Decatur Wowed By Options at Tiny House Festival
(APN) DECATUR — The first Tiny House Festival to be held in Decatur, Georgia, happened last weekend, on July 30 and 31, 2016, featuring a dozen tiny houses.
A tiny house is anything under 500 square feet (sq ft).
Most homes at the festival were from 95 sq. ft. to 350 sq. ft. Some tiny homes count the loft area in the footage and others don’t.
They ranged in price from 35 to 80 thousand dollars.
One can buy a tiny home shell for as low as 12,000 dollars, and finish it themselves.
Thousands of people paid twenty dollars to see and learn more about tiny homes. They stood in long lines and weathered the heat and rain to view the decorated interiors of the tiny homes.
Tiny Homes are legal in the City of Decatur after the adoption of the Unified Development Ordinance by the Decatur City Commission in 2014.
“The Ordinance removed their minimum square footage for homes on a foundation that meets the International Residential Code,” Kim Bucciero, Co-Founder of Tiny Homes Atlanta, told Atlanta Progressive News.
One tiny home that drew a lot of attention was the 265 square foot Escape Traveler, which featured a large picture window, full kitchen, full bath, a living area, plus a two loft sleeping area.
The Lamon Luther tiny home was one of the largest. The Lamon Luther Foundation helps homeless people and people struggling with addictions, with affordable housing and other resources.
Walt Durling, a former houseboat builder, now with Tupelo Tiny Homes out of Mississippi, designed a 192 sq.ft. tiny home that had everything and appeared much larger.
It had a full kitchen, including a built-in clothes washer that also dryed the clothes; a dishwasher; a refrigerator; a microwave/convection oven; a convection stove top unit; a full bath with bathtub; closet space; cabinets; and a loft bedroom for 49 thousand dollars, including the appliances and furniture.
Hummingbird Tiny Homes in Danville, Georgia, custom builds each home. They featured three different sized tiny homes, each designed like a mountain cabin with a rustic interior. The 336 sq ft. home costs 59,000 dollars with appliances.
Driftwood Homes bought two tiny homes for display: The Indigo, which featured a full kitchen, bath, bedroom, plus a sleep loft; and a smaller version tiny home with smaller kitchen, bath and sleeping loft.
The Tiny homes movement is challenging the prevalent social norm that more material possessions are a status symbol of success.
Some people are tired of working all the time to participate in a consumer buying frenzy that is advertised to make one feel happy and popular.
Millennials especially, with different values, are forging a culture change that less can be more.
Simplicity and minimalism leaves more time and money for creative, social, recreational, and spiritual pursuits in life.
Seniors are also downsizing from large homes, while others just want a home without the huge mortgage payments.
Bucciero tells APN that an Eco-Cottage community of about fifty tiny homes is in the planning stage for East Point, Georgia.
Proceeds from the Decatur event will go to the Decatur Housing Initiative Corporation, a nonprofit dedicated to developing affordable housing in Decatur.
Some of the vendors at the festival were Georgia Tiny Rentals, Hummingbird TINY Housing, Shelter Supply Company, Tiny Home Builders, Driftwood Homes USA, Perch & Nest-A Tiny Cottage Home Company, KoKoon Homes, and Treehouse Sustainable Arts.
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I like the concept of simple living with minimal possessions, but the tiny houses are priced like jewelry. They are small, but expensive. Conversely, a Zillow search shows 583 homes selling in Atlanta for $100,000 or less. These are homes that require no land search. Almost all will be larger than even the largest “tiny” home. Yes, some will need considerable work, but so does the $12,000 shell mentioned in this article.
We can certainly learn a great deal from the design concepts, the planning, the economy of space in tiny houses. Ultimately though, a traditional house is likely to be a much better investment for most people.
Agreed – You can find homes near (but not in) west end for ~$35-55k. Although they all need renovations you’re still getting more home for the money AND if you really want to live in a tiny home you can build one with the extra space on the lot and just rent out the main house.
Tiny homes are a cool concept but unless you’re committed to the minimalism mindset your money goes a lot further with a traditional house or a rehab / renovation.
Great concept that brings young talent and creative forces to any city. Pricing people out of cities is bad for innovation and progress. The full size homes you find for same price are in rough shape and require more money just to get them in habitable condition. Maintenance is a huge cost for old dilapidated home on big lots. Sorry, but no. These tiny homes are a perfect fit for the minimalist, low impact lifestyle and the price is right.