Tiny House Project: Preliminary Work
I need a place to park my tiny house for the next couple of years, my folks have ten acres in Meridian that would be perfect if I could work out a deal with them and have my little experiment/study parked there. So, late last week I was finally able to talk to them about my idea and they are on board! So long as neither of their neighbors have any complaints I will be able to go forth with my tiny house! The only reason I have to have their permission is their CC & R’s mention the buy in of ALL neighbors on any ‘unsightly’ materials… I feel like this is a very relative and ambiguous term, but I still need their buy-in.
They do happen to have one neighbor, the one RIGHT next to them that has proven himself to be quite the pain over the years though, so it could be tricky. This neighbor has actually gone so far as to call the cops on them, threatened to shoot my dog (gun in hand) while I stood 20 feet away, and gone every which way he can to avoid them and just go straight to the City for any issues he has had. He is the main reason their house is two floors instead of three… He bought a lot with an empty lot in front of it but didn’t want to loose his view of Bogus… So he felt the need to complicate my parents’ design process enough to change the design of their house completely… In short, he is a ‘wild-card’ for me still.
So, to give myself the best change to get this ok’ed by everyone I am going to put together a formal proposal, including preliminary design elevations (since I can’t really design anything without the actual trailer being bought and secured, but I don’t want to buy it unless I can get ok’ed), material choices and location proposals. Technically this tiny house will be no different than the big 5th wheels sitting in both neighbor’s driveways but it is more ‘unconventional’ so I am expecting some hesitation. The other obvious difference is that I will be living in it, they don’t have a permanent resident in their 5th wheels… I think my house will be a heck of a lot more attractive than their 5th wheels but it is ultimately up to them to decide.
I think if I can explain it in a way that it is more than just a ‘dwelling’, that it is an experiment, that it is to further my knowledge in my field, and a study on sustainable living that I will have better luck with them. If I can present a design that they don’t hate… which could be tricky because I don’t necessarily see a ‘conventional’ design for my tiny house… but if it is too ‘wild’ it will never be ok’ed, presentation will be key. So, I need some help… these are sort of the design styles I am thinking about, similar materials, forms etc. If you were a ‘typical rural Meridian homeowner’ would you feel these were too ‘over the top’ to be located close to your house? I know there is that whole NIMBY thing, people might be ok with something in theory but once it comes close to a reality their stance is ‘Not In My Backyard!’
I don’t so much like the proportions of this but I like the form and the vertical boards as a finish material.
I am really liking this color, it looks like a stained wood but I think it is actually metal panels, I like the warmth of it but I think this type of color scheme would stand out too much compared to the buildings that it will be parked around, so I feel it may not be ok’ed if I go something this direction, I do plan on using these warmer tones as accents inside though, because I love it! 
This one is harder to see but it is a lot closer to the finished material I want, vertical whitewashed/bluewashed boards, similar to the top image but a little more refined. (If you want to see more images of this house you can find them here: http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/2010/02/27/tiny-house-cluster-under-glass/). I also really like the simple forms of this ‘house’ (this is an interesting style of house, sort of like small finished enclosed rooms separate from each other but all connected with glazing so you have some real indoor/outdoor type spaces). I won’t have multiple separate ‘rooms’ but I plan on making my tiny house similar to these forms, if I can get it ok’ed.
Since this is the only thing left standing between me and buying my trailer and moving on with my ACTUAL tiny house design I would really appreciate as much input as you can think of, would something like this pass in rural Meridian? What are ways I could maybe ‘sell’ the idea better to someone who maybe isn’t too keen on buying in on it? Any thoughts are going to be very helpful! Thank you!
