40 Tiny Houses in 40 Days – Day 2

I ran across this little vardo at Point Reyes Station Inn. Like most of the structures I’ve collected images of, I don’t know anything about it’s history or interior.

The Bunkhouse

I’ve been meaning to share some pictures of the 500 s.f. (18′ x 27′) house my wife and I bought when we were about to have a baby a couple years back. It isn’t one of my designs, but I did put a lot of work into it. And (as the before images show) it did need a LOT of work. I still spend most of my waking hours in my tiny house next door. I call that “my house”, the larger house the “bunkhouse”, (because that’s where we all sleep and eat) and the whole complex “home”. Another baby, due in June, should put us at about 150 s.f. per person. Though, at this point, it’s really more like Emerson (my son) takes up about 400 and leaves Marty (my wife) and me with a hundred each.

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- AFTER -

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pepper & Tumbleweed: A perfect combo

Our first workshops for 2012 are just around the corner and you may have noticed some new names & faces amongst our crew. Let’s get acquainted with one of them: Paprika Clark aka Pepper.  Honestly, we couldn’t ask for a more energetic and enthusiastic person to join the Tumbleweed family.

Pepper has been a fan of tiny houses for a while now. Her love for designing houses started when she was just 6 years old when she noticed an ad for a new subdivision in the newspaper. With a 3D image of the house she wanted firmly fixed in her creative mind, she went on to design every detail. As she grew, so did her interest in all kinds of building practices.

5 years ago she decided to really focus her attention on the world of tiny houses. While she appreciates all the different types of houses out there, Tumbleweed really struck a cord with her. As she says it, “The Tumbleweed idea struck me as an amazing solution that had real potential to be both truly green and accessible to more people financially and aesthetically than anything I had seen before.” Her thirst for knowledge led her to one of our workshops in Sebastopol. Little did she realize that one day she would be leading one of those workshops herself!

Like most people who are attracted to our homes, Pepper loved what she saw but wanted to personalize the experience. After carful thought, she knew what she needed to do. Pepper started her own company and started to build a tiny house based on the Lusby plans. With the help of some talented friends and neighbors, she has completed her first build and is ready to do more. One of the things that she is excited about is the workshop schedule that she will embark on in 2012. Last fall she was a guest at our Santa Rosa workshop. With house in tow, her enthusiastic presentation was only exceeded by a tour of her splendid tiny house. Her drive, creativity and energy is creative and genuine. We are looking forward to having her as a part of our workshop crew.

See more pics of Pepper’s Lusby … on Sale now.
Learn more about her workshops: Asheville, Phoenix, Santa Fe

Is there a Bodega in your future?

Did you know that the Bodega plans are on sale this month? It’s the smallest of our houses on foundations but it’s big on style. I personally would love to have one with the half loft. Image how cool that cathedral ceiling would look like in the living room? Make sure you get your hands on the plans before the month is over. If you could build a Bodega, where would you put it? What modifications would you make? Would you add the extra bedroom?

A Little About Me

A Little About Me

by Jay Shafer

A friend recently suggested that, by now, there’s probably more fiction written about me online than fact. So I spent some time googling myself, and it turns out he may be right. I’ve listed five of my favorite findings below (some true, some false). I’d previously tried to keep my private life private unless some part of it actually related to my “simplicity = happiness” message. By omitting gratuitous details, I’d hoped the focus would remain on my message rather than on me. This hasn’t been entirely the case. Detractors make up gossip to distract us from the real issues at hand. I hope that in revealing more of myself here, I’ll become less of a subject for this kind of distraction in the future.

5. Jay Shafer’s the Kovorkian of the Tiny House Movement. (False)

To be honest, I don’t really know what the term “Kovorkian” means in this context, but I’m assuming it can’t be good, and it can’t be true. I have absolutely no medical background, and I’ve never been successfully convicted of my so-called “crimes”.

The commentator goes on to describe my relationship to the tiny house movement as the, “right religion, wrong messiah”. While it’s strangely flattering to be compared with such bigwigs as Dr. Jack Kavorkian and the Messiah, the author doesn’t seem to mean the latter comparison in a good way either. Her comment is part of a thread that, first, announces that I’m the leader of an exclusive Tiny House Movement (False) then demands that I be dethroned (uh, ok…).

4. Jay and his business partner must be total potheads. (False) Steve never smokes marijuana.

3. Jay Shafer is a two-timing pervert. (False) Even some of the most established purveyors of, so called “news” have gotten in on the action. The Sunday New York Times printed the story of a guy who cheated on his girlfriend as he lured another young woman into his tiny, 96 square foot home on wheels and therein fondled her.  The article (written by the fondled, young woman herself) alleges, amongst other things, that her host’s diminutive home contained little more than a single shelf  “stocked exclusively with books about tiny houses and a good number of Tantric sex manuals”. The article reveals the name of this two-timer’s business and that of his house.  It describes his occupation and even provides a quarter-page illustration of his home. To my dismay, these details identify the adulterer as none other than me. I actually knew of this stories’ author before the stories’ publication. She was stalking me when I lived in Iowa City. *

2. Jay’s a moron. (True) Though I do prefer “learning disabled”, “intellectually challenged” or, even, “retarded” to being labeled a “moron”, the general sentiment behind this allegation is, indeed, true.

I often have a hard time learning new things and performing simple tasks. My primary condition is what’s known as a sequencing disability. I also score alarmingly high on the Asperger scale. Throw in an anxiety disorder and depression, and you can begin to see the madness behind my method.  I, mostly, have trouble reading and spelling; with comprehending what’s being said when there’s background noise; with over-stimulating environments: with testing and with using both hemispheres of my brain at the same time.

The upside of this is that in order to compensate for my relative inability to sequence, I’ve developed super-human powers of abstract reasoning and comparable visual and spatial perception (not seeing, but making sense of what is seen). I should add that since men do generally have a weaker connection between the cerebral hemispheres than women, my condition makes me particularly manly.

I wouldn’t be the first to claim that my weaknesses are also my strengths.  Like many who are said to think outside the box, I’ve never really been able to get in to the box in the first place.

1. Jay’s beard looks a little “survivalist”. (True) When I ran across this offering in some online “Should Jay Shave?” discussion, I immediately headed for my razor. I could see myself more clearly through the eyes of others, and what we all saw wasn’t the look a guy pushing the tiny house thing should probably maintain. While I haven’t included much of it here, a lot of the criticism I’ve seen about me and my work is actually accompanied by solid critical thinking.

Some comments have been offered anonymously, but here’s what I could find as far as additional credits go. Most can be found in their full context by googling the phrase in question.

He’s the “Kovorkian of the Small House Movement”, “… right religion, wrong messiah”. – Anne

His shelves were“stocked exclusively with books about tiny houses and a good number of Tantric sex manuals”. – Xeni Fragakis

“one photo screams “mild-mannered architect” and the other has a sort of “survivalist in a shack” vibe. But it’s his face, so he can do as he pleases. – DJ.

*In response to my repeated request that the Times print a correction and remove the story from its website, Asst. General Council of the New York Times, George Freeman, wrote that pressing the issue further “might subject (me) to possible legal claims”. This is what’s commonly interpreted as a “slap suit” (i.e. unless you have enough money to go against our deep pockets in court, just drop it. O.K.?). The story, “A Girl Could Get Cornered In A Tiny House”, can still be found at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/05/fashion/sundaystyles/05love.html

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