[LIFE★] THIS COUPLE BUILT THIS INCREDIBLE TINY HOME THAT THEY ABSOLUTELY LOVE
(P1) In 2010, Gabriella and Andrew Morrison had just moved into what they thought was their dream home in a coveted neighborhood in Southern Oregon.
(P2) But six months later, they were already regretting their decision.
(P3) “We began to feel like our dream was actually a nightmare,” Gabriella told Business Insider. “The amount of stress that was involved with having to work more to pay for it compounded with feeling like slaves to it begged the question, ‘Was it really worth it?’”
(P4) Soon after, the couple learned of the tiny house movement by way of Jay Shafer’s “The Small House Book” and realized that they wanted to live with less. So they got rid of 90% of their possessions, sold the house, and moved to Baja Mexico for five months, where they resided in a pop-up tent trailer.
(P5) “From that experience, we saw that we were the happiest with the least possessions, and we committed to designing and building a tiny house for ourselves,” Gabriella told us.
(P6) When the couple moved back to Oregon, they began designing and building their own tiny home.
(P7) “At first, friends and family were skeptical of what we were doing,” Gabriella said. “Hardly anyone had heard of the tiny house movement at that point and I think they thought we were being unrealistic.”
(P8) But four months later, their new 221-square-foot tiny home was complete. The couple spent $22,744 building the home, plus another $10,345 on cabinetry from IKEA and appliances. Gabriella and Andrew were so inspired by the experience that they started TinyHouseBuild.com to teach people how to make their own tiny homes.
(P9) They now live on five acres of rural land that they bought in Oregon, and live with their daughter (who has her own separate space), their cat, and two dogs. Neither of the Morrisons can imagine moving anywhere else.
(P10) “We designed it to be a forever home,” Gabriella told Business Insider. “We also plan on spending six months out of each year down on the beaches of Baja again so we will split the time between two places.”
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SOURCE: http://www.businessinsider.com/oregon-221-square-foot-tiny-home-2015-4?op=1#ixzz3YnU8F5jd
Discussion Questions
If you found the passage difficult to read or had problems understanding specific words or idiomatic expressions, please discuss them with your tutor. The following discussion questions should be answered in your own words and with your own arguments.
- Briefly summarize the content of the article in your own words.
- Would you want to build such a tiny house for yourself?
- 221 square feet (20.5 square meters) seems pretty small, but of course, many apartments are no bigger than that. Do you prefer living in a house or an apartment?
- Do you like to have more possessions, or fewer possessions?
- What do you do to try to make your life simpler?
Expressions to Practice
What do the following expressions mean? Practice using each expression in a sentence; extra points if you can use it in conversation.
- Dream home
- Forever home
- Begs the question
- Split the time
