The Biggest Tiny Hotel Property Created To Express A New Vision Of The American Dream, Based On Sustainability And Simplicity
Everyone’s heard about the tiny house movement-but a tiny hotel is something relatively new.
While the idea of building a very small home and taking it on the road to experience a new adventure sounds great, it’s not for everyone.
WeeCasa in Lyons, Colorado offers up a cluster of tiny houses on one property, thus creating a hotel property that you can try on for size before you make an investment on a small home.
"We’re the largest tiny hotel property and we have the most number of tiny homes," co-founder Kenyon Waugh said. “The WeeCasa was created to express a new vision of the American dream, based on sustainability and simplicity.”
The WeeCasa Hotel offers 17 tiny houses to rent for a nightly rate. They range from 135 square feet in size to the kingly 400-square-foot model and rent for an average nightly rate ranging from $139 to $214. "Over 50 percent of the guests that come are just coming to see what it’s like to be in a tiny house," Waugh said.
Waugh shared some tiny facts: Tiny homes are less than 1,000 square feet, offer more affordable and ecologically friendly housing. Currently only 1 percent of home buyers acquire houses of 1,000 square feet or less and small houses are also used as accessory dwelling units (or ADUs).Tiny homes serve aging relatives, returning children, home offices, or as guest houses and typical costs are about $20,000 to $80,000 as of 2012.
While these diminutive homes are the hip living space of the moment, and saving on an over-priced mortgage and kicking the knick-knack habit is all positive, there are some drawbacks- mainly lack of space.
“I can’t imagine anyone with children not going bonkers in them,” says Susan Saegert, an environmental psychology professor at the City University of New York graduate school, who studies the effect of overcrowding on families.
But not everyone wants children in this sector and the tiny house crusade continues to move forward based on different family structures and lifestyles.
“Hoarding isn’t an issue and my partner and I talk a lot more because we’re pretty much in the same room,” said Jane Marcotte of Portland, Oregon, who stayed at WeeCasa and at Caravan in Portland before purchasing her own tiny house. “I often wonder why two people live in a 4000 square-foot home. Is it because they don’t like each other?”
The tiny hotel has different floor plans to try but, they all have one thing in common- tiny kitchen, tiny sink, tiny signs on the wall…just about everything is tiny.
Waugh said that design elements and strategies such as solar panels or low-water-use fixtures are part of the bigger sustainability and environmental health picture when building a tiny home. When designing and building a tiny house - or any house-it is beneficial to thoughtfully select building materials without harmful chemicals to increase indoor air quality and health.
“There are many known health benefits for natural lighting and fresh air in living spaces, a common theme in many tiny house designs,” he explains.
The wee homes at this hotel property are situated surrounding a common courtyard so that houseguests can come together to talk or barbeque, which is part of the tiny home lure.
"We think that living in a tiny house in a tiny village does a few things for one's health, including creating a better sense of community, satisfying people's basic needs for relationships, offering affordable housing options and encouraging physical activity through community gardens and walking to urban establishments,” explain Waugh. “Many people who stay at the hotel say that the main benefits of the tiny house movement is less bills, less stuff and less stress.”
Tiny homeowner Marcotte agrees. “When I stayed at WeeCasa I really found the simplicity I was craving,” she says. “I didn’t have to have all the latest things or keep up with my friends because, honestly, I don’t have room for it in my life or my house.”
Candice Reed
A graduate of Kelsey-Jenny College in Communications as well as a certified grant writer, Candice has written for The Los Angeles Times & The New York Times. She loves entertaining and all things French.
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WeeCasa, who believe that autonomy is born of simplicity and it is their mission to help people experience comfortable, high quality spaces that liberate them from clutter, debt and stress.