Tiny Home, Gigantic Life
Tiny home, Gigantic Life: An interview with Emily Gerde.
Interviews are always best in audio. Listen here!
Emily Gerde and her husband, son, three cats + one dog live in a 325 square foot tiny house on wheels. They recently moved from Minnesota to Colorado to begin building tiny house communities. Emily is the author of Minimalist Living for a Maximum Life, which provides insight on their tiny house journey as well as how a minimalist, organic, holistic + mindful lifestyle led to a life of their dreams.
Here’s what we discussed.
4 benefits to tiny home living:
1 – reduced cost
2 – reduced environmental impact
3 – a simpler lifestyle
4 – more free time
Tiny homes + sustainability:
Emily explored making her 2000 square ft home more sustainable but ultimately found alternative energy prices outlandish.
Shortly after, she found herself interested in tiny homes due to their eco-friendly characteristics.
In contrast to larger houses, tiny homes always have a reduced carbon footprint. Emily’s tiny home boasts the following eco-friendly features:
– smaller kitchen appliances
– a composting toilet
– cork floors
– less space to heat + cool
Thinking of taking the tiny home plunge? Here are Emily’s design suggestions:
Make sure your tiny home is built to Appendix Q of the IRC code.
Consider a slide-out portion.
Decide what’s important for you and make sure to get it (for Emily, a full-sized shower and lots of kitchen counters were important).
Decide whether you want a loft. People tend to either love them or hate them.
Step into several tiny homes. Attend tiny home festivals to get a feel.
Make sure your design has lots and lots of windows.
Be conscious of paint color. Paint the interior a light color (white) to create the illusion of space.
Notable quotes from the episode:
“In a tiny house, design is everything … you want to be really thoughtful about how you put it together so it works for your family.”
“Tiny houses are built so that you get all the luxuries or a normal home …
“In terms of sustainability, (tiny home living) is a step in the right direction.”
“I have everything (in my tiny home) that I had in my bigger home, only it’s all way more efficient.”
“Before knowing anything about tiny houses, I would walk around my 2200 square foot home and be like, wow, this room is completely empty besides, like, a chair. I have this space that I’m heating and cooling and I’m not even using it.”
“Why do we need 3 or 4 living rooms? How many of us actually use all our living rooms?”
“(It’s time we) rethink the purpose of our homes. What are we using them for and how can we best utilize the space?”
