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19 Obsessions Tiny House Dwellers Have

April 10, 2016

By: Lauren Oster

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Packing up and moving into a micro-home means hanging on to the features (and stuff) you love best and kissing the rest goodbye. So, which perks and possessions do less-is-more house hunters cherish most? Read on to learn what makes a huge difference in close quarters.

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Yellow Shipping Container House With Deck and Small Garden

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Eye-Popping Paint

For every itty-bitty-house enthusiast who wants their home to blend into the landscape, it seems there are another three who want their digs to be DayGlo bright — and why not? Electric yellow might get old fast on a full-size dwelling, but in small doses it’s pretty adorable.

Tiny House Kitchen With Wood Countertops

Photo: Tumbleweed

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Itsty-Bitsy Appliances

Portable dishwashers that are only a foot and a half tall, two-burner electric cooktops, mini-fridges tucked beneath the stairs: Almost every gigantic chef’s-kitchen contraption has a (very) little sibling perfect for meal prep in close quarters.

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The Perfect Spot

Since tiny homes themselves are comparatively inexpensive to construct, going tiny means the freedom to think outside the housing development —and the ability to settle down almost anywhere. Want to live on acres of farmland? Go for it. Fancy a woodsy spot upstate? If you can find a clearing that's up for grabs, you can put down roots there...

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Mobility

...or park for a bit and tow yourself somewhere else when it’s time to move on. It’s no accident that many tiny house lovers go starry-eyed over classic trailers; a home on wheels is a must-have for the modern nomad.

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A Luxe Loft

In traditional homes, loft spaces are often bonus quarters for occasional guests or little ones. In a tiny home, a loft takes on the importance of a master bedroom—because it is the master bedroom.

Photo: codyulrich.com. From: Paige Morse

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Pocket Doors

Interesting from an architectural-history perspective? Yes. The difference, in some tiny houses, between being able to eat dinner at a table and having to balance it on your knees? Also yes. All hail the pocket door, form and function in one satisfyingly slim package.

Photo: Wind River Tiny Homes

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Gorgeous Wood

Tiny houses have no room to hide their skeletons, so tiny house builders often choose construction materials that can stand on their own as interior surfaces. Bare wood is ultra-efficient and awfully good-looking.

Photo: Melissa Edgemont. From: Michelle Edgemont

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Bud Vases

A simple vessel with a single bloom or two fits anywhere and everywhere, delivers maximum impact with minimal effort, and is just plain elegant — no wonder they’re de rigueur in tiny homes. Plus, hanging them on the wall or in the windows saves valuable horizontal space.

HGTV Spring House 2016 Blue Throw on Chair Atop Patterned Rug

Photo: Photo By: Flynnside Out Productions. From: Brian Patrick Flynn

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A Throw Rug (or Two)

When a home’s footprint is small, its floor coverings follow suit — and for tiny house dwellers, throws are a strategic way to roll out the welcome mat without rolling out an entire carpet. Perfect.

Do-it-yourself expert Tracy Metro bought a 1975 40-foot houseboat in the Sacramento Delta and docked it in Long Beach, California. Thanks to Tracyâ s decorating, renovating and design skills, the houseboat is now a colorful, entertaining-savvy weekend home.

Photo: Brian Patrick Flynn

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Retro Chic

If your tiny home is literally a vintage Airstream, carrying that atomic-era coolness inside is a given. That said, dwellings of all sorts lend themselves to playful midcentury details—trailers don’t get to have all the fun.

Tiny Home Bedroom Loft With Cozy Bedding

Photo: Bodega Pictures. From: Tiny Luxury

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High Ceilings

A shipping-crate-turned-home has a certain industrial cool, but tiny house hunters know a few extra inches of attic space can be the difference between a single story and two. That’s seriously high-value real estate.

PORTLAND, ME - OCTOBER 8: A composting toilet in a bathroom using roofing for walls. Tiny House Giant Journey with Guillaume Dutilh and Jenna Spesard stopped at the Eastern Promenade on Wednesday, October 8, 2014. The 135 square foot house (excluding the sleeping loft) took exactly one year to build on a Tumbleweed trailer starting on September 2nd 2013. Dutilh and girlfriend Spesard started their journey on September 2nd from Shelbyville, IL, traveling through the eastern United States and Canada, with plans to travel south, then west as far as Ankorage, AK. The couple quit their day jobs and make a living working as a blogger and photographer. For more information about the house and their journey go to http://tinyhousegiantjourney.com. (Photo by Yoon S. Byun/Staff Photographer)

Photo: Portland Press Herald

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"Creative" Plumbing

"Going with the flow" in a diminutive space can mean...well, not having a flow in a traditional sense at all. Some mobile tiny homes use gravity-fed rainwater collected on their roofs for bathing, while others have composting toilets (or outhouses across the yard.) It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, to be sure, but it is an intriguing way to go green and save space.

A man carrying a solar panel on a green construction site, working on a green building project.

Photo: Mint Images - Tim Pannell

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Reducing Dependence on the Grid

Tiny house dwellers who aren’t quite ready to simplify their way out of running water can still take charge of their energy use by using generated, solar, or wind power instead of a public source. While self-sustaining homes aren’t necessarily cheap or easy to get up and running, their proud owners say the simplicity they deliver is more than worth the trouble. Speaking of simplicity...

Couple taking self-portrait at music festival

Photo: Paul Bradbury

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Paying Cash

...it’s hard to deny the appeal of living without a mortgage (as the majority of tiny house owners do). What’s an extra room or two compared to the feeling of being debt free? Plus, fewer debts mean more money to do the things you really love (Hello, Bonnaroo.)

Tiny House Dining Room With Floor-to-Ceiling Windows

Photo: Escape Traveler

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Windows, Windows, Everywhere

Tiny-house experts tell prospective buyers and builders to keep their window-to-wall ratio high, and it’s easy to see why; light, scenery and ventilation are all lovely, but the impression of extra space is priceless.

Whitehaus farm sink and grainsack curtain...vintage columns, white countertops

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Curtains (for Everything But the Windows)

Closet and cabinet doors: Who needs ‘em? When living and storage space compete for the same few hundred feet of territory, tucking stuff behind a cloth panel is as good as willing it out of existence.

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Lucite Furniture

Space-age case goods might be a square peg in a round hole for rustic cabin living, but they’re right at home in more modern nooks, and provide a terribly convenient place to put one’s feet up without adding visual clutter.

Photo: Bodega Pictures. From: Tiny Luxury

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Skylights

Nothing opens up a diminutive bedroom/loft like a regal view of the sun (and stars). Bonus: The odds of accidentally flashing the neighbors via a skylight are reassuringly low.

Photo: Don Hamilton Studio

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Designing a Home From the Ground Up

Few of us have the time or inclination to assemble our own nests, but tiny home dwellers often do, and they enjoy the satisfaction of living spaces tailored to their personal specifications. What could be cost-prohibitive and tedious for a sprawling family home is, in miniature, more like an exquisitely demanding hobby. Plus, customization gives tiny house builders the freedom to choose the features they really want...cocktails in the shade, anyone?

19 Obsessions Tiny House Dwellers Have

Eye-Popping Paint

Itsty-Bitsy Appliances

The Perfect Spot

Mobility

A Luxe Loft

Pocket Doors

Gorgeous Wood

Bud Vases

A Throw Rug (or Two)

Retro Chic

High Ceilings

"Creative" Plumbing

Reducing Dependence on the Grid

Paying Cash

Windows, Windows, Everywhere

Curtains (for Everything But the Windows)

Lucite Furniture

Skylights

Designing a Home From the Ground Up

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