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A couple years ago, Manhattan architect Luke Clark Tyler, lived in a 96 square foot apartment. Instead of upsizing with his latest move, he chose to squeeze himself and his belongings into even less space.

Luke now lives in a 78 square foot shoebox studio. It's too narrow to fit a bed lengthwise, but using a bit of plywood and 2x4s he built his own custom bed/couch.

He keeps his clothes, plates, microwave, books, spices and shaving and cleaning supplies in a large built-in cabinet. The rest of his kitchen is a tiny refrigerator that helps hold up his desk (he works for home as a contract architect).

While he admits he misses being able to cook a real meal- though he's vegetarian so eats a lot of vegetables and nuts and can even microwave eggs- Luke doesn't see living small as a sacrifice.

He loves living in the heart of New York City- his place is in Midtown Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen- and he likes paying just $750/month (cheaper than the shared housing he could find in the area).

Luke's website: www.lukeclarktyler.com
Original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/...

Sometime between childhood and adulthood, Andreas Stavropoulos had a Peter Pan adventure. He spent 4 years living in an Airstream trailer. He didn't have a mortage, he didn't pay rent and he was able to pay off student loans. But it wasn't just about gaining economic freedom.

As a landscape architect, Stravropoulos wanted to reconnect with the land. He was also dreaming of living in an iconic vehicle and spent late nights on Craigslist before finding his 1959 Airstream Silver Bullet.

Once Stravropoulos had purchased his piece of history, he installed it in a friend's sculpture studio and began its transformation. Out went the wall-to-wall linoleum and flesh tone paint. In went cork flooring, track lighting and a light paint to open up the space.

Stravropoulos did all the work himself and the trailer reflects his love of workmanship. He exposed the riveted aluminum end caps. He created custom cabinets from a birch plywood.

In this video, Stravropoulos shows us his iconic mobile home- parked (for now) behind his current home in Berkeley, California- and talks about the joy of living with just a capsule of things.

Last year, Peter and Mary Rowan found the perfect home to provide more space for their family of five. Just as they were ready to put in an offer, they got cold feet: Did they really need the mortgage? Or the extra space? And what about that dream of living abroad?

They decided not to make an offer, fix their current home to fit their needs and follow their dream of living in Europe.

By the fall of 2010, Peter had quit his corporate job- after "18 years as a corporate weenie"-, they'd sold a car and gotten rid of enough stuff to rent out their home for the year.

With just a suitcase per person, they took off for Barcelona to fulfill their dream of living as a family abroad.

Original story here: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/...

Jérémie Buchholtz wanted an affordable apartment in Bordeaux (he's a photographer who splits his time between Paris and Bordeaux so his budget was limited), but he wasn't finding anything he liked. Then he stumbled upon a listing for a garage. 

There was no house, it was just an abandoned garage for sale. And it looked like one. It had big metal doors that blocked out any sunlight and inside it was being used more as a junk room. So Buchholtz called his friend and architect Matthieu de Marien who specializes in converting stores, offices and other spaces into homes.

De Marien took one look at the historic street and recognized it as something special. Passage Buhan is a private passageway where the owners each own half of the road so life extends into the street. And the history here is rich: a couple centuries ago, the laneway housed horses and their riders en route to the then city of Bordeaux and the old stable still sits on the street.

Buchholtz bought the property and De Marien quickly cut into the old garage to create more light and ventilation. The roof is historic and couldn't be touched so he carved a 12 square meter (129 square foot) patio out of the small space, leaving only 41 square meters of living space (441 square feet).

In order to make the space feel larger, De Marien created a "house within a house": one large piece of furniture that includes the bathroom, bedroom, office, closet, a sofa bed and all of the home's storage. With everything contained in this large furniture box, the rest of the home was given more breathing room.

Original story here: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/...