I live in a big house. Big living room, big dining room, big kitchen, tiny bathroom, but big house. Nowadays, this feels like a confession rather than something to be proud of. It’s no McMansion, as it was built in 1914, and we certainly use every room on a daily basis. There are currently five of us living here, (two parents, two children and a Japanese exchange teacher) so it feels right. But there’s a part of me that pores over simple living and tiny house blogs like a suburban father downloading porn.
Ooh . . . look at the clever storage solutions and the sexy little sleeping loft!
Titillating.
School has let out for winter break, and my family is facing a couple of weeks without too much responsibility. Sure, my sons still have soccer and martial arts and I work a few days, but we will mostly get to sleep in and enjoy a break from the normal hustle and bustle of life with teenagers.
My mother owns a guest cottage business for out of towners who are looking for a short term place to stay, and Lexi House, (my personal favorite) is unoccupied until Thursday. Add to that my Japanese host son’s pronouncement that he’ll be away for the weekend, and suddenly it’s staycation time! The house we’ll be staying in is dollhouse-like in its dimensions, but tall ceilings keep it from feeling claustrophobic. It is literally across the street from both the library and a food cart cluster, so it’s pretty much a gigantic treat to stay there. It’s approximately two miles from home, so the fear of forgetting some uber-important cog of daily life is not a stressor. I think we’ll stay until Tuesday, but I’m not really sure. I don’t actually have to micro-plan this kind of getaway.
Interested in watching some tiny house porn? Here’s a video of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company’s Jay Shafer showing off all 96 square feet of his living space:
Do you yearn for your own 96 square feet of bliss? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”
{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
I love Jay’s tiny houses! I even ordered a couple of his books, so I could ooh and awe at them all the time. It’s definitely porn! When I was looking to buy a house last year, I looked at lots of smaller options, such as yurts, the Tumbleweed houses, and RVs. Eventually, some friends were selling their log home that I’d loved for years, and I jumped to buy it. It’s not at all small, but I do still longingly browse small homes from time to time.
Tammy and I have often asked ourselves: “why are tiny houses so attractive to us?”
I think it has something to do with the appeal of simplicity to calm our human brains that get anxious with too many choices. What we think we want is more choices so we can have more freedom. But, as we’ve explored simple living we have found that in contrast to “what we think we want”, Tammy and I are attracted to defined boundaries that we can easily understand. Relative to traditional homes, tiny houses “feel” less complicated. Its almost as if the less complicated your life is the greater the focus you can have on other aspects of your life. Its a weird kind of emotional levity that you get by not having to decide between hundreds of sub-conscious small choices we make everyday like what cup to use from a cupboard full of cups. Most people don’t ditch their stuff like Tammy and I, they instead just form routines around using their favorite stuff and store the rest of it so they don’t have to decide constantly between competing alternatives. 😉
Barry Schwartz has a great book and TED talk about this emotional phenomena called the “paradox of choice”.
Cheers,
Logan.
I look at those tiny houses and think, “A homeschooling family of 6 could never live in one of those!”.
Plus, I wonder how in the world one could possibly practice hospitality in such a space. My house isn’t huge by any stretch of the imagination, but I have space to host our women’s prayer meeting or to host a small group, or to have a couple of families over for dinner and I definitely wouldn’t want to give that up.
So yeah…my lifestyle requires more space than those uber-tiny homes offer, and I don’t feel at all guilty about it.
Call me a dirty old man! I must confess! We live in a house now that is over a hundred years old. And just like you, we use every space. Not to mention my brother lives with us – so every space is definitely used. I know that if we were ever to relocate we would be trading down versus up. Which I know is against the norm. But I feel that too much space attracts too much clutter. And I’m not sure if I’m willing to pay for that extra space
Maybe my house being cluttered is due to magnetic forces then. NOT at all due to personal weakness. 😉
Katy
I designed my own little dreamhouse and I think it worked out really well, its designed for a couple and maybe a small kid, but there’s a side door that could lead to an addition if and when needed. It’s 1200 sq ft. and though I’ve never been in it, :), I dont think it would feel small because of the open floor plan. I posted some pics of my first draft on facebook if you want to check it out….
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30095&id=100000985886965&l=d6490787b7
We spend at least one and sometimes as much as 3 weeks at a time every year in our camper – a pop-up that fits in our pick-up. Counting the bed over the truck cab (only there when the camper top is up) we have about 80 square feet. It is extremely comfortable and half the fun is organizing it so that we have everything we could possibly need. Because it is so compact, we can take it anywhere (and we love desert dirt roads that defeat larger rigs), but it satisfies my urge for tiny living spaces. And, we can host very small dinner or card parties. Sometimes living “small” is actually living “large.”
I love this tiny little house! I could so fit my stuff in there easily if I were a single guy. My wife (who loves stuff) thinks the 500 sq. ft. house is much too small for 3 people, though, and I would probably agree. Sometimes it’s good to get some space from each other even if you are newlyweds.
Considering that it took me half a day to clean my house today, I’m definitely in love with the idea of smaller! Wish I’d had that revelation before “upsizing” four years ago to this house (which is twice the size of my former one!). But for now, this house suits us…and we do use almost every square inch for some purpose.
They’re really cute and simplicity is a good thing – but where are you supposed to store food? Especially if you live where fresh produce isn’t available year round, a freezer really helps with healthier eating. And, quite frankly, sometimes I need space to get away from my spouse!
Jay’s book was one of my Christmas wish items, so if I get it, I’ll be as excited as the youngest kiddo, ripping into her present. The uber-small/trailer-based houses just wouldn’t work for us (hubby, me, teenager and 5-year-old, plus sometime-home college student), but the small house plans (200-800 square feet) are immensely appealing to me. Right now, I’m WHERE I want to be (walking distance to library, stores, restaurants, schools), but there’s nowhere close to here where I could buy a lot, build a home, and still have all the amenities within walking distance. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to make my fantasy come true, but a girl can dream…
Our adult son university student son lives with us in a 1100 feet two story, three bedroom town house in a coop. Our living room is large, and the kitchen and dining area are manageable. Our bedroom is small for our king sized bed, our son’s bedroom is fine for his needs, and he occupies the third, bright, sunny and large bedroom as an office. We went from owning a home, to renting a condo, to moving into a housing coop which was smaller than our current coop apartment. We were cramped in our former home; it was hard to entertain family and friends, which is something that is really important to both my husband and me. And we never managed to actually put everything in its rightful place, even after occupying our former apartment for over 20 months. I don’t think we could downsize for the moment. We’ve already given away most of the things we don’t need or use. We have kept mementos from our children, photo albums, important papers and reference books mostly. So no, I don’t dream of living in a tiny house. I know for certain that even when our son will move out, we will want to have a large enough apartment to be able to comfortably entertain our family and friends. And I would enjoy having a space of my own where I could go to think, meditate or just be with myself, undisturbed.
I ♥ the tiny houses though I doubt I will ever have one of the “new, improved models” that are porn that you speak of 🙂 After perusing some of these cute little places and dreaming large to live small, I discovered something rather interesting. I have a small, older home but it is big enough for me. I never have been one to pay attention to sq. footage. I got out my appraisal and lo and behold, I DO live in a tiny house LOL At just under 900 sq. ft. I fit into the tiny house category (on the large end of the scale anyway) I haven’t been as creative with space saving storage and such as they are in the new homes. I have a couple of nice walk in closets that afford me a ton of storage, actually more than I need. I will still continue to view the tiny house porn and dream on 🙂
…like a suburban father downloading porn…that cracked me up AND it is totally me. Not because I want to live in that tiny of a house, but I do find it SO fascinating.
We certainly don’t live in a Mcmansion at 1850 sq feet for our family of 4, but at times it can feel cramped. I do catch myself looking through the real estate paper dreamily at times at the larger homes…much like the porn. But then I snap back to reality. Our home is the right size for us. The kids have room to play and we have plenty of room to entertain.
I was moaning porn style over the tiny house until he got to the bathroom. I don’t need a huge bathroom by any means, but I definitely don’t want my shower drenching my entire bathroom.
This is so cool, catch the whole process of designing a tiny house at our website. We are trying to get as many people involved as possible. Our first step is showing conceptual design ideas. You can vote for your favorite at http://www.blakestinyhouse.com/sketches.html.
Leave your comments on the blog as well.
I love vacationing in tiny houses, but my husband and I lived in 650 sq. feet for 6 years and I’m not doing that again! Those open floor plans that make them feel more spacious mean that you all better be on the same sleeping schedule since one of you can’t sleep when the other is up. You hear everything! And it is really hard to entertain, and you certainly have to really limit your stuff (we are under-stuffed by American standards but we do live in a climate that requires a LOT of winter wear!) or be willing to trip over it all the time. No, I am VERY happy with my 1500 sq. feet for 2 people!
hoping to make a trip to your VERY green city one of these days and will definitely be looking into your mom’s lodging availability when that time comes. thx. My fantasy involves at least 4 acres of land and a 900 sq. ft. passive solar home (for hubby and me). Ah, a girl can dream!
I live in a tiny house, and I can tell you it is no picnic with three small sons! Adding a Christmas tree, even a narrow one, into our living room, makes rearranging the furniture a nightmare, as we have to have room for the playpen.
Our kitchen isn’t tiny (I guess), but by the time you have a kitchen table and two adults standing in it, claustrophobia kicks in. Don’t get me started on our lone bathroom the size of a coffin, and closets that only a toddler could walk into, maybe.
Entertaining even five people makes you think of sardines! While I too dream of less being more (especially when it comes to laundry) I can tell you that with space? It isn’t always the case!
Husband and I don’t own a house (we move around too much.) The biggest apartment we have is the one we’re in now. It’s 1200 square feet and accommodates our family of 4. That’s not tiny, but it’s not big.
Even when we lived in smaller places, we were able to host small events. One year I hosted (and cooked) an entire Thanksgiving dinner for 8, two of which were staying overnight in our sardine can of an apartment.
Husband and I agree that when we do settle down, we won’t buy a big house. We don’t need it. We’re raising our family of 4 comfortably in 1200 square feet. A little more would be nice, but it’s not necessary.
Another bonus of a small space – less cleaning! I have no idea how folks with 2000+ square feet manage to keep their homes clean (without the aid of a housekeeper or helpful children.)
I easily kept 4000 sq ft clean with three small children and a husband in it. It was so much easier than cleaning the sardine can we moved from. Crowded furniture, all necessary, made cleaning difficult. The kids were not much help unless I told them we could go skating or swimming as soon as I got the house clean…lol…then, I had offers of help. The bathroom? maybe 10′ x 6′ or less.
That’s really interesting! I always figured more rooms to clean would lead to a longer time cleaning, but I suppose that when crowding or clutter is an issue it does take a while to clean!
For what it’s worth, we do have clutter in my living room, which is hastily swept away into the blanket chest we use as a coffee table when company comes. Otherwise, it hangs around in all its glory. We just take it off whatever surface to dust and then place it back on that same surface. Not the best system to have in place!
In the living room of the sardine can, I had the living room furniture lining the walls with den furniture in front of it…I know, strange. Then, there was just enough room in the living room to place the playpen and BARELY be able to scooch by to sit down. Not fun, not easily cleaned. My son’s bedroom was about 9′ x9′ and was totally lined with furniture–bunk beds, night stand, dresser, chest of drawers, desk, toy chest, and shelves. I was not willing to get rid of anything because my husband would want to go to a new church shortly. Honestly, when you know you will be just settled (6 months) when you will have to move, it’s hard to give up the meager amount of furniture we had stuffed into a tiny sardine house. Then, we moved to 4000 sq ft and I could actually vacuum without shuffling furniture. Shoes out of place were not hazardous.
You Crack me up!
I love your mother’s Lexi House!!! I’ve stayed there once and had my cousin rent it as an alternative to her spa style get aways. (Even hosted a Sunday brunch there for 9 people.) My visit was a staycation also, a friend was in from England and we needed the perfect little place to call our own. Coming from a larger house to this sweet little “doll house” was so refreshing and it’s left me always looking at what I can cut out in my own home to simplify. Enjoy you peaceful holiday!
I’m living with the BF in a 400-square-foot apartment and I have no desire to go any smaller! Maybe it’s because I’m not too many years removed from a 100-square-foot dorm room, but 100-square-feet looks cramped, not idyllic. This aparment is enough for us to entertain a few friends, store our books, and have some room to “go to our corners” and have some space after a quarrel, but we can’t accumulate a ton of stuff, nor does it take more than a couple of hours to clean from top-to-bottom. Also, heating it is cheap!
I’d never want a McMansion, but tiny house porn just isn’t my kink! 😛
I don’t think I could live in a house that small. My house is about 1900 square feet and has been the perfect size for my family of 4. We use every room in the house. A bonus is that my bedroom in on the first floor and my kids are on the 2nd floor. When they move onto college, my husband and I can close down their rooms. Also, we do not have to worry stairs when we get older.
I am glad we never “upgraded” to a bigger home. My friends who have the larger homes are all thinking about selling them in the next few years as their kids grow and move away.
I also lust after a smaller home! We have a nice-size, one-story home, that we do use every corner of (we have a 2-year-old, and plan to have at least one more kid in the future), but I would love a smaller space. I think my hubby thinks I’m crazy, but I find smaller homes so appealing — we lived in a 1,000 sq ft little house before moving to where we are now, and I loved it, it was so cozy. I miss that place…except, we were very close to our neighbors, and now we have a nice roomy yard and a garden, so I appreciate that 🙂
I had to chuckle at this one, but I feel much the same way. I think the tiny house seems so appealing to me because it absolutely forces one to pare down to the absolute minimum of stuff, and prioritize everything. I’ve been trying to pare down my “stuff” for awhile but it’s such a slow process!
I’ve done a few posts featuring Jay’s house- it’s quite inspiring to see what you can do with such little space. I have a 15′ flatbed trailer and my husband and I fantasize about using it as a foundation to create our own movable home (once the kids are moved out).
We fit a family of 4 into our 1100 sq ft house. It’s just the right size. Each kid has a room (small but their own) and we have a large middle room where we do everything. The huge advantage we have is our outdoor space. Without it I would probably feel squished in. 7 months out of the year we have a large front porch and in the back an outdoor kitchen/dining area. We also have a yurt for guests (it’s down currently for remodeling purposes). It’s 300 sq ft and perfect when guest come to stay. Word got out about the yurt and we’ve ended up hosting friends of friends wanting to have the experience.
Wow. We fit quite comfortably into our two-bed flat – two adults, a toddler & a baby. But having just worked out that’s it’s about 500-600sqft makes me quite amazed! I knew we’d downsized our stuff a *lot*, but that’s because, well, we had collected so much junk. But to be considered ‘tiny’ by many of the comments…I’m pretty shocked. It really isn’t tiny – we even have a 6ft dining table & a kitchen table in here. And maaaaany, many toys (oh, I’ll get them eventually….)! Bit it doesn’t feel cluttered & we certainly all have space.
Hmm. Interesting. Maybe other people see things on a different scale to me! 🙂
I’m living in a smallish apartment with a bad layout. Tiny is fine, I like it- but tiny with a bad layout is limiting.
Of course, I will definitely purge and purge some more before the new year to help with storage issues.
And I do pour over the same tiny living spaces with my eyes glazed over in small-space-lust ;p
When we bought our house we could have gone much bigger but we didn’t need the space. Our house is still large by these stanards but I needed to set up a jewelry making shop. My goal with the house was to make it in a price range closer to what we could afford on my job in case something happened to my husband’s job. That seemed smarter to me. Both sets of our parents bought houses and property that they are struggling to pay for and I didn’t want that for us.
I love the tiny houses!
Well, if there is a cultural difference between the USA and Europe, the “Tiny House” correspondence makes it crystal clear. When reading all the comments previously made, I get the impression (but I may be mistaken, possibly by the conversion of square feet to square meters) that a tiny house in the US is “less than 1000ft2 (= 111 m2)”? Most houses in the Netherlands are smaller than that! And a lot of people live like Sophie, in a 2-room appartment. I lived for ten years in a 2-room appartment that was 252 ft2 (28 m2). Now I share a 3-room appartment with my wife. It is large enough (495ft2), even considering the fact we are still are in the process of decluttering. In January we move to a larger house (612 ft2, 68m2). Way too big, but we hope to raise children soon (and we have to store our 1200 books somewhere). I certainly love the houses that Jay Shafer designs!!! But I am 6ft4 tall and my wife is 6ft3 tall. Just moving around (or getting into the loft-bed) without getting bruised all the time seems difficult (but NOT impossible). So we keep on dreaming and saving and decluttering……. I love the two YouTube video s of Stephanie Reiley: The Tiny House Boat. (Oh, what a great place to live!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEMRIgULnc4
(see also Part 2).
Merry X-Mas and all the best for 2011,
Maarten
Leiden, the Netherlands
Exactly. I’m from Italy and I’ve lived with my bf for 5 years in a 45 m2 flat – living room, tiny kitchen, tinybathroom, bedroom. It was cheap rent, so ok at the moment, but how we missed some extra space, for practical an psychological reasons! Then we bought our own house, actually a semi-independent one (we share a wall with the neighbour’s), 80 m2 and I love it. Houses are luxuries here, most people live in smallish flats. My mother lives in a house of 130 m2 (3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 living rooms etc) + garden and is frequently visited by real estate agents or individuals interested in selling/buying it. Houses with garden, I love to look at, not the extra-cramped spaces whose point, actually, I fail to see! 🙂
PS – I see though tiny houses like the one in the video look cozy. Nice to live in for a short period. But must be annoying to dust all those shelves 😛
I’m living in a smallish apartment with a bad layout. Tiny is fine, I like it- but tiny with a bad layout is limiting. Of course, I will definitely purge and purge some more before the new year to help with storage issues. And I do pour over the same tiny living spaces with my eyes glazed over in small-space-lust ;p
Wow, love this. I’m a tiny houser myself I guess, and I love seeing what other people do with their own designs. Endless inspiration. Of course intensely small spaces aren’t for everybody as your reader’s comments mention, but they are a really ideal solution to saving money and living simply within our means for many.
My tiny house is a 6 meter by 2,20 meter wooden caravan, and it was given to me by people who didn’t want to bother moving it themselves when they decided to relocate to another city. It needed quite a bit of work, and I remodeled it almost entirely with materials I dumpster dived or was given. The whole project cost me about 900 euros. If anyone’s interested in reading about it, check out this http://www.clickclackgorilla.com/2010/12/01/were-not-in-russelsheim-anymore-toto/ or visit the general blog.
Wow, suddenly my 1000 sq ft seems like a mansion! It is challenging but part of our problem is that we are not maximizing space. We aren’t thinking small. This year we vow to make it work for our family of 5.