Thinkin' About Going Tiny

“Are you thinking about going tiny?”

Almost every time I stepped into one of the many tiny houses at the Tiny House NC Street Festival, the owner asked this question. The 2018 Tiny House NC Street Festival took place in Pink Hill, North Carolina, about two and a half hours from Elon. People traveled from all over the United States to share their tiny houses with the world.

Most of the tiny house owners had consolidated their belongings so that they would fit into just triple-digit square foot houses — a process referred to by many of them as “going tiny.” I’ve always been fascinated by the minimalist concept of getting rid of everything you don’t really need and living simply — it’s something I don’t think I’d be able to do. At the festival, we saw a variety of styles of tiny homes: pimped-out school buses, a tiny gift shop, a tiny coffee shop and even a tiny chapel.

1. A tiny industrial home with metal walls and a patch of green grass out front.

2. A Victorian-era inspired tiny home designed by a woman named Shorty Robbins. It's made out of 90 percent recycled and reused materials. She has been living in this home full-time since June 2017.

3. A tiny white home reminiscent of a college dorm room.

4. A tiny modern industrial home whose kitchen is equipped with a fridge, freezer, sink and stove-top, as well as a beautiful green-tiled backsplash.

5. This tiny gift shop, called Cat Call Collective, was created by Bekah Bohlen with the support of her husband, Martin. She sells cards, jewelry, candles and more in this adorable tiny shop.

6. Bill Malbon, an ordained minister, built this tiny chapel — after the recession squashed his plans of building a full-sized chapel — and then started a service for Tiny Chapel Weddings.

7. This tiny coffee shop is called Le Bon Cafe and its aim was to create a mobile coffee shop serving organic, locally-roasted coffees and teas. I’ve had a lot of chai in my twenty years of life and their iced chai was the best I’ve ever tasted.

8. This tiny house, called Tiny House Expedition, has traveled more than 45,000 miles throughout the United States, becoming the most-traveled tiny house in the world.

9. Below are a few more tiny houses that were shown at the Tiny House NC Street Festival this year.