From the home front: Kirsten Dirksen's "We the Tiny House People" documentary; 'Portlandia'-style parody; tiny homes for factory workers

View full sizeNicolás Boullosa, faircompanies.comKirsten Dirksen at work in a tiny house.

Tiny house documentary:

If you've watched even a few tiny house videos, you're sure to know -- and applaud -- the work of Kirsten Dirksen at

. Over the past five years, she has indefatigably chronicled tiny house pioneers and a diversity of petite shelters ranging from caves to boats, from sheds to converted garages.

Now she's created a full-length documentary, called "We The Tiny House People" and released April 23 to YouTube, "as a small thanks to all the support I've found among my subscribers," she says. The film is subtitled "Small Homes, Tiny Flats and Wee Shelters from the Old and New Worlds."

Dirksen is a co-founder of faircompanies.com, a Huffington Post blogger and a former TV producer.

Here's what Dirksen writes about her tiny-house work:

Kirsten Dirksen, faircompanies.comA screen shot from "We the Tiny House People."

"I stumbled into the Small House Movement by accident of location -- my parents live within miles of the tiny house poster boy Jay Shafer and his 89 square foot home, but within a couple of years I had become a part of it as one of the few, and most likely only, videographers documenting small shelters on a regular basis. ...

"I continue to discover people -- who often aren't even aware there's a movement of their type (see Small House Society) -- living in shipping container, shacks, houseboats, converted garages, caves, tool sheds, former pigeon coops, Airstream trailers and treehouses. They don't all think alike, but all those I've interviewed see their decision to live small as a choice, and often as the most direct path to an examined, and happier, life."

Kirsten Dirksen, faircompanies.comAnother screen shot from the documentary.

You can watch

, but why settle for that unless you're short on time? Head straight to the

And if you want more, Dirksen has just

in a blog post -- and about it's inspiring her next documentary, which will be "a very personal look at how having a philosophy of life" such as Stoicism relates to well-being.

Tiny house parody:

This

filmed by Dawn Jones for a Portlandia skit contest, is a hoot. Don't miss it. The bit about the nails is dead-on. In case you're wondering, Jones is a Portlander herself.

More

Tiny houses for workers:

Anders Karlstam shares photos of an area of

that were built starting in 1915 as vacation homes for factory workers. Individual members of the community own the houses but lease the land from the community and are usually not allowed to live there year-round. Among the regulations is a

maximum

house size:

"Every leaseholder can have a tiny house no larger than 20 sq meters with a porch no larger than 6 sq meters."

That's 215 square feet for the house, 65 square feet for the porch.

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