We’re trained to think that bigger is better, but the development of uber-cute, ultra-efficient homes of 500 square feet or less, have some questioning this wasteful assumption.

Our homes are our castles. Inside their walls, we grow, laugh, cry, cook, work, play and sleep. Before the housing market crisis, homes were getting massive. Dubbed “McMansions” these cavernous dwellings sucked up energy at an alarming rate, despite being empty more often than occupied.

But the economic crash appears to have been a reality check: builders and architects are seeing more request for small homes that make more efficient use of space and electricity. In recent years, designers have taken the idea of tiny homes even further, proving that a few hundred square feet is all we need to live in comfort. Don’t believe it? Here are four tiny home designs that will make you want to downsize immediately.

1. Micro Compact Home

Measuring only 91 cubic feet, Micro Compact Homes (pictured above) somehow manage to include room for two double beds, a bathroom, lobby, dining space for 4-5 people, a fully functional kitchen and top-notch entertainment technology. Made mostly from aluminum, Micro Compact Homes can even be recycled if worn or damaged beyond acceptable use.

 2.Rollit House

OK, I’ll admit that this one’s more experimental than practical, but it was too cool not to include. This cylindrical design is a modular prototype that provides flexible space within a minimum housing unit, explains Arch Daily. Three different sections are dedicated to different functional needs: there’s a bed and table in section, an exercise cylinder, and a kitchen with a sink. To change the functionality of the house at any given time, you simply “roll it” by treading down the center pathway, just like a hamster wheel.

3. Nano Living System

At only 200 total square feet, the Nano Living System is billed as “the world’s smallest sustainable house.” Despite its diminutive size, the designers claim the house can contain a family of four inside its convertible rooms. Solar panels on the roof provide electricity while a rainwater catchment system enables grey water recycling. A green roof and argon-filled windows or solar heat pumps can be added for enhanced self-sufficiency. Inside are all the basic necessities of a home, including the kitchen, bathroom, closet, dining room as well as two king size beds that are built into the ceiling and drop down to rest on the dining room table and the sofa and coffee table.

4. Tumbleweed Homes

The beauty and clever design of Tumbleweed Homes almost makes you forget that they’re smaller than the average apartment! The Zinn, featured above, is a mere 99 square feet which means that you can ignore the permits required to build a house in most towns. The Zinn is one of the company’s Box Bungalow designs, which means you pick the shell and then customize interior options according to your needs. You can purchase the building plans for $49. Buying the kits start at $12,999 or you can get it assembled for you starting at $14,999.

Images furnished by companies/designers mentioned.

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A new film explores the lives of American families that have downsized to 400 square feet or less.

I sent my partner, Christopher, a text one frigid day last February asking a simple question: “What are you doing?”

Christopher replied he was “just working,” then, “Might go up to the mountains.”

When he finally told me what he’d really been up to – that he’d skipped work and called a mountain real estate agent on a whim, and put down an offer on a five-acre plot of land, I didn’t have to ask why or what he was planning to do next.

I knew what this land was slated for: a tiny 130-foot cabin in the mountains, built from scratch, with his own two hands. He’d been scheming and dreaming about it for years, and I matched his brainchild with one of my own.

“Great,” I said, “Let’s make a documentary film about it.”

The result is “TINY: A Story About Living Small.” It follows Christopher’s story of building his own tiny house from scratch with no construction experience and explores the lives of other families around America who have downsized their lives into less than 400 square feet.

As we’ve both grown into our “adult” lives, we’ve become more interested in sustainability both environmental and financial. Since 1970, the average house size in America has almost doubled. The result from this home growth means many things: we consume more resources, we use more energy for this new-found square footage, we spend more time maintaining it and consequently more money on mortgage payments.

As the skeleton of our own tiny walls rose up, we started to ask: Does all that extra space really make people feel at home? For our own sake we wondered, what is it that does make a home, a home?

I’ve come to realize that a home is made up in the small, strong details that give a building character, the way structures surrounding us shape our lives and our needs and ideas about what’s possible as we grow into them.

We live tiny and I get that 130-square-feet isn’t for everyone. Honestly I’m still trying to figure out whether it’s for me. But one thing’s for sure: minimal space inspires innovative design, and paring down possessions frees up time and money to devote to other, more expansive intellectual and aesthetic pursuits.

Whether or not the film convinces us all to go tiny, we’re capturing some heartfelt questions and creative ideas that can be applied to any lifestyle, no matter the square footage.

After all, Christopher’s house is as much about the kind of life that we want to build, as it is about the (tiny) house that will contain it.

Author Merete Mueller’s documentary is now a Kickstarter campaign. To contribute from now until December 15, visit their Kickstarter page. She’ll be sharing more adventures from her TINY life over the next month. 

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