Texas tiny house.
I love tiny houses and have been intrigued by them for years. I’m not sure I could actually stuff all the belongings I love into less than 300 square feet, but something about them charms me.
I also learned early in life from my ever-practical mother that recycling is the wave of the future…. Well, maybe not in the Midwest, but in many eco-conscious states across the country. I love all of the “upcycling” that goes on these days. So when we arrived in Texas and I learned from my brother-in-law, Don, that there is a tiny house company that uses almost exclusively reclaimed/salvaged materials (www.tinytexashouse.com), I was set on seeing it for myself. Fortunately, Don is keen on these tiny structures as well, so we decided to make it a field trip. The company is based in Luling, Texas .(They have also named their little corner of the state Salvage, Texas.)
Brass doorknobs.
The premise of this tiny house builder is that there is enough material sitting around already that we don’t need to continue plowing down forests and using crappy materials to build our homes. The wood they salvage is amazing. It was often harvested from trees that were hundreds of years old and much stronger than anything that is available today.
Another tiny house.
I was inspired and awed… the homes they are building are beautiful and sound. The reality of collecting all the salvage to have on hand to build these great little houses was eye-opening as well. They have an enormous barn that they have filled, top to bottom, with every kind of salvage imaginable. The amount of work required to both deconstruct material and build a tiny house is a bit overwhelming for someone like me with little construction experience (although I did work on a Habitat for Humanity house years ago). But I left Salvage, Texas enthused about the vision they had. I wish I had a week to just hang out and sort door knobs and hinges.