Tiny Houses Are Green, EcoFriendly
It’s no secret that tiny houses are green and eco friendly – they use fewer resources to build, use less energy to heat and cool, and are less wasteful.
But aren’t they a bit – well, basic?
Some are, certainly.
But they can be gorgeous too.
I love tiny houses – so much so that I’ve devoted 2 entire Pinterest boards to them : Tiny Houses and also Ecofriendly Buildings – check them out for some inspiration!
Here are 2 lovely examples of gorgeous tiny houses – each completely different, and built on other sides of the world. Yet they display similar creativity, and a love for simple, clean living.
The 6-Foot House
The 6-foot house is in a Japanese suburb, designed to fit into a very narrow plot of land between two existing houses. And narrow it certainly is – the average interior space is just 6 feet or 1.8 metres wide!
At a mere 865 square feet / just over 80 square metres, it certainly fits into the tiny house category.
It would be easy for this to be a cramped, gloomy house, but YUAA Architects have made it into a stunning home, with plenty of light and space.
One of their main design strategies is to have no internal walls or divisions. This allows light and air to travel freely around the home, giving a feeling of spaciousness. You can see more photos here.
Storage space is provided in open shelves, again with no doors – I love the storage around the stairs!
This house could only work with a minimalist lifestyle, and I have to admit that this is more minimalist than I would like, but it’s definitely something to aim for!
The Tiny Cob House
Half a world away, in both location and style, is a delightful cob house built by a British farmer who proves that building your own home doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated.
He would actually have built it pretty much for free, but towards the end he ran out of straw and nails, so he had to pay an unexpected £150 / $250 for those.
Admittedly, he had some advantages – he already had the land, and he didn’t need any special permits to build.
His aim? He wanted to
- use only materials that he could find himself
- use no power tools
- spend almost nothing
So, this is what he did:
- He designed the home on the back of an envelope
- He spent over two years collecting local materials that he foraged or salvaged himself
- The floorboards were from a neighbour’s derelict boat
- The glass for the windows was salvaged from a scrapped truck
- The roof’s thatching came from straw that he gathered himself from adjacent fields.
He says:
“A house doesn’t have to cost the earth, you only need the earth to build it. I wanted to show that houses don’t have to cost anything. We live in a society where we spend our lives paying our mortgages, which many people don’t enjoy”.
In tune with his green and eco-friendly principles, he rents out the cob house to a lady who works at a nearby dairy farm. She pays her rent in milk!
You can see more pictures of the cob house here (just scroll down that page to see them) – I think it’s a wonderfully romantic house!
What do you think? Let me know in the Comments below. And please Share these gorgeous tiny houses with your friends and family – sharing buttons below and right – thank you!
Clare, I love tiny houses. Unfortunately they are hard to come by here and are illegal unless on wheels where I am. I adore the cob home. The organic lines and materials make it feel as if it is a natural outcropping on the land, integrated and still a part of nature.
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