About 11 years ago, house-builder, philosopher and entrepreneur, Jay Shafer built his first tiny house, moved in, and has been living a super-simplified lifestyle, happily-ever-after.
He says that in a commercial world of bloated “McMansions”, his 89-square-foot, self-built, “munchkin-house”, is smaller than some people’s closets, and looks more like a doll’s house than a suburban home. But it is a home, and oddly, it is also a business.
Shafer loves to conduct personal tours of his tiny home. He points out the Chinese-puzzle-like carpentry, and compact multi-purpose construction that cleverly maximizes his use of space. Shafer also uses the web to show off his ingenious designs which permits him to pack in all the basics of a conventional home into the space of a woodshed, here in the small town of Graton, Calif. He also enjoys sharing is vision of a spare lifestyle on the web through his blog.
Shafer marvels at the impact that blogging has had on how he now makes his living: “This year, we haven’t sold a single house. And yet, we’ve sold more plans than ever.”
Logo from Timbleweed Tiny House Company