Meet ‘n’ Greet #4 – People in Tiny Houses in Europe

Beautiful and cosy Tiny house, Norway, home on wheels for a traveller!

Next up in the Meet ‘n’ Greet series, which features interviews and stories from people living in Tiny Houses in Europe is:

Tone Melbye, living in her self-built Tiny House travelling around Europe.

Tone, where are you from and where was your Tiny House built?

I was born in Bergen, Norway where the tiny house also was built. 

What inspired you to build a Tiny House?

I have been travelling for years and have a need to move slowly and constantly in the world. At the same time, I need a fairly high level of physical comfort.

Most ‘normal’ houses have terrible indoor climate and it seems the more clever solutions people come up with, the worse it gets.

Also, the constant noise of more and more electrical appliances is quite unpleasant. I considered regular mobile homes but found nothing to my liking, so I decided to build a home myself, suited to my likes and needs.

Check out Tone’s personal blog called Owldwell

What kind of building experience did you have before your Tiny Build started / How did you design it?

None. But my father, Olaf Melbye, had training and experience as a carpenter and I got a lot of inspiration, and materials, from him. 

I made the design based on house-boats, considering the movement and weather-conditions the house would need to endure.

I spent a lot of time considering what I really needed in a house and what I merely had gotten used to.

How long did the entire project take?

I started planning in the autumn of 2017, bought the trailer bed in February 2018 and hit the road in October that year, so about a year including the planning, while the actual building itself took about three to four months.

View from Tiny House

What challenges did you run into?

The biggest challenge was finding materials, everything from planks to nails, that were both light enough for travel, sturdy enough for outdoor use and scaled for a sensibly sized house.

Most things I found were made under the assumption that I would build something huge and heavy (and also that I myself would be considerably larger).

For a so-called materialistic culture, people have very little understanding of matter as something that actually exists and has an impact on the world.

What was the total cost of building your Tiny Home?

The trailer bed was about 5000 euro, and the total cost of materials and interior about the same, so 10.000 -12.000 euros in total.

What are your monthly living costs in the Tiny House?

I have always tried to keep my costs low, except for my food budget. The costs vary greatly depending on what country I’m in and if I’m staying at a camping ground or make other arrangements.

Also, gas and road taxes are to be added, but again it depends on how far and where I travel. All in all, I spend perhaps half of what I did before per month, on the average.

If you had to start would you have built/purchased your Tiny House in any other way?

I really would have done pretty much the same as I have. I would be better at it, though, since I was basically learning by doing.

One thing that would be different is that I would be a lot less stressed out about making mistakes and worried about ruining things.

Has your Tiny House had the impact on your life as you were hoping it would?

It has, yes. I have been able to move at a slower pace and with much greater comfort than conventional travel brings.

Also, I have met a lot of interesting and wonderful people and gotten a better understanding of the fabric of nature and civilisation.

In your network do you feel decrease or growing interest in the Tiny House way of living?

A few are very interested and some have started to make arrangements in their lives for taking the step.

There are, however, a few tiny-house building companies out there that have made some people change their minds by offering shoddy products or perhaps, products caught halfway between regulations and customer expectation and actual physical possibilities. I think there is a lot yet to be re-discovered about how to live.

Best tip for someone wanting to live a Tiny House but not sure if it’s something for them?

– Know how you move during a day, what you actually do.

Keeping track of your movements (cooking, exercises, hobbies) might give you an idea of what kind and how large space you’re comfortable with.

You can also mark out the size of the trailer on the ground and do a ‘motion test’.

– Be prepared that your friends will both be impressed and quite passive-aggressive about your project.

People generally prefer their surroundings to make choices that confirm or validate their own lifestyles, not challenge them in such a drastic and tangible degree.

Building a tiny house is, let’s face it is an attack on a consumerist civilisation.

– Reducing the living space indoors will mean that you need more available space outdoors, primarily for cleaning and maintenance.

Living in a smaller home means living closer to your environment, for better or worse.

You become acutely aware of just how large habitat a human actually needs, and how very little of that is really indoors. Get used to spending a lot more time outdoors and make friends with the dark.

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Thanks to Tone for sharing her personal inspirational story and for giving her tips on how yourself can get started on your own Tiny House project. 

Hopefully the downsizing movement will spread even more after hearing more stories on the possibilities this lifestyle gives like Tone’s.

Tiny House ‘Norge’, fingers crossed for you!

More interviews with Tiny House owners and enthusiasts lined up. 

Read more on Tiny Houses in Europe here.