As part of a sixth-grade art class project, I carefully cut out a picture of a giant, three-story, pale-gray house with a wide, wraparound porch from one of my mom’s magazines (likely Good Housekeeping or Country Living, which were always on our coffee table).

Now, 25 years later, I can no longer remember what the purpose of the project was. But what I do remember is how smitten I was with that big, gray house—so much so that, when I got my project back from my teacher, I peeled the photo off the page I’d glued it to and tucked it into a shoebox, where I, like so many other 12-year-old girls, kept a few of my favorite possessions. For years after that, I’d occasionally pull out that shoe box, gaze at the picture and dream about rocking in a chair on the house’s spacious porch and planting my favorite flowers in the garden out front.

Of course now, as a real-life homeowner, I know that the more square footage a house has, the more work and expense it requires (and our singlestory house here in Atlanta is by no means a big one). Sometimes, when my back aches from mopping our hardwood floors, or when I think of that much-needed extended vacation we could take if not for our monthly mortgage, I stop and fantasize about selling it all and going small.

But for some Atlantans, and plenty of people around the world, tiny house living is more than just a dream. The phenomenon has been documented aplenty on HGTV, and hashtags across various social media platforms give users a peek inside the tiny house life. Curious to know— and share—more about the tiny house movement, we dedicated this issue’s cover story to the topic and to Midtown resident Will Johnston, the founder of Tiny House Atlanta and a key figure in the effort to bring tiny houses here to our city. With the added mobility and financial flexibility that come with owning a tiny house, one thing’s for sure: My big dreams of a beautiful house have certainly grown a lot smaller.

Lindsay Lambert Day
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF