Working World

Former college art professor Jay Shafer lives in a handcrafted home of his own design that is less than 100 square feet. He is also the owner of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company in Sebastopol in Northern California. In addition to having built and sold 10 similar homes to other people, he designs and sells plans for tiny houses to individuals who also wish to build their own. The plans go for under $1,000 and the sizes of the houses are between 50 and 700 square feet. “A well-designed little house is just a big house with all the unnecessary parts cut out,” he says.

Shafer was living in an apartment in Iowa City and decided he did not want to use up more space than he really needed — plus, he doesn’t like housework. In addition to creating a simpler lifestyle and being more affordable, Shafer cites a concern for the environment as another reason to go small. “A smaller footprint equals less destruction of resources and also reduces emissions,” he is quoted as saying in the Los Angeles Times. In a separate Times article, Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club, states “40 percent of America’s carbon emissions come from buildings.” Tiny homes are quickly constructed, with far fewer materials, and cost less to maintain. Energy bills are small, too.

After two years in an Airstream Trailer, which was not too comfortable in the bitter Iowa winters, Shafer constructed a little 100-square-foot house on wheels with help from a contractor friend. But he found that, because of zoning restrictions and city codes, he could only park it at a friend’s farm or, as he did later, in the back of a house he bought himself. (He rented out the front house and lived in the tiny one in the back.) Most municipalities have minimum-size restrictions in the housing codes to protect the property values of larger houses. Shafer says mortgages can also be difficult to obtain on tiny homes. His current little home is in an apple orchard.

In a tiny house, everything has to be carefully designed to make maximum use of available space. Utilizing sleeping lofts, built-in furniture and storage cabinets, boat heaters, and tables that fold out from under the desk, details can be carefully orchestrated to meet all of the vital needs of many people who want to live simply.

Shafer lectures on the subjects of sustainable architecture and urban planning. He is also a co-founder of the Small House Society, an international group of environmentally conscious promoters of the small house movement. He believes that, because of sustainability issues, building smaller will become necessary. His long-term dream is to build clusters of Tiny Homes, walkable little communities that would share laundry and other common facilities.

In a status-conscious world where big is often thought to be better, Shafer wants people to understand “small is not synonymous with ‘derelict.’” He doesn’t judge other people’s consumption or try to define what “small” is, he just believes that a house should be “well used” and based on a person’s needs. His own are very simple — and housekeeping is a snap.

Suzanne Ridgway is a freelance writer and regular columnist for Working World and Working Nurse magazines. Suzanne also writes grant proposals for nonprofit organizations.