On small houses, van dwelling, cocoons and life

I'm often asked how I handle living in the confines of a Van.

Actually, I find the small space quite comforting.

You have to run a tight ship - everything has to go back in its place as soon as you use it. But housework is so much easier - sweeping the floor takes about two minutes.  (Although changing the sheets is a bit of an event, best done with a friendly helping hand.)

With the door open and breezes blowing in from all the windows, I don't feel hemmed in. I can live half outside under the awning if I wish. And besides, I spend a good part of many days inside other people's houses.

But I like returning to my tiny space. It wraps around me like a cocoon. It has everything I need. It both shields me from the world and takes me out into it.

When you live in a cubby house on wheels life feels just that bit more playful.

The other advantage, when your budget is tight, is that when I do come to live in a building again, even a studio or small flat is likely to feel palatial after the van.

So, while so many houses these days are getting bigger and bigger, consider the small house movement. (For every reaction, there is an equal and opposite one.)

"The Small House movement is to homes what the Slow Food movement is to dinner: a celebration of sustainability, simplicity and nourishment. It’s a trend that’s gained momentum in recent years thanks to the trifecta of increasing climate change awareness, the global financial crisis and rising real estate prices...."

This quote is from Sanctuary 9 which features a Size Matters theme with 40 pages of smaller homes, some as tiny as 3 x 2 metres (about the size of my Van).

Or check out the amazing tiny houses here at Designboom

There's also a magazine at

http://www.tinyhouseliving.com/

which you can also follow on Facebook (ie become a fan).

And a really wonderful book by Shay Solamon, with photos by Nigel Valdez

Little House on a Small Planet, which has interviews with people who live in small houses.

I love the epigraph from this book, by the poet Rumi:

Someone who goes with half a loaf of bread

to a small place that fits like a nest around him

someone who wants no more,

who’s not himself longed for by anyone else.

He is a letter to everyone. You open it.

It says ‘Live!’