASTRINOS: We had a construction business in Southern California and things started slowing down with the economy.
GUTIERREZ: So they started building small houses. In 6 months, they've already sold 11.
GUTIERREZ: What do you think you gained in exchange?
SHARON KASTRINOS: I think the freedom. It's a tremendous burden that's off your shoulders. Small is ok, and it might even be better.
GUTIERREZ: So, what's the average cost for a tiny house? They range between $15,000 and $45,000, and you can park them pretty much anywhere you can park an RV.
