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Can you offer travelers a chance to explore special places and participate in one-of-a-kind activities? Consider leading a...
Hello everyone,
I hope you're well.
For the past few years there has been an increase of interest in tiny houses, and this trend has been specifically popular in the US.
While a place can be small, this doesn’t specifically have to mean that it is cheaper to furnish. Things can become quite costly even in a smaller place.
Based on my own experience, I've tried using items that are expandable such as expandable tables, shelves, but also mirrors to create the illusion of more available space.
Whether you're decorating a small one-bedroom apartment or a picturesque little house, what tips do you have on making the most out of small spaces?
I look forward to hearing your ideas!
Quincy
@Quincy
How kind of you. Apologies for it looking so gloomy, as its not good lighting. This is a recent pic of the inside, but hasn't even been cleaned in 15 years and trespassers making a mess looking for anything of value.
Recently I considered moving it up to the Appalachian Mountains. Disassembled it would all fit in a UHaul truck with one go.
There are tons of tiny house deveopments. Here is a link to one in our local paper today, offering completely off grid tiny homes.
https://www.postandcourier.com/greenville/business/greenville-tiny-home-entrepreneur-plans-to-push-t...
@Mary996 It really is a great location with a nice view beside a wide field and also a large tidal creek. But it hasn't been maintained at all, I'm afraid. As shabby as it looks in the photos, its actually mouse proof. I really enjoyed being able to just walk outside along trails and roads. I don't like that no one is using it. I also planned to use it as a work shop. I may yet repurpose the materials. If not hopefully I can find someone who would remove it for the materials so at least they could go to use. It was a great learning experience.
One other thing, some people rush to get the drywall up, then have to go back and do electrical and lighting. That's why I never finished this one. 
For some reason the link must not work. The online paper allows 3 free reads per month so I'll just post it here. Please feel free to remove it, or any of my post for that matter. I love following the tiny house movement. They can be so versatile with many different options.
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TRAVELERS REST — A Greenville County entrepreneur plans to go big on going small.
Tiny home entrepreneur Justin Draplin, owner of the Creek Walk community near Travelers Rest, plans to leverage his experience as a community developer into what he says is the fastest growing niche in the live-simple industry: custom-built tiny homes that can function entirely off the grid.
Think incinerator toilet.
Last week, Draplin launched a new company — dubbed "Tiny Box House" — that he is positioning to manufacture hundreds of tiny homes a year. The Michigan native envisions assembling tiny homes equipped with standard energy-saving technology and optional, self-contained utilities, all in one package at a competitive price point.
He said he has pre-orders "to the tune of 500 homes" — most of those from tiny-home community developers looking to offer move-in-ready sustainable homes to prospective residents.
"Overall, you know, just the taking of all that technology and putting it together," Draplin said. "Nobody's doing that yet, on a scale."
If his concept comes together as planned this year, he will be able to deliver a fully off-the-grid, 400-square-foot home for $85,000.
According to a summer 2020 report from market research firm Technavio, the market for tiny homes is bustling. Globally, the industry is expected to grow to $5.8 billion by 2040, and cost-efficiency is driving much of that demand.
The growth of tiny aligns with advice that housing market analyst John Hunt offered to Greenville-area homebuilders last month: that the largest trenches of homebuyers, Millennials and Baby Boomers, want small.
Though his new company is still in its infancy, Draplin has raised $500,000 in capital from small- and medium-sized investors, many of them local. Over the next six weeks, he will build a spec model that will be on display at Creek Walk by early April.
Now he's looking for a facility to ramp up production by summer.
Justin Draplin, owner and operator of the Creek Walk tiny-home community north of Travelers Rest, poses outside the community building on Jan. 29, 2021. Draplin is launching a new company that will manufacture energy-efficient, “net zero” tiny homes that can function entirely off the grid.
By Anna B. Mitchell amitchell@postandcourier.com
Draplin had 132 acres lined up in Clarendon County in September to set up his tiny-home factory, but the deal fell through when county officials raised the price on the land.
He said he needs about 20 acres.
"At this point, I'd like to stay in the Upstate," he said. "If somebody actually wants this business to be there, let me know."
Under Draplin's concept, the walls of his 400-square-foot tiny homes will consist of prefabricated and energy-efficient steel-and-foam panels — too expensive for 2,000-square-foot conventional homes — and solar shingles will cover the roof.
Draplin's Tiny Home Box has a "standard model" price of $75,000 for homes that can hook up to utilities. These "net zero" homes would tend to put more power back into the grid than they would ever take because of the solar roof tiles. For the additional $10,000, the homes come with fully off-the-grid options such as solar batteries, propane power generators, and systems that treat water before and after flushing.
"We've got all this green technology where we can basically do a full off-the-grid home and put it in the middle of nowhere without any utilities," Draplin said. "No water, no electricity and no permits. So you don't have to deal with all those."
Draplin, who has lived in Travelers Rest for three years, has found success in the tiny-home industry. In less than two years, he has filled up the 37 lots in the first phase of Creek Walk and is 13 lots short of filling the second phase. The community is set along the Swamp Rabbit Trail, homes tucked side-by-side amid mature trees. Gravel drives, screen porches, shared fire pits, fish ponds and a community center encourage neighborly living. It's a "modern rustic" lifestyle close to amenities, Draplin said.
He owns the land and leases the lots to tiny-home owners.
If he can get his Tiny Box House concept into full production, Draplin could expand his business in three directions: selling homes to his own residents, selling them to other tiny home developers and also selling them to people who want to live miles away from anyone.
Among developers and independent land owners, Draplin said, an off-grid product that minimizes dealing with local regulations sweetens the deal. In places like southern and northern Greenville County, which currently have no zoning laws, such a home would, in effect, require no calls to local authorities. No land-disturbance permit. Few or no utility lines.
The challenges that some developers face in establishing tiny-home communities played out in dramatic fashion a year ago in Greenville County when dozens of homeowners objected to the "Farmers Cove" tiny-home community proposed just outside Greer's city limits.
Faced with no legal means of regulating the communities — which are handled as "RV parks" under the county's land development regulations — the project gained county approval. But, as reported at the time in The Greenville News, one Greenville County Councilman proposed a six-month moratorium on tiny-home communities. That proposal failed by the narrowest of margins — a 6 to 6 vote.
Local and state governments regulate wastewater, and Draplin said he can build a system that suits local codes. Some let property owners water their lawns, for instance, with treated "gray" water; others require that it all flow underground into a septic field.
"It's location specific," Draplin said.
Draplin often references Tesla when he describes his business model.
"Part of the reason that Ford and GM and Volkswagen are all playing catch up is because they're all using combustion engines," Draplin said. "Teslas said, 'You know what? We're not even going to do that. We're going to jump in with both feet with electric cars.' They burned the boat, right? And so there's no going back. We're all in on this."
That, Dralin said, is what he wants to do with housing.
"I'm saying. 'We're gonna go all in on all the best, latest, greatest, energy-efficient technology that there is," Draplin said. "And that's it. Amazing."
