MNN - Mother Nature Network

I’ve switched focus as of late to cleverly designed urban sardine cans geared toward young professionals who are willing to forgo full kitchens and make do with Murphy beds, but the tiny house movement is going strong as ever.

 

Case in point: Diminutive dwelling demigod Jay Shafer is now cooking up an entire tiny house village dubbed the Napoleon Complex in Sonoma County, Calif. (AKA Land of the Tiny House People). Zoned as an RV park with about 40 to 70 petite residences and loosely based on the cohousing model, the intent of the community is to “create a contagious model for responsible, affordable, desirable housing.” With a proposed opening date of 2015, I'm thinking that it will be the perfect place for Austin Hay to settle down in after he graduates from college!

 

And then there’s Ryan Mitchell, a Charlotte, N.C.-based tiny house devotee and editor/founder of "tiny lifestyle" website The Tiny Life. A few weeks back, Mitchell launched a Kickstarter campaign that would enable him to create an infographic that tells the story of tiny houses and the people who decided to live in homes of reduced square footage.

 

A Kickstarter campaign for an infographic? Yep. After embarking on a survey in which more than 2,300 tiny house people responded in under 48 hours, Mitchell knew that he had to share the massive amount of data he had collected in a visually appealing yet informative manner and, well, talented graphic designers cost money. With that, he launched the Kickstarter campaign with the goal of $1,000 to help pay for a designer and bring the infographic to life.

 

 

That said, Mitchell has already met his goal. But with a few days left until the campaign expires, tiny house lovers can still contribute and receive one — or a few — of the perks associated with backing the project: bumper stickers, an early release of the infographic, a 12-by-8-inch print of the campaign’s nifty promotional graphic, and a pre-release of Tiny Life’s upcoming ebook “Cracking the Code.” Big spenders will even receive a one-hour phone chat with a tiny house guru.

 

Very cool. I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product.