The Teeny Tiny Cottage...a trend?

One of 10 Tiny Getaways on Apartment Therapy

   I have been a fan of the teeny tiny cottages for quite some time. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I have not given this concept in housing much time on this retire in style blog. THEN I see that Apartment Style had a feature about the tiny houses this week. I want to be Apartment Style anyway and when I saw they had usurped my love of the tiny cottage, I was just miffed! Okay, I admit there is a blog called "Tiny House Blog" and Apartment Therapy is all about small spaces so I cannot lay claim to the small house exclusively. But still!
   You can buy a tiny house prefab...there is actually a company that sells them to consumers. The company is called Tumbleweed Houses. The small houses they sell prebuilt are on wheels so you can put them almost anywhere. If you are a DIY kind of person, they sell the plans too.
   I received a question the other day from a senior citizen living here in the Tucson area wanting know if I know of any "tiny houses" here in the area. I could not give the person an address. However, here in Tucson you will find that very small houses are everywhere you look. You just have to recognize one when you see it! Here in the southwest they are called casitas...small house in Spanish. With the arrival of the snowbirds in places like Green Valley just south of Tucson in the 1960's the small affordable housing craze began. As I understand it, money from New York States Teacher's Retirement fund was used to built the first casitas and the rest is history. These tiny little houses are still being used.

From NYTimes Home and Garden Section

My favorite picture of a tiny house comes from the New York Time Home and Garden section. This little jewel was a stick built house in the Catskills. I found the article via the blog about tiny houses I spoke of above. When you go to the Tiny House Blog you will be treated to the elegant and the not so elegant in tiny houses.
The Apartment Therapy article called 10 Tiny Getaways made me dream of lakes and firewood and sleeping with all the windows open. The Tiny House Movement could be a dream that takes many forms. I just thought you would want to know.

b

Janette said...

There is a co housing place in Tucson that uses casita they way they were meant to be used. Milargro. Most of the houses are small themselves- but the casitas are small and VERY livable.
I keep telling my husband I want a tiny house in my future. I don't want a condo or an apartment- but small houses are rare. What do I need with even 1000 sq feet when I am 90? Much easier than living in a "rest home"

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