11-27-2010, 05:00 AM
With all respect to Jay Shafer he did not "start" the tiny house movement by a good 45 years, longer if you go back to the gypsy caravans. He is a good designer and excellent craftsman, but did not originate this movement by a long shot. He just dusted of an old idea and repopularized it with a more clean cut face than the hippies who first put these rigs on the road in North America. And judging from all those workshops he's making a pretty penny on it too, although I noticed that nowhere in the website did it actually say he would be the speaker at these workshops.
If you want a good history on movable houses "Rolling Homes: Handmade Houses on Wheels" is available through amazon.com. It was first published in 1979 and most of the homes were a good 10 to 15 years old already. There are several other books available on beautiful house trucks and converted buses as well. Many "Travelers", as they call themselves, in England and Ireland still live in caravans, and there is an active house truck lifestyle in New Zealand, of all places, that goes back to the 60s. I lived in a cozy log cabin in Southern Indiana in the 70s that was over 100 years old and had at most 120 sq. feet plus a loft and "sitting porch", the original builder raised a family of 7 in that cabin for 10 years until they built the main house. Vernacular architecture all over the word has always been on the small side, the McMansion for the masses is a recent invention.
Carol
If you want a good history on movable houses "Rolling Homes: Handmade Houses on Wheels" is available through amazon.com. It was first published in 1979 and most of the homes were a good 10 to 15 years old already. There are several other books available on beautiful house trucks and converted buses as well. Many "Travelers", as they call themselves, in England and Ireland still live in caravans, and there is an active house truck lifestyle in New Zealand, of all places, that goes back to the 60s. I lived in a cozy log cabin in Southern Indiana in the 70s that was over 100 years old and had at most 120 sq. feet plus a loft and "sitting porch", the original builder raised a family of 7 in that cabin for 10 years until they built the main house. Vernacular architecture all over the word has always been on the small side, the McMansion for the masses is a recent invention.
Carol
Carol
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb
Every time you feel yourself getting pulled into other people's nonsense, repeat these words: Not my circus, not my monkeys.
Polish Proverb