Zander Willoughby, from Wyoming, Mich., is a senior majoring in Political Science and French. When the opportunity came for him to move into “off-campus” housing, Zander was charmed by the iconic “little pink house,” just steps away from the campus border.  The house is owned by MU Groundskeeping Supervisor Dave Good and wife Lois, and comes with a rich history.

How did you get the opportunity to live in the little pink house?

Dave and Lois Good own it, and Dave emailed me saying, “Hey! The pink house is open and we heard you wanna live there.” At the time, I actually had plans to live farther in town, so I ended up saying no. Then, luckily, my other housing option fell through, so I emailed him the second I found out that I had no place to live and said, “Hey Dave, I know somebody is living there and it’s gotta be full, but is it per chance open?” And he said, “Actually, somebody dropped out yesterday. You can have it.” And that is the roller coaster of how I got to live in the little pink house.  

How did you manage to fit everything you own into this tiny house?

Moving into the tiny house, even though it’s small, it’s still twice as big as the dorm. So, believe it or not, I keep buying things because there’s so much space, to be honest. So I’m buying things because now I have my own kitchen and stuff like that. It’s really, really nice. So while it is tiny it’s still the perfect amount of space for me.

Now that you’re used to tiny living, can you ever picture yourself living in a big house?

No! In the pink house there’s room for everything you need but then there’s no room for things you don’t need. It’s been really nice in that way. If I want to clean up, it takes five minutes. If you want to clean the whole house, it takes 10 minutes! Now that I live here, I’ve also found myself watching tiny house videos and I feel like after this it would be weird to live in a big house. And also kind of wasteful.

Do you get a lot of people asking you about your house?

All. The. Time. Not quite every day, but at least twice a week. So I joke about it. Because the front door and the back door are in line with each other, I’ve joked about just having an open house with some cheese, or whatever, and people can come in, take a piece of cheese, look at it all, take it in, and walk in a straight line in and out! That way it will go quickly because so many people are interested. Plus, ya know, a tour of the little pink house and some cheese, what could be better?