Tiny House Is A Dream Come True For A Southampton Resident

Navigating a living space only a hair more than 150 square feet can be challenging, but for Southampton resident Debra Peters, it has been a lifelong dream.“I have always, since I was a little girl, loved being in small, neat organized places. I loved being in a tree house or I loved building forts,” said Ms. Peters. She even imagined what life would be like inside a doll house that belonged to her cousin Joyce Maningo.

This same cousin would, decades later, accompany Ms. Peters when she purchased a tiny house.

Ms. Peters, a retired computer teacher of 27 years at Southampton Elementary School, would often share this dream with her students. Using a popular self-help book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” as a model, she would encourage them to set and achieve their goals.

“One of my goals was to have a smaller carbon footprint and to live small and to have a tiny house,” said Ms. Peters. “For a few years I was telling them about wanting a tiny house—I think by telling them I was reinforcing this goal.”

The tiny house movement has gained momentum over the last several years. Those drawn to the lifestyle generally look to have a smaller environmental impact and make their lives financially sustainable.

Generally speaking, however, tiny homes cannot be built on the South Fork. Tiny houses are often less than 400 square feet and can be as small as 80 square feet. In Southampton Town, the minimum allowable floor area for a one-story primary residence is 800 square feet, and for a two-story residence, it is 1,200 square feet. The minimum for a mobile dwelling is 600 square feet.

In East Hampton Town, the minimum habitable floor area for homes is set at 600 square feet, according to the town’s principal building inspector, Ann Glennon.

Ms. Peters retired in 2012 and eventually decided to spend a majority of the year at her house in Delray Beach, Florida. She and her husband, retired schoolteacher Ken Navan, spend the rest of their time at Mr. Navan’s house in Southampton. In February, Ms. Peters turned 60, and, as an early birthday present, she decided to make her dream a reality.

Taking to the internet, she reviewed and even visited a handful of tiny homes. But it was a bright yellow abode, measuring at just 8 feet wide by 23 feet long, and sitting on a trailer, that really caught her eye.

“I immediately fell in love with it,” she said of the house, which totals 155 square feet, including its loft. “I love that it’s on wheels and I can bring it where I want.” She bought it for $30,000 from the man in Zephyr Hills, Florida, who had built it.

The interior resembles a modern wood cabin. The house has a kitchen with a three-burner stove, an oven, a full-size sink and a little refrigerator. The living/dining area features a built-in fold-up table as well as a daybed. There is also a loft that could double as a bedroom, and a full bathroom. The one closet has four drawers and enough room for about 15 to 20 hangers. Ms. Peters plans to eventually winnow her clothing down to about 95 items.

There are also two propane tanks for the hot water and the stove. Ms. Peters is considering a few add-ons, including a front porch, solar panels, a composting toilet and a washer-dry set. A flat-screen TV may also be in the future.

Her home may be petite, but Ms. Peters insists that the loft adds a sense of openness. Between the “cathedral ceiling” and the 11 windows throughout the entire unit, the interior feels bright and spacious. “I have no regrets, it’s so quiet and gorgeous,” she said.

The house is currently in a gated outdoor parking facility. Zoning in Delray does not permit the home in residential areas nor in its mobile home parks, the latter of which demands a minimum of 33 feet in length—10 feet longer than Ms. Peters’s tiny home.

But there are options she is looking into—Asheville, North Carolina, for example, is apparently forming a tiny house community that she could join. There is also a mobile home park with an RV section in Palmetto, Florida, where she could park her tiny house.

In the meantime, Ms. Peters is using the home as a remote office/recreation space to work on writing, and to practice yoga and meditation.

“It would be really nice for people to be proud of living in a tiny house,” said Ms. Peters, who hopes her actions will help to make a difference. “Changing our values, that’s why I live in a tiny house, and changing misconceptions of what’s important. The tiny house helps to do that, and I think in a big way.”