Challenge Accepted
A few years ago “tiny homes” became a big fad. My family and I did not live in one of those picturesque tiny homes. Instead, we lived in a literal tiny home before there was such a thing. I knew moving in would be a challenge as living in a tiny home is a unique adventure but it was temporary so I happily accepted said challenge. Safe to say it wasn’t as temporary as hoped, but we made it work and honestly it has stayed with me as some of my coziest memories to date! If you find yourself living in a less than ideal situation for home then keep reading to see how I not only made it doable but cozy to boot!
How We Ended Up In A Tiny Home
When my husband and I were engaged we knew after marriage we wanted to live a little more off the grid. This led to us searching for some acreage. My parents purchased some land that we had found and selected as a good future home and ended up gifting it to us following our marriage. My parents are truly such a blessing! During mine and my husband’s engagement, my then fiancé, lived on the property in a small cabin (less than 500 square feet). Once married, I joined him in that tiny home and we lived there as we worked to build our family home on the same land.
If anyone reading this has ever built a custom home, then you know that it pretty much always takes longer to build a home than the estimated time frame. Ours not only took longer, it was a gross miscalculation leaving us in the cabin for about a year and a half longer than we expected to be. We even brought our first child home in that little cabin, and we lived there until she was one and a half. Definitely not the original plan!
A Little Background On Our Small Abode
A few things are worth noting as I discuss our experience of living in a small home. I think when a lot of people think of living in a small home during modern times they picture a tiny New York efficiency apartment or something of the like. This house was nothing like that. I feel like our home, while not this harsh because we did have some sort of air conditioning, was closer to a single room home during the Old West time frame. We had no modern amenities to speak of. We did not have a washer or dryer, there was no dishwasher, and even the bathroom was outside of the cabin with no heat or air. Let’s just say being pregnant during a Texas summer in a bathroom with zero air conditioning was one memory I don’t hold onto happily!
Despite the small space and lack of modern comfort, it was cozy and we appreciated the roof over our heads. The home at least had a wall unit for some air circulation and the rest we made work. We bought heaters for the winter, additional air conditioning units for the home, and found our own groove that worked for our family.
Tips For Living In A Tiny Home
My top tips for living in a small space, and especially one with a lack of modern amenities, I will breakdown into sections below. I do want to note, a lot of surviving and even enjoying a smaller home comes down to mindset though. It is always important to recognize the blessings you have and enjoy the little things. Our home was small but it was warm and inviting. I did my best to make it functional and cute. It was a space that overall we could enjoy living in and spending time in whether it was a bit tight for living quarters or not.
1. Categorize Spaces:
One of the first things we did when we moved into our cabin was separate out clear spaces in our home. Most homes have living rooms, dining, a kitchen, maybe an office, a bedroom or bedrooms, and a bathroom. Since our bathroom was separate from the cabin it was already naturally separated, but the rest needed a little help. We started with one large room, but there was a partial half wall between one side of the cabin and the other. It was supposed to be a kitchen bar. When we moved in, the prior residents had set it up so that their bedroom was on the other side of the kitchen bar, but our circumstances were a little different.
The prior residents used the cabin as a weekend getaway, but we would be living there full time. My husband was also at the time working nights, and I worked remotely from home during the day. Prior to our wedding and my moving to the cabin with him following our marriage, my fiancé built a very small bedroom. When I say small, I mean small. It fit a bed and a nightstand but that was it.
The kitchen and dining were easily set apart, the bedroom was built just off of the dining area, and then on the other side of the cabin opposite that kitchen bar wall sat the living room and what became my home office that later turned into our daughter’s nursery. I used our couch with a dresser behind it to separate the living room from the office / nursery. Everything had it’s own space and function and was clearly marked as typical living spaces.
2. Purchase Wisely:
Living in a small home means that you have to think ahead on purchases. Especially while expecting our first child we realized that babies may be small but they come with a ton of gear that’s not so small! I spent a lot of time researching items that were foldable or collapsible. We purchased a foldable swing for our baby, a foldable high chair, and even toys that could easily stack and be made more compact. When it came to other household items, even workout gear, we opted for a walking pad that could be folded and slid under the couch. Every item that might be able to sit out in a “normal” house we made sure to buy in a version that could be folded and slid behind something or at the very least against a wall so it was out of the way.
We also made a point to be purposeful on the things we had in our home. We like a cozy home so we had some decor, but again, we kept it relatively minimal with slim profiles. A little art on the walls, a couple of pictures on surfaces here and there, and even a fake tree in the corner of our dining room, but we didn’t collect a ton of things. We quickly learned that too many additions would make one feel suffocated so we kept things warm and cozy but simple.
3. Think Outside The Box:
When living in tight quarters you often find that you have to think outside the box on how to make an area of the home function in multiple ways. My home office had our dresser in it. The dresser acted as a high boy type table behind the couch making the living room look more complete, provided function as it did act as our bedroom dresser, and it made the office look nicely finished as well. When I was nesting as I awaited the birth of our first child I did not have a nursery to decorate so instead I turned the dresser into my nesting space.
We moved a chest of drawers from the kitchen to the living room. We replaced the chest of drawers with a small kitchen cabinet that did a much better job storing our dishes and cutlery. I moved the things from the dresser to the chest of drawers and that became mine and my husband’s new dresser. The dresser became a changing table on top, and all of our daughter’s things – clothing, burp cloths, toys, medical supplies, diapers, wipes, etc. were in the dresser drawers.
I found that I was still able to nest and create a space for our daughter that worked really well but it still allowed us to use the dresser as a room divider. It worked even better later when we decided I would become a stay at home mom and the office turned into a nursery with a convenient changing table and dresser already there.
4. Look At The Bright Side:
I mentioned mindset in my introduction to these sections, but this is less about mindset and more about enjoying a small space and the advantages it can have. One of the best things about less square feet is you have way less space to care for. I found that I could clean our whole cabin in a day with ease. Vacuuming took just a few short minutes and I never even had to move the cord to a new outlet. When we had our daughter I could clean the whole house and have eyes on her the entire time. Especially with a lack of modern amenities like a dishwasher, for example, I was grateful that the overall home was small so I could spend the extra time handwashing dishes or hanging clothes on a clothing line.
It felt like a very simple time. It was hard work, sure, but felt cozy and streamlined because I did not have as much extra space or clutter to have to care for or contend with.
Pros and Cons
There are always pros and cons to any living situation. Sure, I missed modern amenities, I definitely missed central heat and air especially when pregnant. It could be frustrating living in tight quarters at times, especially after our daughter was born. We had to be super quiet at night since she slept in the room where our living room was it was difficult to have a movie date night for me and my husband. Despite the difficulties I would not trade that time or those memories for the world. It gave us character, we learned a lot, and it was an adventure. It was cozy, and sweet, and a simple time. We made a lot of wonderful memories in that cabin that I will always treasure.
Even if you live in your “dream” home, there are always things that aren’t going to be perfect. At the end of the day, having a roof over your head, a bathroom—even one without air conditioning or heat, which still beats a hole in the ground—and a bedroom that’s almost too small to fit into is a blessing and a joy. There are ways to make a tiny home practical and functional, and even cozy and well decorated. You do have to often think outside the box and purchase smart items, but it is a uniquely fun adventure that can feel incredibly fulfilling when executed properly for you and your family!
Looking For More Inspiration?
Y’all know the drill! As our family prepares to move from one home to the next, I’ve found myself thinking and writing about many aspects of our homestead. In my last blog post I discussed homesteading from anywhere. Speaking of tiny homes, I also share in that post how you can homestead in a small living space. If you’re thinking about starting your own homesteading journey, be sure to check it out! If you want to read about why we are moving you can read that post here.
No matter if you have a large or small home, I also have a free year long cleaning checklist to ensure your home stays clean all year long. It is a quick and easy routine to follow with a lot of flexibility. Simply go to the Homepage, click the “Download Your Checklist!” button, and the checklist will arrive in your email automatically.
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