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Thursday, February 3, 2011

Itty-Bitty Living

We thought you would get a kick out of some "petite" living lifestyles we came upon just recently. 

This particular owner had this incredibly compact home when they realized they were sick of "stuff." Now they managed to fit everything needed in just 89 square feet, and sells the itty-bitty houses through their company, Tumbleweed Tiny House Co. Because these structures are on wheels, they are considered travel trailers and don't require a building permit. The homes aren't large enough to meet the minimum standards for houses with a foundation but can be built as sheds on a foundation if the kitchen is left out.

Could you live in a home that's 400 square feet? How about less than 200 square feet?

Greg Johnson does. His house in Iowa City, Iowa, is 140 square feet -- a mere 7 feet by 10 feet.  It's just large enough for a little kitchen on one side, across from a desk where Johnson can work and eat. Upstairs is a loft that fits a queen-sized bed and is "just big enough to crawl upstairs and go to sleep.


This tiny prefab dream house is a one-bedroom home in Tucson, Arizona that is full of creative ideas for small space living.  The eco-conscious Rocio Romero prefab is only 625 square feet.

In Japan, where undeveloped urban land is scarce, some people are turning plots that once held parking spaces or garden sheds into home sites.

Rather than try to shoehorn conventional residences into these tiny spaces, architects specializing in ultra-compact homes are creating abodes that are as visually striking as they are efficient.  Check these out all of which are less than 700square feet.



Named for its shape, this house, designed by architecture firm Atelier Tekuto, occupies a 322-square-foot lot in Tokyo. The three-story house has a living and work space on the top floor with windows spanning the width of the building. It has a bathroom and bedroom on the second floor and a music room on the main floor.
The house has 899 square feet of interior floor space, but the glass walls and high ceilings can make the small house appear larger.

Perched on the steep slope of a retaining wall in Kobe, Japan, this dramatic, wedge-shaped house makes the most of its triangular plot of land overlooking Osaka Bay.  The design by Osaka-based architect Shuhei Endo features a roof of metal shingle board that is folded down over the front of the two-story house to create a striking façade. A section of the stone retaining wall behind the structure frames the back patio.

Fitting a home on the site was the hard part. At its widest point, the long and narrow property is just more than 10 feet across. Local ordinances required an additional setback, which meant the building would have to be narrow enough to fit in a standard U.S. parking space.


These unusual Itty Bitty Living spaces were found at  http://realestate.msn.com

4 comments:

my thrifty closet said...

Hi ! your post on tiny homes caught my eye. I wish I could live simply like this too...in a itsy-bitsy home without all the "stuff". I guess I am a hoarder of second hand stuff, it's difficult. Cute post!

Julia said...

what a great post!! I'm your newest follower!

Catrina said...

These pics are fun to look at. I'm petite; but could never live in that small of a space :) I'm your newest follower. http://frugalfunchallenge.blogspot.com/

Maryann said...

So ingenius! Although I'm petite, my husband wouldn't make it in one of these, he's 6'1"! But so much fun to look at and think about what would I take with me and what would I do without! Thanks for sharing!