Make Your Tiny House a Home in Three Easy Steps
Moving into any new home can be a daunting task. From the initial packing and moving to the unpacking and designing that goes into putting all of your old things into a new place, the whole process can be overwhelming. When you are moving from a more traditionally sized home to a tiny house, it may seem like the challenge should reduce with the square footage, but not always.
So how can you make your tiny house feel like home, and not just another floor model on a builder’s lot?
Check out these three easy steps to making your small house feel like the home you want to come back to each day.
Design to Reflect – Step One to Make Your Tiny House a Home
When you are in the beginning stages of your tiny house build, regardless of whether you hire a contractor or DIY your tiny, it is important to prioritize what is important to you. If you are an educator or have an affinity for books, you might consider using built-in shelving on an accent wall or even into your stairs in order to create a place to store what is important to you, as well as to use those pieces to decorate a place in your home. This is a great place to take it one step further and build in something like a small reading nook.
If you are someone who loves the outdoors or extreme sports, you might replace your ladder with rock climbing holds or use up-cycled skateboards for shelving. You may also want to use something like bikes or surfboard storage in your home by hanging them from your roof beams. This is a fantastic way to highlight what you love while using those items to store in practical ways in your tiny home, giving it that personal touch that you’ll love.
Bring in the Outdoors – Step Two to Make Your Tiny House a Home
The use of natural light cannot be underestimated in a tiny house. Being able to use large windows, fold-out porches and decks, and even creative placement of things like shutters that fold into a window-top bar can be excellent methods to make your tiny house feel open and inviting while creating even more space to enjoy, whether you are home alone or hosting guests.
A fun way some tiny house dwellers have found to bring the excitement of outdoor play in for families or the young-at-heart is by hanging things like hammocks for reading or even sleeping in a smaller loft space, adding upgrades like Plexiglas catwalks to connect lofts, or even using a netted hammock to create a “second floor” feeling. When you are working with a great custom builder, the opportunities to make your tiny house a home that reflects your personality are endless.
Save What You Love – Step Three to Make Your Tiny House a Home
When you are going through the process of purging your things to create the pile of what you deem to be must-haves from traditionally sized home to tiny house, you want to consider what you love. What things truly bring you joy? Letting go of sentimental items can be difficult at first, but the memories aren’t in the “stuff,” so be sure to think this through and only take with you the items that reflect who you are and what adventures you are excited to take in your new tiny house.
When living tiny, it is important to love every square inch of the home you’ve created for yourself. The size difference between the average American house, 2,600 square feet, and a tiny house, averaging under 200 square feet, can feel great. Be sure, when filling a space— no matter how small — with the things that make you feel loved and like your best self, you will truly enjoy spending time in the home you’ve created.
If you are ready to purge and start working toward tiny living, check out my eCourse “Timeline to Tiny” at https://themamaontherocks.teachable.com for practical steps to downsizing your house and upgrading your life!
