Tiny houses: whether they’re a symbol of America’s deepening housing crisis, a token of terminal hipness, or just a cool option for people flexible and creative enough to call them home, they’ve arrived.
And they’re in demand. Sacramento resident Malinda Crichton—who also resides in an almost-finished 265-square-foot home, complete with loft—made news as the recent victim of tiny house theft. It turned up at a West Sacramento shopping center.
Surprised? Don’t be. Last year someone lifted a 1,200-square-foot log cabin in Oregon. (“We think that somebody busted out the foundation, jacked it up, put a lowboy underneath,” the local sheriff told the Washington Post.)
Still, of course, these sorts of incidents are, as yet, vanishingly rare. So if you’re considering taking a big plunge into a small house, you’ve got options. Speaking of Oregon, remember that 89-square-foot micromansion featured in Portlandia a while back? It’s real. Over in Estonia—Baltic minimalism is so hot right now—designers at Kodasema have figured out how to stand up a 269-square-foot living unit in seven hours, and disassemble it for later use in just four. Having recently shared a moment with a camper whose yurt (sleeps six) took three hours to put together, I’m thinking there might be a market here.
