LAPORTE — To measure how much space she needed for her yoga room in the house she’s building, Rebekah Paulson practiced a downward dog pose.
“It’s exactly big enough for downward dog,” she said with satisfaction.
Just big enough, and no bigger: That’s the mantra of tiny-house advocates, whose 100- to 500-square-foot homes would fit inside the great room of some suburban McMansions.
PHOTOS: More images of tiny houses in Colorado
The National Association of Home Builders reports that single-family homes are getting bigger, averaging 2,434 square feet in 2005 compared with 983 square feet in 1950.
Tiny houses buck that trend, and while they’re unlikely to replace McMansions, there’s enough interest to fill three multi day conventions this summer, including one this weekend in Boulder and another Boulder meet-up in August, plus next month’s free Tiny House Jamboree in Colorado Springs.
There are cable TV shows ( “Tiny House Nation” and “Tiny House Hunters”) and a documentary ( “Small Is Beautiful”), as well as more than 900 Pinterest boards.
Millennials and retirees are especially interested in the prospect of a home they can afford, with a cost of $10,000 to $20,000 if they build it themselves, or $20,000 to $60,000 with professional help and upscale elements.
Remember that 983-square-foot 1950s home? It’s big enough to contain several tiny houses, which can be as compact as 80 square feet and rarely exceed 500 square feet.
For Paulson and other tiny-house fans, this compact space offers a snug retreat and requires a disciplined life — saving money and energy and providing a big step toward eliminating clutter.
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“It’s a dramatic change, because I’ve been a collector of things,” Paulson said.
She gave away nearly all of her 700 books, mostly to Facebook friends. She sold her big weaving loom to a friend, “so I can visit it when I need it,” and keeps a tapestry loom on one wall.
Paulson, 35, is single. She works at a Fort Collins yarn shop during the day and spends at least half of each month as a live-in dog-sitter for vacationers.
“I’m gone two or three weeks out of the mouth, and paying $800 so I can spend one week a month in an apartment is ridiculous,” she said.
She began thinking about tiny houses about four years ago. Two years ago, she took a Tumbleweed Tiny House workshop, bought a 20-foot trailer, and started looking for a place to park it.
The real-estate mantra — location, location, location — holds true for tiny houses. Zoning codes in many cities, including Denver, don’t allow them. Other communities, including Walsenburg, have revised their zoning codes specifically to allow tiny houses.
“Basically, anything on wheels is considered an RV or trailer, and in Denver, you may not live in something that’s not permanently affixed to the ground or the sewer system,” said Andrea Burns, communications director for Denver community planning and development. “The external appearance of tiny houses kind of distracts from the fact that they are, for all intents and purposes, the same setup as a mobile home or trailer. They’re more aesthetically pleasing, but from the code’s perspective, they’re one and the same.”
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So, tiny-house owners look for rural areas with more lenient zoning codes, although some rebels brag about “flying under the radar” of city-code inspectors.
Another reason it’s hard to track statistics on tiny houses: There’s no national organization monitoring sales and building numbers, although there is the national American Tiny House Association. Tiny-house enthusiasts focus instead on figures showing that 68 percent of tiny-house owners pay no mortgage.
One tiny house typically costs the equivalent of a down payment on a conventional single-family home. But often it’s hard to get a conventional loan for a tiny house. Paulson is financing her tiny house on her own, keeping costs down by doing nearly all the work herself. Using a composting toilet eliminates the need for a municipal sewer line, and a gravity-fed water tank supplies drinking and shower requirements.
Because Fort Collins zoning codes, like Denver’s, don’t allow tiny houses, Paulson found a farm on unincorporated land near Fort Collins. The owners are trading her a parking space in exchange for feeding the livestock and other chores.
“I’d love to find a permanent spot, but this farm is great until they get tired of me,” she said.
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byclairemartin
Tiny-house events
Four Lights Workshops: “Design and Build,” 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday; “Building On- & Off-Grid Systems,” 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; Boulder Marriott, 2660 Canyon Blvd. Cost: $349. More information at fourlights houses.com
Tiny House Jamboree, 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. August 7-8, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Aug. 9; Western Museum of Mining and Industry, 225 N. Gate Blvd., Colorado Springs. Free. More information at tinyhousejamboree.com
“Dream Big, Live Tiny” workshop, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 22, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 23; Boulder Marriott, 2660 Canyon Blvd. Cost: $329. More information at tumbleweed houses.com
