Humble Abodes
If Lafayette is the next Austin, then Arnaudville is the next Marfa. The
attention deficit of George Marks, founder of the NuNu Arts &
Culture Collective, has made the one-light St. Landry Parish town into a
regional arts mecca, drawing free spirits from Acadiana and beyond.
Next up for Marks is Tee Tiny Houses, a construction and concept venture
that’s producing a fleet of mobile, miniaturized homes, which Marks
called “little yachts on wheels” in a recent “Out To Lunch” interview on
KRVS.
Housed in an old lumber yard, the family business of
Marks’ partner in the venture, Cherie Hebert, Tee Tiny Houses will
eventually produce a line of five different home models, each designed
by a different architect and bearing that visonary’s name.
Tee
Tiny’s first model — the Zaunbrecher, named for creators Gil and Tanya
Zaunbrecher — boasts a full-size fridge, a stacked washer and dryer, a
full bathroom, a TV and an AC unit. It sleeps two in a loft space at the
top of what one can only assume are tiny stairs — for that
farmhouse-meets-camping-meets-Williamsburg flop kind of vibe. All told,
the truly humble abode accounts for 240 square feet and will retail for
between $50,000 and $70,000.
Each structure is hand built to code and leaves ample opportunity, according to Marks, for artisanal fixtures.
Hebert,
who daylights as a partner/founder at BBR Creative, has watched the
market for tiny homes emerge nationally, linked to a cross-generational
trend toward simplifying life and paring down possessions. Boomers and
millennials alike will take interest in the chance to be mobile and
monastic in their choice of where to live.
These babies can go
off the grid with ease. With a tiny house hitched to their Suburus,
Thoreaus of any age can find Walden Ponds anywhere.
Tee Tiny Houses expects to produce 12 units in its first year of operation — a big step for tiny homes.
View a photo gallery of the Humble Abodes here.