The house is loaded with Earth-conscious features and the couple say many of their friends also dwell in tiny homes.Could you live in only 125 square feet? That's exactly what a Boulder, Colo.
couple are doing now that they have completed building their brand new, tiny home from scratch.
Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller spent 10 months building all 125 square feet of their dream home and documented the entire experience on their blog, on Facebook and in a short documentary about tiny homes titled, "TINY: A Story About Living Small."
Smith and Mueller speak about their inspiration to build a tiny home in their Kickstarter video, a campaign they used to help raise money to cover the costs of post-production for the "TINY" documentary.
"When we first started this project, we were really surprised to learn that house sizes in America have almost doubled in the last 40 years," Mueller says in their Kickstarter video. "It seems that we're building bigger and fancier houses and consuming more resources to do so, but we don't necessarily feel more at home in them."
So Smith and Mueller asked themselves a question: What does make a house feel like a home? For them, the answer was found in the tiny home movement which inspired them to build their little house. Mueller goes on to say in the Kickstarter video, "The people who have chosen to simplify and downsize their lives have more time and resources to devote to the things that are really meaningful to them."
According to 7News, the house may be tiny, but it has all the comforts of a larger, more traditional home -- just on a smaller scale. The layout consists of a sitting area, kitchen, bathroom and sleeping loft that can fit a queen-size mattress. However, the composting toilet is far from traditional, but it is sustainable -- a five gallon bucket with peat moss and sawdust. "You'd be surprised how well it works and how much it doesn't smell," Smith told 7News.
Smith and Mueller are not alone in their desire for extreme downsizing. In Boulder County alone, several notable tiny homes have popped up in the last several months: Ann Holley's and Darren Macca's "Protohaus" was recently profiled by 9News and Glenn Grassi put his very tiny 84 square foot off-grid mobile house up for sale at the end of 2011.
The small house movement is gaining speed all over the country. Their are even online organizations like the Small House Society, advocates for smaller home living as well as hub for resources for those involved in the movement. There is even a company that is entirely devoted to building tiny houses -- Jay Shaver's Tumbleweed Tiny House Company. Shafer's company has multiple layouts and sizes that could seemingly fit the needs of an individual or a family looking to downsize their home's footprint.
As Smith and Mueller wrap up their documentary, they are also putting the finishing touches on their tiny house and getting ready for an open house in Boulder at the end of April, according to the tiny house's Facebook page.
In Boulder, Colorado a couple builds a 125 square foot house. At only 125 sq ft it is one tiny house housing more than it looks. The Boulder couple has built the tiny house in the mountains of Fairplay. It is only a tiny 19 feet long, wall to wall. It’s quite an amazing feet, and there even is a toilet that doesn’t require water.
Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller have learnt how to build a home from scratch. The whole home is only 125 square feet in size, but it contains a sitting area, kitchen, bathroom and a queen size bed. The queen size bedroom is set in a vaulted ceiling that makes space for a loft. The interior has been made to look bigger than the outside.
There are sustainable elements such as reclaimed windows, solar power, composting toilet and a beetle kill lumber. One of the great features is the composting toilet that just comprises of a five gallon bucket and some peat moss and sawdust. People might think that it smells really bad after a poo, but the surprising thing is that there isn’t much smell at all.
The home the couple has built is 90% smaller than the place they currently live in. A home can be big or small, just as long as it feels comfortable to the people living inside. Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller plan to build more houses in the future and love building.
With grand designs on minimizing their housing footprint, Christopher Smith and Merete Mueller have spent the last 10 months building the tiny home of their dreams.
"It's 19 feet long wall to wall,” Smith said. “The interior square-footage is about 125 square feet.”
The interior layout consists of a sitting area, kitchen and bathroom. A vaulted ceiling makes room for a sleeping loft that can accommodate a queen-size mattress.
“The interior looks a lot bigger than the exterior,” Mueller said.
“When we set out it was to show that a normal person, who never built anything before, can take on a project like this and finish it," Smith said.
Their design incorporates several sustainable elements, including: reclaimed windows, beetle-kill lumber, solar power and a composting toilet.
"It’s just a five-gallon bucket that you put peat moss and sawdust in,” Smith said. “You'd be surprised how well it works and how much it doesn't smell.”
This may sound extreme, but they're not alone; go online and you'll find tiny house blogs and videos, as well as the Small House Society.
Smith and Mueller’s tiny house is roughly 90 percent smaller than the rented townhome they currently live in. They realize tiny living isn’t for everyone, but believe certain elements may be.
"We are really interested in learning more about how the innovations of tiny houses can be scaled up to larger structures," Mueller said.
The house was originally intended as a second home to be placed on land they’ve purchased near Fairplay, Colo. However, the process of building it may have led to a change of heart.
