The Mobile Hermitage
Quiet Life. After considerable reflection, by the Spring of 2003, I had decided to commission Jay Shafer to construct a tiny off-the-grid home, the Mobile Hermitage. I felt it was time to live a quiet life, and I believed that dwelling in a 140 square foot hermitage retreat would be just the way to achieve that quiet life.
Media Attention. At the time, I didn’t realize that the decision to live in a tiny house would result in more news and media coverage than I could ever have imagined possible. Within a few years, my tiny home had been in Better Homes and Gardens, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times of London, PBS, National Public Radio, a CBS affiliate, and I’d even received a phone call from the Oprah Winfrey Show expressing an interest in having my house hauled to Chicago to be on their stage for a taping of their show on small living. It soon became clear to me that there was a substantial interest in simple and small living. Below is a video from PBS affiliate WQPT.
Making Small Work. Inside my home, there is a dining room, a living room, a kitchen, a study, and a walk-in closet. These are all the same room. This is possible because most tasks in life are accomplished at different times (cooking, eating, studying) instead of being done all at the same time. So, having a single room serve many functions is an excellent way to make small work.
Tiny Experiences Book. I wanted to share my experiences of living in a tiny space. Put Your Life on a Diet: Lessons Learned From Living in 140 Square Feet is the book I wrote about my experiences in the tiny house. Below is a video from the launch of the book on 11 July 2008. The interview, book reading, along with the questions and answers that followed were aired on public radio and broadcast on television.
Spreading the Message. I recently spoke at Viterbo University on my experiences with living small and the larger issues of urban and regional planning. The presentation includes photos of my home. A video of that presentation is below.
