How to Live in a Tiny House

The key to living in a Tiny House is to two-fold: 

1) Get rid of all non-essential items.  Be ruthless.  Karin:  you do NOT need all that stuff from Boston you never unpacked (9 years).  We cleared out an entire attic, and I was ruthless about selling/donating even large furniture that we knew would just need to be stored indefinitely.  E:  you do NOT need 6 pairs of running shoes.

2) For the stuff that remains, think about the available space and storage.  Consider the built-in.  (We considered, and did).

Our house, largely in thanks to our interior designer, is very well-laid out for storage.  I love that stuff has a place to go!

Here are a few of my favorites

The finished closet under the stairs.  See the IKEA kitchen rack for the brooms, etc?  I love having all that stuff off the floor and they are in easy reach when I need them.  In the small space under the stairs is our luggage and cat hang-out.

 

The Laundry/Coat closet

It's our catch-all just inside the entry-door.  We have a long rod for coats, a rack for shoes as well as high shelves for cleaning supplies. The bulk of the 7x4 closet is taken up by our hot water heater and stacked washer/dryer. 

Why I love this space:  There is a place for all of us hang coats. Even living in a tiny space, I avoided the kitchen washing machine (common in Europe).  Now I can do laundry, close the door and not hear it while I'm watching TV only a few feet away.

The Kitchen

I love pretty much everything about the kitchen. But there are some cool storage bits.  Like the bread basket (it is France, afterall!)

Gabage bins out of sight!

Finally, our big splurge in this house were the oak built-ins in the living room and bedrooms.  Downstairs, we have double-deep drawers that serve as a toy box for the kids.  Genius!  It a perfect everybody-is-happy arrangement.

 

Comments

[Karin]

@Jessica: Thanks, but I can hardly take the credit - We had so much help from our interior designer, Gabrielle, and the carpenter was amazing.

[Jessica Mott]

I am completely wowed! Especially those oak built-ins. You did an amazing job, K.