His little house in the woods proves that less can be plenty
Jay Shafer grew up in a 3,000-square-foot, Mediterranean-style house in Mission Viejo.
He lives today in a tiny house -- “half the size of my childhood bedroom” -- that he built on privately owned land he rents in a redwood forest in Sebastopol in Northern California.
“My house fits nicely in a single parking spot,” he said.
Shades of Thumbelina? Perhaps.
Shafer owns the Tumbleweed Tiny House Co., which for $850 sells plans that, he said, are popular throughout California, including the Los Angeles area. He also sells and builds houses ranging from 50 to 700 square feet, which cost from $20,000 to $100,000. He estimates that it takes 400 hours to build one of his homes.
As he thinks small, American houses, on average, are growing larger, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Assn. of Home Builders. But Shafer is not alone in his less-is-better mind-set. He is a founder of the Small House Society, a global organization that promotes the development of very small, ecologically responsible houses and lists more than two dozen designers and builders on its website.
Not all of his ideas are new. Small houses have been built for centuries, largely as a matter of necessity. Money, in part, dictated the size of the sod houses, log cabins, shanties and cottages like the one Henry Thoreau built on Walden Pond. As people could afford bigger homes, smaller houses were largely abandoned or torn down.
Small came back in vogue when protecting the environment became popular. The trend accelerated with the 1998 publication of architect Sarah Susanka’s “The Not So Big House.” By that time, Shafer was already part of the small-house movement.
“A smaller footprint equals less destruction of resources and also reduces emissions,” he said.
He completed his first home, all of 50 square feet, seven years ago in Iowa City, Iowa, where he was an art professor teaching drawing at the university there.
“I was fed up with paying for more space ... than I really needed,” he said. “I decided I was going to build myself a place that met my needs without exceeding my needs.”
He had no construction experience, however, so he built his first home in the backyard of a contractor friend, who helped him correct what was wrong.
Shafer soon discovered Iowa City didn’t allow anyone to live in anything that small -- it was below minimum size standards. To skirt that, he bought a 600-square-foot house, which he rented out, and lived in his little house, which was on wheels, in the backyard.
His small house won Natural Home magazine’s home of the year award in 2000, and that exposure generated requests for plans and houses, which he sells through his website, www.tumbleweedhouses.com.
Since then, he has built 10 houses with the help of friends, hitched them to U-Hauls and delivered them or had them shipped to paying customers.
A Mississippi woman bought one after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home in Bay St. Louis.
She wanted, Shafer said, to escape “her FEMA trailer.”
A year and a half ago, he quit his teaching job and moved to Sebastopol, where he concentrates on his company, his portfolio of drawings of tiny houses and his writing; “The Small House Book” is available on his website.
His current house, built of cedar and pine, is 100 square feet. The 11-foot interior height accommodates a loft bedroom upstairs. Downstairs, the living room has a 6-foot-3-inch-high ceiling comfortable enough for Shafer, who is 5 foot 10.
To preserve space, most of the furniture is built-in -- the desk, full-size bed, bookshelves and storage areas. But he has “two comfy chairs” in the living room, which is 7 feet by 7 feet, and a boat heater “that is the size of a breadbox.”
He cooks on an L-shaped counter in the kitchen, which has two propane-fueled burners. There is room for a full-size oven and a microwave, but he said he has no need for either. The home has a small refrigerator and a bar-size sink.
He usually eats at the desk, he said, “but when I’m having guests, I do pull out a folding table from under the desk that seats four.”
He has a 2-foot-by-4-foot “wet bathroom” -- meaning there is no shower enclosure -- an option he said is popular in Europe and on boats, where space is tight. “The bathroom is the shower. I have a curtain that wraps around the toilet to keep it dry.”
His clothes are stored in a 2-by-2-foot closet.
“I actually have extra storage space in the house that I don’t use,” he said. “My needs are particularly minimal. I don’t like extra stuff around I’m not using.”
In fact, he’s pared his possessions, with one exception.
“I’m the Imelda Marcos of small houses,” he said. “I have eight pairs of shoes. I got rid of everything I don’t use, but I use my shoes.”
Shafer also said he has plenty of elbow room.
“I don’t feel cramped,” he said, explaining that his house has traditional proportions. “You don’t have to duck your head unless you are in the loft, which is made mostly for sleeping” and has a 4-foot-tall ceiling.
He has all of the comforts of home. “Tons of insulation,” he said, keeps the place warm or cool. “Even in the icy Iowa winters, I only paid $160 per year in heating costs.” This will be his first winter in Northern California.
Shafer doesn’t miss living in a larger house, like his childhood home.
“My sister and I were in charge of the housecleaning,” he said. “All that useless vacuuming and cleaning has something to do with my desire to live in a small house.”
In his current home, he said, it takes him about 10 minutes a month to keep his house in order.
gayle.pollard-terry@latimes.com
