Ten Years in Just 89 Square Feet
Jay Shafer and the Tiny House Movement by Antony Taylor

For ten years, Jay woke up every morning to his bedroom ceiling, just 3' away from his face. After climbing down from his loft bed into his 6' x 6 ½' living room, he would enter his 4' x 2' bathroom. To most people, Jay would appear to be a prisoner, and the conditions might appear inhumane, yet Jay is not a prisoner, nor has he been forced into these living conditions. In fact, Jay not only chose to live in such a small space, he designed it himself! Jay's house for ten years, the “Epu” is the size of a walk-in closet in most of today's homes, yet it contains a living room, desk, fully functioning kitchen, separate bathroom, and loft bed space.

Jay Shafer is the owner of the Tiny Tumbleweed House Company, founder of the Small House Society, an ecological activist, a new-era architect, and a lifestyle revolutionary. His minimalist lifestyle design has been featured in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. He and his tiny house has been featured on “CNN”, “Oprah”, “This Old House” and countless local news stations. Around the country, people are purchasing his designs, attending his workshops, and following his revolutionary example of how to live life with less space and less possessions, resulting in less of a drain on resources and the environment.

A Mixture of Motivations

Today's economy suffers in part due to the housing boom and deflation of the past few years. Houses grew and grew, and so did their prices. People wanted more space for themselves and their possessions; which in turn required more materials, more energy to heat and cool, more time to maintain, and more possessions to fill the expanded space. The bubble burst, as consumers could no longer keep up with houses that were too large for both themselves and their budgets. Sustainable architecture has gained increasing interest to help reduce the demand on the planet's resources. To see that Jay first moved into his 89 square foot home in 1997, puts him well ahead of the trend. "I don’t want to burn any more fossil fuels or go through any more construction materials than I have to, for space that I’m not going to use anyway. And I don’t want to be putting out any more greenhouse gases than I have to." Jay says.

The idea of living small is not new, one of history's most memorable examples is Henry David Thoreau, who lived in a 10' x 15' cabin on Walden Pond for over two years in 1845. The reason for such a reduction in material lifestyle? In Thoreau's own words:

“I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion.”

Henry David Thoreau, Walden, "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For"

So does Jay share a common theme with Thoreau? While some of his desires may echo the sentiment expressed by Thoreau, there was a simpler inspiration for Shafer's desire for simplicity: he hated the nearly 4,000 square foot home that he grew up in. "It was my sister and I who cleaned our house every weekend, and we envied the other kids who got to play while we cleaned the house all weekend long." Jay says.

Another quote by Jay appears to give him more in common with the growing movements of minimalist or simple living: "The more stuff I have in my life that’s not contributing to my happiness, the more work I have to do, which doesn’t make me happy," he says. "So, I got rid of all my unnecessary stuff and just live with what really makes me happy. That editing process is really arduous. But once it’s done, that’s the hard part. It’s all over and you’re just living very liberated from there on out." Proponents of simple living believe that a voluntary reduction of assets is not only better for the environment, but that it is also better for one's own happiness, as well. The old adage of “Less is more.” is their motto. The small house movement owes a lot to the ideal of anti-consumerism, an idea that may seem foreign to some. "It's very un-American in the sense that living small means consuming less," says Jay.

Growing Into a Small House Advocate

Jay built his first small home for himself in 1997. The houses frame sits on a 7' x 14' wheeled trailer, of the type used to tow cars behind mobile homes. The reason for this is because current residential codes eschew small houses. The current International Residential Code requires that a residence have one room that is at least 120 square feet just as gathering space. By making his house into a trailer, Jay's house could be governed by a reduced set of specifications and remain compliant. The additional benefit was that Jay could take his house with him wherever he desired by hooking the trailer up to his truck and taking it with him. Jay has lived comfortably in his home in Iowa's harsh winters, and California's hot summers.

Towing his house around behind him attracted some attention, which Jay used to form the “Tumbleweed Tiny House Company” in the years prior to the new millennium. At first, he sold his plans and taught others how to build small houses as a means to supplement his income. In 2002, he founded the “Small House Society” with Gregory Paul Johnson; a friend, fellow enthusiast, and co-worker at the University of Iowa. Dave commissioned the first commercial build from Jay later that year. Back then, Jay was fortunate to sell just one home and a couple of sets of plans a year. His workshops were held once a year, attracting a few people interested in how to live with less.

In 2005, both Johnson and Shafer wanted to bring awareness to their cause. Recalling how Jay used to draw attention towing his home behind him, they took to the road with both of their tiny houses. This tour not only drew a lot of interested stares, the media took notice as well. Both Johnson and Shafer were both featured in articles and on news programs.

2007, was a year of change for Jay in many ways: Jay's unique home was featured on “Oprah” that year, exposing his company to a legion of interested viewers. Jay also got married and together they had a child that year, and Jay realized that he needed homes that families could enjoy and live in comfortably, while still complying with residential codes. This was the last year that he lived in his 89 square foot abode. His current family home though, is just 500 square feet. His company created designs for homes that met the minimum International Residential Codes for size, most of which are 1/5th of the size of the average home. The smallest of which could be built for as little as $22,000.

Today, Jay's business has grown in leaps and bounds. He not only provides an income for himself and his family, but also a small building crew. His designs have grown with requests, but still maintain their commitment to being smaller in size. The largest of his designs is just 874 square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. His designs appeal to nature lovers, minimalists, and those whose finances dictate less expensive living. He sells 50 designs per year, up from five just years before. His eight yearly workshops attract 40 people on average. Nationwide, 300 people now live in homes of his design. His crew builds a home per month, compared with one per year when he was first starting.

Jay has become an advocate not only for a lifestyle, but a crusader against the excesses of homebuilding, even testifying and submitting proposed coding changes to the International Code Council. His latest project is a community of his small homes on a small piece of land, with shared areas and walking paths. A large vision for a builder of small homes, and it all started in a space smaller than most American bedrooms. As Leonardo da Vinci once said: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

WORKS CITED
Tumbleweed House Company http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com Time Magazine “Shrinking Down the House.” Aug 14th, 2006 http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1226156-1,00.html VOA News “Taking Downsizing to a Whole New Level.” Jan 14th, 2011 http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/places/Taking-Downsizing-to-a-Whole-New-Level-113610869.html Huffington Post “Buyers Flock To Ridiculously Small Homes During Downturn.” Nov 29th, 2010 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/29/small-house-movement-the-_n_789422.html#s193807&title=undefined New York Times “The Next Little Thing.” Sept 10th, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/garden/11tiny.html?_r=1&scp=5&sq=%22jay%20shafer%22&st=cse New York Times “Living in the Round.” Sept 10th, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/10/realestate/keymagazine/910hsyurt.html Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia “Henry David Thoreau”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau