A free-spirited design major at the University of Texas in Austin, 26-year-old Joel “Tarzan” Weber, became fascinated with a simple way of living after a summer trip to Nicaragua. Adventurous and resourceful, Joel has worked many jobs: teacher, barista, lifeguard, landscaper and a painter, just to name a few. “That’s how I paid for my Nicaragua trip – I sold a painting,” Joel explained. He returned from that life-changing trip to eventually build his own tiny house – and I mean tiny – in order to be debt-free after college and to live more closely with nature.
Joel's Inspiration
That resourcefulness has served him well. “I came back with a fresh vision for the life I wanted to live,” Joel explained. “I saw that the people in Nicaragua were so happy with so little. It was more about community there. The experience really influenced who I am, and I was inspired by this new perspective.”
Dreading the prospect of expensive housing on or near campus, Joel’s inspiration soon turned into a desire to invest in something of his own – namely, a 145-square-foot house that he designed and built himself. Tiny homes are generally less than 400 square feet, so Joel’s living quarters definitely test the limits of living smaller.
“With apartment living, you lose that sense of ownership and we tend to avoid investing our resources into something that is technically not yours,” Joel said. “It counteracts the idea of owning something.” So Joel invested his time and money into “unconventional student housing” that he can take with him when college is over.
Tiny Living Trend
Inadvertently finding himself on the cusp on a nationwide trend, Joel said at first people found the concept of tiny living “interesting,” but not long after his project was in the works, HGTV aired its first tiny house show on television. "The timing was really perfect,” Joel said. “I feel like this is a movement that is going to last a long time, not just a trend. I think it’s the way of the future.”
As chance would have it, a friend of a student from Joel’s substitute teaching days wrote a story for his journalism class at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas, about Joel’s adventure. Joel shared that his students called him “Mr. Tarzan” – “It just makes math so much more fun with a teacher named Mr. Tarzan, right?” “The Dallas Morning News” picked up the student’s column, which was then posted by Huffington Post. Soon the story was being shared in major publications and websites across the globe – Popular Science, Country Living, Tech Insider, Distractify, to name a few, and internationally in Sweden, Germany, United Kingdom, South America, and Asia.
Joel spent many hours sketching, researching and “networking with amazing people” before construction ever began. Using the savings he was planning to use towards a house, Joel found the biggest expenditure for his tiny home was buying was buying an 18ˈ trailer for the foundation.
However, the first thing he purchased was a 20″ stove. “I knew I wanted to be able to cook,” Joel said, “so when I found a four-burner propane-powered stove on clearance, I thought ‘well I guess I’m all in now.’”
With the help of a carpenter and an electrician, Joel was able to barter services in order to complete his energy-efficient home in under a year and for less than $15,000. He also received some donations from people across the country following his story.
The contemporary cabin style home features cedar siding and cedar framed windows. The walls have a solar barrier for energy efficiency. A built-in shed on the back part of the home serves as a tiny utility area for the electrical and water equipment.
Joel constructed porch steps from an older set of steps he salvaged, and the weathered look blends in nicely with the home’s exterior. “It has a pier or boardwalk feel,” Joel said. “I really like the weathered gray finish.”
When selecting the colors for his home, Joel felt a “design destiny” after he realized that the brown trim he chose was called “Journey.” The shade of cedar was based off of a paint chip called “Austin Music,” a nod to his college town. And the light green exterior color was called “Deep Ellum,” which references Dallas’ music and art district. “When I saw all those names, I knew it was meant to be – my journey from Dallas to Austin,” Joel said. “That’s my favorite part of design when destiny speaks like that.”
Along the way, Joel learned some valuable skills and lessons that he can take with him the rest of his life – both practical and philosophical. “Don’t let what you don’t know keep you from doing what you want to do,” he said.
Big on Style
Small in size doesn’t mean small on design and style for Joel and “Tiny,” as he calls his home.
He refers to his style as “organic contemporary” – lots of clean lines and angles and organic materials, textiles and colors.
The little house features two sleeping lofts, a fully functioning sink and shower, mini fridge, rain showerhead and stainless steel light switch covers and cabinet pulls, as well as energy efficient lighting throughout.
Joel said his cheapest and probably most meaningful find is the reclaimed wood that he used to create his wainscoting. “I found wood from different families that had hosted me up to that point. It makes their homes live on with me, which makes it more of a home, not just a house.”
He can even take a tiny bath in the tiny tub. Another cool feature in the bathroom is the sink, which Joel made from a mango bowl that he carved and epoxied.
The stairs leading up to the main sleeping loft also act as storage cubbies, kitchen pantry area and a desk.
In the kitchen area, Joel salvaged some cabinets from a kitchen demolition job and re-pieced them to fit his space. He added a new faucet, which came from another kitchen. The countertops are a pieces of granite and quartz stone, some found in a dumpster and the rest donated by a local kitchen company. “When you’re doing something tiny, a little goes a long way,” Joel said.
How does it all work?
As one might expect, Joel gets a lot of questions about the logistics of owning a tiny home. His current “host family” in Austin where he parks his home allows him to use their RV hook-up for his electricity. In trade, he babysits their children, 9 and 12, calling it “parent practice.” “It takes a village and I’m glad I can contribute,” Joel stated. This swap allows him to cover his rent to use their backyard and even gives him some income. “This is one of the ways I stay debt free.” He eventually wants to use solar and get more off the grid, he said.
Hot Texas summers require air-conditioning, and the energy-efficient ductless mini-split ac unit is hardly noticeable on the back side of the house as it is painted the same color as the exterior. It doesn’t get terribly cold in Austin, Joel said, but he does have a space heater in addition to the wall unit.
The bathroom situation consists of a compost boat toilet, which doesn’t require a sewer hook-up. Joel dumps the tank every couple of weeks. “It’s a small price to pay to have a lot less stress in my life,” he laughed. “I am content with my journey, and I don’t have to worry about living month to month.”
The water heater and stove are heated with propane, which he said he only has to replace about twice a year. He reuses the gray water on his plants and even recycles the condensation from his air-conditioner using a marine grade water hose. Biodegradable soaps and detergents keep the gray water safe from pollutants.
Happy to have the freedom to live the lifestyle he chooses, Joel said, “I might have less but the quality I have is so much more. I love having the flexibility to travel and have adventures across my country and abroad.”
What's Next for Joel and Tiny?
A crew from HGTV’s “Tiny House Hunters” recently tracked down Joel and came to Austin for a day to film an upcoming episode. “All I can say is that my tiny house will be one home on the tour, and it should air in a few months,” he shared.
Set to graduate in the spring, Joel said he is “open to whatever life brings.” He wants to travel more, create more projects and keep inspiring people. He also hopes to partner with a company interested in sustainability. “I need to keep seeing the world. There’s so much more to see, good food to try, waves to surf,” he said. “Living tiny fits my lifestyle because it allows me to be on the move but it’s also within my means.”
Austin is an outdoor city, Joel said, so he looks for “any excuse to be outside.” He likes getting to know his neighbors and exploring the outdoors. “I don’t need a big space because I have a city with so much nature to explore,” he said. He would like to see more tiny houses becoming a way of uniting neighborhoods and bringing different generations together. “Students should be able to intermingle with their elders,” Joel stated. “Having that opportunity is vital to creating great cities.”
He wants to spread the message about taking care of where we live and leaving places better than how we found them. “America needs to step it up! While building my tiny house I tried to be as efficient with my materials as possible and utilized several scrap, trashed and reclaimed materials,” he said. “We all have busy lives but let’s do our part when we can!”
Building his tiny house gave Joel a creative means to circumvent a problem he wanted to resolve. He learned, “Everything will always work out. Even with it doesn’t seem like it. I’m living in a monument to remind me of that.” He plans to live in his little home for the foreseeable future while he continues his adventures of living life tiny and staying debt free. “If I can learn to be happy in 145 square feet, I can be happy anywhere.”
Follow Joel’s tiny house adventures on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/tarzanstinyhome/ or Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/livingonaroadlesstraveled/.
Read more about tiny living in this previous blog story: “Tiny Living – Big Benefits.”
