Talking With an Actual Tiny-House Future Resident

Margaret Chandler (a.k.a. remargaret!) and her boyfriend Zach are currently building a real, live tiny house in Charleston, South Carolina, and are chronicling it on the real, live Charleston Tiny House blog. And because some of us are fascinated by tiny houses, Margaret kindly submitted to an email interview about making them from scratch, living small, and sinktoilets (toilinks?). Her renderings of the house are throughout.

Margaret, have you ever shared such small quarters with someone before, and are you partially terrified? Tiny houses are so appealing in theory, but in practice it seems daunting to be up in someone's business all the time.

Sharing such small space hopefully won't be an issue, even though we're going to be keeping a dog in there, too! The tiny house, for reference, is around 315 square feet, including lofts. Zach and I have shared a studio apartment of a similar size before, and it was fine. To keep it from becoming a problem, though, the two lofts can be used as separate bedrooms. So if we're driving each other nuts, we can at least escape to opposite sides of the house and not look at each other. I also anticipate that access to nice outdoor space and places other than the house to hang out in will be really important.

I have so may questions! Where will it be, and how much do you anticipate it will cost to live in? When will it be ready? Will you have a sinktoilet?

Also: are there mistakes you've seen other tiny house builders and/or tiny house dwellers make that you're looking to avoid?

We're building it in a friend's warehouse in the industrial part of town. She's an amazing lady who runs an architectural salvage/deconstruction business, so in addition to generously letting us use her space, she is also the source for most of our building materials. My goal is for about 70% of the materials to be reclaimed.

Haha, I wish we had room for that sinktoilet. I'm dead-set on retrofitting an old laboratory shower/eye wash station as the shower/bathroom sink — there's one in the warehouse, and it would be so cool!

The Tiny House Blog and Forums have been an invaluable resource. There are so many examples, more of what to consider than not to do. There aren't many examples of Tiny House screwups, which is great, and I hope I'm not the one to break ground in that respect. The total build cost is estimated around $12k, which is essentially a year's rent. Theoretically, if we live in it for a year, we will break even, and anything after that is savings! By way of explanation, I'm trained as an architect, and worked as one for a year until the economy tanked. I then lived and worked at a green design nonprofit in Austin, TX (www.cmpbs.org), where the intern housing are (is?) these fantastic off-the-grid cottages, built entirely from reclaimed materials, and living there was a fantastic experience. The BF is mad handy, and clever to boot. The housemates we share the blog with were building a tiny house, we were extended the invitation, and it seemed like an opportunity too unique to pass up.

This all sounds so awesome — congratulations! Also, if you don't mind my asking, how old are you both, and how long do you intend to live there, ideally?

Hey thanks lady!  It's going to be a whole lot of work, but what else am I going to do with my time, right? We're both 26, and the goal is to live there 3-5 years, in one location or another! After that, maybe sell it, keep it as a guest cottage, or build around it.

Wait I actually have more questions! What kind of dog do you have? Is there anything biggish that you've found you have to give up/throw away/sell? (Book collections, shoe racks, microwaves, etc.?) And when is the projected move-in date? Will there be champagne? Tiny champagne? I'm sorry, I can't stop!

We've got an australian sheephound/border collie named Ani – she's a very good dog

YES there will be much paring down. Z has already reduced his book collection to about 25%. I have a few pieces of wonderful antique furniture, passed down from family members, that I don't think I can part with. I am going to get a small storage unit for them. I know it's kinda cheating, but a) a storage unit isn't that expensive, b) I'm not being graded on how well I can fit my shit into a tiny space.

Oh also, I finally had to get around to selling the huge bronze horse sculpture that Z got from his parents' divorce, because unless it's pulling the house, there's no room for a horse.

I would like to be in the tiny house by next spring. The house we're renting is currently being foreclosed upon (bank has showed up to change the locks and stuff, renters' rights are pretty nebulous), so in an ideal world we could move into the tiny house before things got real, but I think things have already gotten real, and we've only constructed the floor pan. BUT, when it's ready, we are going to have the best housewarming/garden party! Garden party because there is only so much room in a tiny house for parties.

TINY HOUSE! Again, this all sounds so great. Good luck, Margaret, and please keep us posted!

Follow Margaret and Zach (and fellow tiny-house-builders Andrea and Cedric) on the Charleston Tiny House blog.