Tiny House Living

This is an excellent example of how the industrial character of shipping containers can be subdued by a natural setting, and a little dirt sprinkled on top… ha-ha. This is Cove Park in Scotland.

Cove Park

This is an interesting project run by Simon Draper. It’s a funky little tiny house artist community. You can read the whole story on Simon’s website. Here’s a short quote that summarizes the project:

Draper,who has long been working with concepts regarding habitat/shelter in his own art practice will provide each artist with a basic 6 ft. by 6 ft. shed, to be considered as an artist’s habitat/workspace for the duration of the art fair. The artist will inhabit this simple and temporary structure and use the space to create art works or turn the structure into an artwork prior to and during the time of the fair.

Habitat for Artists

Here’s a great story about some folks in Washington state getting approval for a tiny house community by showing their local planning department how multiple small homes are not really much different from an apartment complex in terms of units-per-acre and square-feet-per-unit. When a property is zoned multi-family a community of tiny houses can be possible without changing the rules.

Tiny House Zoning Success Story

If you’re familiar with the San Francisco Bay Area you might be aware that the posh bay-side town of Sausalito is the home of several houseboat communities.

Most of the floating homes in this exclusive zip code will set you back six or seven figures but there are still pockets of free spirits at the Gates Co-Op Houseboat Community. In this little community floating out on Richardson Bay you’ll find a collection of funky hand built tiny floating homes.

Gates Co-Op Houseboat Community

The family riding the Tumblewagon stopped at an unusual hostle in Marathon, Texas that offers a variety of tiny house accommodations. It’s rumored that the owner sometimes lets other people build tiny houses on his property and that bicyclists stay free. Photo credit to Nathan.

Hostel in Marathon Texas

One very appealing solution for making a simple homestead a reality is land sharing. I’ve met a few people who have done this in the past and it requires a different way of looking at property ownership. In one case the residents divided up the asset (land) into shares and had verbal agreements on boundaries instead of physical or legal property lines. When a member wanted to move they would have to sell their shares to another resident or an outsider approved by the community.

While this kind of arrangement has it’s potential disadvantages it has many benefits too. For example a community garden or larger flock of chickens would be easier to manage for a small community than a single family. Sharing the costs of an alternative energy system, water system, property taxes, and general maintenance would also lighten the load on each individual family or individual.

I’ve been thinking I’d like our next move to be to a property big enough for a few family and even friends. Finding the right larger community would be tricky because zoning rules don’t normally allow for such developments. Most planning departments think in terms of dividing land into lots and single family zoning. Finding a community and piece of land that is already zoned multi-family is preferable. Better yet would be a community that already understands how land sharing works and is open to newcomers.

I’m not the only one thinking this way; also read these recent articles on RowdyKittens and The Tiny Life. Photo credit to RowdyKittens.