BRATTLEBORO — In our age of over-built houses and the ubiquitous McMansion, there's an alternative to consider: the tiny house.
“More and more people are choosing the option of making their homes tiny,” says Erin Maile O'Keefe, one of the three co-founders of Tiny House Fest Vermont. “A lot of concerned folks see this as a way to build a customized space of their own, which they can afford, is aesthetically appealing, and is environmentally aware.”
To promote this innovative idea, the Fest is holding a fun-filled day-long festival in downtown Brattleboro.
On Sunday, Sept. 4, from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., Flat Street will be converted into a public gathering place and festival campus. With the goal to “make it possible to imagine getting more from public spaces,” the festival will be a day of tours and conversations with experts, activists, and decision makers about tiny houses.
But what makes a house tiny?
“What actually constitutes a tiny house may be up for debate,” O'Keefe says. “But for my purposes I see it as a building that is 400 square feet or less. For some, choosing to build a tiny house is to help the environment, for others it is what they can afford.”
Off the beaten path
Tiny houses provide alternatives to conventional housing and lifestyles that create potential for economic freedom, positive environmental impact, and more connection.
“You can reflect who you are in your own tiny house,” O'Keefe says. “The tiny house can be a world beyond the double-wide and the trailer park. You do not need to settle for a cookie-cutter home.
“No two tiny houses need look the same,” she continues. “With a tiny house, you are able beautifully to construct your dwelling. Should we settle for less?”
O'Keefe concedes that living in an apartment sometimes addresses her concerns better than owning a home, no matter how small.
“I do not think tiny houses are the solution to everything,” O'Keefe says. “But sometimes you do want a separate space of your own. There are a whole variety of housing concerns that need solutions, and the tiny house fills one of the gaps. Suppose you have an elderly family member who needs to move into your house for a time, or even growing young adults who need space of their own.
“Tiny houses offer a lot of possibilities. As life changes, so can your tiny house, by expanding with the addition of an extra room and a built-around deck. Tiny housing is all about flexibility.
“We are a culture that insists on putting up bigger and bigger houses. Since we live in a world that overbuilds, what is nice about tiny house solutions is that they can be as temporary as you want them to be. You can take the house away when it is no longer needed for the elderly relative who dies or moves to an assisted care home, or when the young adults move on they can carry the house on wheels with them.”
Bringing it all back home
O'Keefe is building a tiny house of her own.
“My husband and I know what we love, and we understand the flow of our day, so we have constructed a home that meets those needs,” she explains. “The house follows our natural flow. Our day begins in our sleeping loft, then we move into meditation space, then to a changing room, then the bathroom, and finally the kitchen.”
O'Keefe and her husband bought an old camp and soon realized they needed a tighter container customized for their needs.
“We first thought of building a regular-sized house, but just to tear the existing house down would cost $30,000,” she says. “But to build a tiny dream house would be only a quarter or a third of that price.”
O'Keefe took a tiny house design course at Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Waitsfield. Soon she was discussing her ideas with old friends Lisa Kemmann and Betsy Hall.
The three quickly realized that tiny houses had such important effects on the community - aesthetically, economically and environmentally - that they formed the festival to promote the concept.
As explained on its Facebook page, the Fest's mission is to use “the energy and values of existing local enterprise to generate attainable tiny housing options and make a healthier, more vibrant and prosperous Brattleboro.”
The championing of tiny houses is definitely a national movement, but O'Keefe considers this festival a grassroots local effort.
“I believe that Brattleboro is an incredible place with incredible people, and I want to show how [ the festival] can benefit the quality of life in this remarkable town,” she says.
With that in mind, Tiny House Fest Vermont is presenting the festival on Flat Street, making its impact anything but tiny.
“We consciously chose the center of downtown for the site for the festival,” says O'Keefe. “[We] could have more easily staged the event on the Brattleboro Common, but we wanted this festival to be in the middle of things, where people live and work. The town had never given a permit for a festival on Flat street like this before, so it will be something new.”
Speakers, builders, videos, houses
The day will be filled with diverse activities.
Speakers are lined up throughout the day. Brattleboro Planning Director Rod Francis will discuss zoning around the tiny house movement. Tiny house builders and writers Ethan Waldman and Lina Menard will be on hand, as will representatives from Rich Earth Institute and Building Green Panel.
A video from the Green Economy Innovation Hub will be shown at the Latchis Theatre. After the talks are over, an open forum will give everyone the chance to express their opinions on what they have seen, heard, and learned.
At least seven tiny houses will be on display in the Preston Parking lot. New designs from Tiny House Crafters and Jamaica Cottage Shop - a transformed school bus and modular homes - will be on display.
LineSync Architecture, of Wilmington, will debut its Wheel Pad at the festival. It's billed as an “eco-friendly 200-square-foot accessible bedroom and bathroom module that can be temporarily attached to an existing home.”
For entertainment, Yellow Barn, the international center for chamber music based in Putney, will send its Music Haul, a tiny concert hall on wheels.
Local restaurants will offer “tiny bites” menus. “There will be no food vendors at the festival,” O'Keefe says. “Rather we want to support businesses in town by having people sample the local restaurants during the day.”
To end Sunday's festivities, three local DJs will provide music for a huge community dance party under the Big Tent on Flat St. beginning at 8 p.m.
The following Monday, Sept. 5, the festival presents its inaugural Tiny House Tour, with tiny house builders and dwellers local to Brattleboro opening their homes to visitors. The tour highlights different architectural styles and layouts of homes that vary in finish and materials.