Owning your own home is a dream for many, but few may have a home quite as small as the one built by a couple from Colorado.Despite not having any construction experience whatsoever, Christopher Smith, 32, and his girlfriend Merete Mueller have built the house of their dreams, but that involves keeping things small!The couple's house, set in the mountains of Fairplay, Colorado, is 124 square feet and is and 19 feet in length.The couple have made a documentary about the building of their dream home which airs on Al Jazeera America this weekend.Mr Smith came up with the idea when he was looking for a place to settle down.'I was nearing 30 and for the first time thinking in my life thinking about putting down roots, so I asked myself, what makes a good home?' he says.Apparently a 'good home' simply consists of a sitting area, kitchen, bathroom and a queen-size bedroom (set in a vaulted ceiling that makes space for a loft). 'The interior looks a lot bigger than the exterior,' Miss Mueller says.Mr Smith says he feels proud with his achievements given that he had no building experience whatsoever. ‘I had never built anything more than perhaps a pinewood derby in Boy Scouts. So yeah, we had to learn everything as the project progressed. I spent a lot of time on YouTube learning how to do the next step. I also spent a lot of time talking with people who had more experience, either at Home Depot or other builders I happened to meet along the way. People were really supportive and usually got excited about the Tiny House project as soon as they heard about it.’Not only is their new home economical in space, it's also energy efficient and runs on solar power and has a composting toilet. There is no running water so the  couple shower at the gym.'It's just a five-gallon bucket that you put peat moss and sawdust in,' said Mr Smith. 'You'd be surprised how well it works and how much it doesn't smell.'The couple's idea sounds radical but it's part of a growing movement of 'tiny houses'.There is a small galley kitchen, a small bathroom with a composting toilet and camping-style gravity fed shower and a sleeping loft. The main living space has an 11-foot ceiling, which helps the space to feel bigger than it actually is, with a small closet and two built-in bookshelves.There is also a built in desk and dining table that Merete made from scraps left over from reclaimed hardwood flooring.'When we first started, I thought I'd be able to finish building the house within a summer. I won't say exactly how long it took to finish because I don't want to spoil the film, but let's just say that it took a lot longer!' says Mr Smith.There's even an official support organisation, called the Small House Society.As city populations increase and rents rise, a new trend of living in small spaces has emerged.  From tiny houses to micro-apartments, thousands are downsizing.  But the tiny living movement has its critics who raise concerns with zoning, safety and sustainability. Ms. Mueller explained to the Huffington Post why the couple decided to move. 'Both of us moved and traveled a lot throughout our 20s, so neither one of us owned that much stuff to begin with. I always get a little stressed when I feel like I'm accumulating a lot of stuff, perhaps because I imagine how much work it will be to pack everything up into boxes and physically move it! But it wasn't until meeting so many other 'Tiny Housers' that I really understood how getting rid of stuff can free up so much time, money, and energy to focus on the things that really matter to us.'For some, owning such a small house flies in the face of the traditional 'American Dream' where bigger is better. Miss Mueller says she believes that after the housing crisis of 2008, peoples expectations have shifted. 'It's harder for many people to attain the financial stability required for a big house in the suburbs and a car in the driveway, that old model of the American Dream. On top of that, we've found that many people in our generation are beginning to question and re-evaluate that old American Dream and are opting instead for lifestyles that are more flexible and less tied-down to one particular place. As a society, we're in a place of transition. I think that many people -- whether by necessity or by choice -- are learning that quality of life isn't necessarily tied to how big our houses are or how much stuff we own, but about the experiences we have and the quality of our relationships.'Mr Smith was so inspired by the miniature buildings he visited that he decided to make a documentary about the project called Tiny - A Story About Living Small.'Since 1970, the average house size in the United States has doubled but for some people, bigger isn't necessarily better,' he says in the film.'For me, building a small house was always more about connecting with the natural world in a more personal way. I bought some land in the mountains southwest of Denver and wanted to have a place I could return to and grow to know in an intimate way. So I was attracted to Tiny Houses because they offer a beautiful and simple structure that feels part of the environment more than a larger structure does,' Mr Smith says.One tiny house activist interviewed in the film says there are many benefits to living small.'The primary asset… is freedom,' says Jay Shafer of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company who lives in an 89-square-foot home.'The world gets a lot bigger when you're living small because I can afford to do a lot more things now in terms of cash and time. The whole world is my living room.'Another supporter sees the move as a bigger shift in ideas about sustainable living.'Can we learn from the movement? How to build a more sustainable communities by thinking a little smaller,' she asks.'We don't all have to give up our material possessions and live in 89 square feet but let's think about giving up our McMansions and building a little smarter.'Christopher still lives in the house full time, Merete has moved to Brooklyn.‘I moved to Brooklyn shortly after we finished construction on the house, and I've been living here for a little over a year now. It's funny that building a home in Colorado helped to give me the courage to take a risk and find a new home in New York.It was easier to take the leap knowing that I had the little house in Colorado to fall back on.I think I can speak for both of us when I say that the Tiny House is suited to our lifestyles because it's a flexible structure and it can change with us as our lives each move in different directions. I hope to one day come back to Colorado and be able to live in the house full time. Looking ahead, neither of us really know exactly what our lives are going to look like in the future. And we like it that way! But the Tiny House is one constant, a place that we can always come back to.’(dailymail.co.uk)ANN.Az