Weekend Watch: Tiny Home Living with the Von Thompsons

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Weekend Watch: Tiny Home Living with the Von Thompsons

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If you’ve been thinking about building or living in a “tiny house,” you probably would like to see what that type of lifestyle is like. Fortunately, there is quite a bit of information out there, including “the Von Thompsons” YouTube channel.

Jeremy Thompson, along with wife Mira, and 2½-year old daughter Carys live in a school bus converted into a cozy home in Washington state. As seen in the video below, the bus-house looks very well finished both inside and out.

YouTube player

Like many tiny houses, the Thompsons make a concerted effort to use every inch of space, including a system of gigantic drawers built around and under their bed. On top of the bed is a loft area, which seems to accommodate adults, and is likely perfect for their toddler (with, I’m sure, close supervision). A removable ladder leads up to this area, both restricting access as needed, and allowing for them to increase floorspace.

Tiny house living is definitely a family affair with the Thompsons, and according to Jeremy, they “often have individual projects, but when we work on projects together, I usually draw the prototypes. Then Mira and I will bounce ideas off of each other to refine the design.” He adds that, “In a couple more years we will have [their daughter] Carys working with hand tools.”

In addition to a tiny house, they are now working on a “tiny shop” inside of a shipping container. Here’s a link to the playlist, and the latest (as of this writing) video in this series can be seen below.

YouTube player

In addition to the bus house seen in the first video that they named “Gypsy,” they have a bus-RV named Minette that they use to travel the country, as well as a bunk house on site named “Vardos.” Jeremy notes that, “A client wanted me to convert [Vardos] from a  writing studio to a bunkhouse so her granddaughters would have a place of their own to stay when they visit her.” You can see pictures of these three small buildings on their website.

Although there are three people now living in this tiny arrangement, they had planned on having two kids. According to Jeremy, “If another kiddo comes along, I guess we will just make it work?” He adds that, “I spend a lot of time either outside or in my shipping container working.”

So if you’re thinking about “tiny living,” or just think the idea is interesting, be sure to check out their channel and even subscribe. Per their intro video description, it may or may not change your life!

Personally, I doubt I will ever take the plunge on building one of these, but it’s still interesting to consider the freedom that a converted van. or bus could offer you.

 

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Jeremy is an engineer with 10 years experience at his full-time profession, and has a BSME from Clemson University. Outside of work he’s an avid maker and experimenter, building anything that comes into his mind!

View more articles by Jeremy S Cook

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