Small AND beautiful?

People that know me know I go big. I plan my big day with coffee grande in a thick- handled mug. I lust over volume spaces that accommodate big furniture with giant pantries that can hold massive ingredients in industrial-sized containers. I cook with honkingly huge pots and pans and often end my day with a long soak in a deep bathtub. If I had my way, I’d put a vast farm table and a twin set of chair-and-a-halfs in every room of my house. (I bought a trashed Ralph Lauren big chair duo at an auction for a paltry $10. Now, recovered in Sunbrella red, they look like oversized heirloom tomatoes.)

Marketing terms like Supersize Me, Jolly Green Giant, Open Wide for Chunky, E ahu la ula (the Hawaiian phrase televised to describe wide traction tires – it translates to “wider is better”), and songs like “Brick House” or “Baby’s Got Back” always catch my attention. Blame it on my favorite decade, the Seventies; era of wide bell bottoms, fat belt buckles, and the lovely Angela Davis sporting her massive Afro.

So it is with some alarm that I find myself (like Oprah did recently on TV) coveting one or more of Jay Shafer’s Tumbleweed Houses. These lilliputian dwellings are big on design and convenience, not to mention style. Ten different house styles are available ranging is size from 60 square feet to 770 square feet. They’re quick to build, inexpensive to own, and quite affordable to live in. There are several people doing just that, right here in the North Bay. Jay’s plans can be bought online; so if you build one yourself, you’ll save even more dough. And you can recycle your vacuum cleaner, because these homes clean up in a flash with just a whisk broom and a damp hankie. Some of these charming dwellings qualify as RVs; it may be possible to have one in your yard without a permit. You could even move your new little house around seasonally for maximum solar gain or change your view by taking it with you on vacation, eliminating the need to Priceline a room. Maybe I’ll find a big lot and open a court motel with set of them, lined up in two rows like Monopoly stash. Yeah, I can dream big, too!
Check it out here.: