I love tiny houses. I LIVE in a tiny house, 416 square feet, right now! I’ve lived in many curious dwellings like a 16-foot airstream trailer without electricity, a Quonset hut, a pup tent for three months in a meadow near Mt. Shasta, a single-wide mobile home and now a studio condo in a nearly 100-year-old building. I GET SMALL! I have also lived in big suburban houses, smaller suburban houses, you get the idea. I prefer smallish.

I LIVE in a tiny house, 416 square feet, right now! I’ve lived in many curious dwellings like a 16-foot airstream trailer without electricity, a Quonset hut, a pup tent for three months in a meadow near Mt. Shasta, a single-wide mobile home and now a studio condo in a nearly 100-year-old building. I GET SMALL! I have also lived in big suburban houses, smaller suburban houses, you get the idea. I prefer smallish.

I love the tiny house movement and all it represents in regard to downsizing, consuming less everything, being more conscious about what you bring into your home or don’t due to space limitations.

The one thing that troubles me about all of the tiny house designs I’ve seen and granted, I’ve not seen that many, but most every photo or plan for a tiny house includes a loft and a ladder to access that loft, and THAT’s the part I’m not sure about.

Pad Tiny Houses has solved that with the Hikari Tiny House. Coming in at 184 square feet downstairs, with actual stairs instead of a ladder and sleeping up or downstairs, I think the Hikari House could be an answer for a shared senior community.

All that aside, I am so excited that in Portland, Oregon we have a wonderful Tiny House movement. Classes can be taken to teach you how to build your own tiny house. Watch this video by Pad Tiny Houses. Dee Williams and Joan Grim are the instructors who lead this weekend workshop, and there are other workshops that involve a tiny house actually being built.