From Wikipedia: Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors, competitors, and other stakeholders.
On Friday I was heading to the grocery store from school and on the way I passed a trailer park. No fancy name, in fact the road is Mobile Home Park. The home on the end is what I call a "single-wide." I'm sure inside there is a kitchen, living/dining room, a couple of bedrooms and 1 or 2 bathrooms. When double-wides came along they were considered luxurious improvements to the single-wide. The term trailer was replaced with mobile home and then modular (they didn't have trailer hitches!). As I drove I was thinking about a friend who had just visited a city and was so excited about renting a "tiny house" in someone's backyard. She posted pictures of this "new idea."
This leads me to my rebranding thoughts. Aren't tiny houses just what may have been know as "starter homes" or "trailers" or "mobile homes?" Many "tiny houses" are mobile so they avoid some of the zoning and tax regulations but they are still homes that people live in. Their appeal right now is they are generally built with the idea of being environmentally friendly. High efficiency and low impact. They seem to be the answer to the years of "McMansions" when everyone was building or buying houses that were ridiculously over-sized and energy wasters. I guess the 20 teens will be known as the housing market of energy savers and space savers.
I find it fun to watch as these fads come and go and the changes that happen. What is the future of the "tiny house" revolution? I have no idea but I find I can get caught up in the hoopla easily until one of these observations/thoughts hits me. Now I find with each Facebook (another weird fascination) post about a tiny house I'm a little less excited as I think, "how is this different than a redesigned trailer?".
I love the idea of de-cluttering and reducing my footprint but for now I'll just stay put in the house that made an impact a couple of hundred years ago and still stands with lots of work needing to be done. The farmers that build the main part of this house probably never worried about their impact just the ability to stay warm and protected through all the crazy weather Vermont would send their way. I think I'll just be thankful for the shelter it provides and watch the fads in housing continue with "new and improved" ideas passing me by. I'm sure I'll never live in anything that would make Architecture Digest or House Beautiful!
(P.S. if you are monitoring my writing daily in February you will see I missed yesterday! I had this entry started and discussed it but didn't get it posted. I'm not perfect in any way so there will be another today to keep up my challenge.)
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