Tiny houses...

[MoonMama78]

Do you live in a tiny house...500 square feet or less? If not, would you with kids? I am looking to buy/build a tiny house for myself and my children and would love some visual inspiration. I LOVE the tumbleweed houses, but obviously wouldn't be able to live in 100 sq ft with four children. I might build one of their houses in the 350-500 sq foot range. I'm attending one of their workshops in July and am super excited. We are already minimalists, and do not gather "stuff". I'd rather a tiny interior space with large yard or acreage, even in the winter we're outside most of the time. I'd love to hear from other families who are living large in tiny spaces be it a boat, bus, rv, or a tiny house, or those who are still aspiring to live this way.

Blessed be,

MoonMama

[Juvysen]

I'm not, but I love the tiny houses... so cool. I don't think I could personally pull it off, but i'm gonna subscribe to this thread for inspiration!

[abharrington]

ooo...i think the whidbey with the extra room could EASILY hold your family. the split lofts would make great "bedrooms" to give the kids some privacey. i would love to open up the side of the kitchen into the great room...you would lose some upper cabinet space...but i think an open floor plan would be ideal for a small home. i wish i could find pics of furnished and lived in tiny homes...it would give me some ideas for ours.

[zoebird]

i was thinking the same thing about the whidby.

i love these houses. i would probably put all 4 children in bunks that have bed curtains so that they have a sense of privacy in a space, but the space can be shared. i would use the front bedroom for crafting/homeschooling/sun room fun; and use the back bedroom for myself.

--

i love small, cosy house plans and the design, but my husband seems opposed to them. i believe that this is because he grew up in a small, and desperately cluttered home that his parents were always ashamed of.

i've always liked small, efficient homes that are well cared for and uncluttered.

[abharrington]

i'm not sure that would work zoebird...the loft is not full height...i think you may have to do beds with just a mattress and no boxsprings or maybe even a mattress on the floor. but with 2 lofts it would be plenty of floor space for 4 kids. ...or maybe i missed something? i do love looking at all those little plans.

[Carrie Posey]

We live in a 520 sq ft house, bunk beds and wall beds have made a huge difference and we live outside when the weather is nice.

[zoebird]

right, that was a confusing use of terms. i didn't mean "bunk beds" but that each bed would have some kind of curtaining around it so that there's a sense of privacy. each having their own "bunk" in that way. i know. confusing. it's from living in NZ, we use different slang here.

we live in probably 500 or less, and if we stay in this space until DS moves to his own bed, then we'll probably get him a murphy bed to put in the lounge.

[recremaicila]

Ours - kinda new to us - is 420 square feet, and it is, actually, a bit tight. I do have too much stuff though.

Downsized from around 1500sf. We'll be doing the compartment bed plan, but haven't built any yet. Just drawing up the plans, now that we've sorta figured out a place for everyone. Currently it's a couple of futons for dd & ds, & little ds sleeps in my bed (he has a futon, but it rarely gets opened out).

It's actually OK when it's just the family at home. But when the kids have any significant number of friends over, it's a much bigger impact on me than it was in the other house. Now, when there are extra kids here, I really notice them. You can't not. It overflows quickly.

I may end up adding on another room just for that reason. I never wanted to be the mom who tells my kids' friends they have to go away. (That's what my mom always did, for some reason.... no kids allowed inside except family.)

It's more than $1000 less than my previous mortgage, & at this time I'm making about half the money as usual ~ so lowering expenses works out fine in that regard!

We've only just moved in, though...... I'll let you know in a few months how it's working out.

Ours is not new.... I wish. It's about 60 years old. It's got potential ~ & can be cozy I can afford it.

My kids (19, 16, & 9) happen to be awesomely good sports, which really helps. I'm sure they miss having their own rooms etc., but they aren't complaining.... They're just acting like it's normal - & BTW it is definitely NOT the norm in our area. I don't even know anybody living in a house this small alone, much less with a family.

A cool development is that (despite some misgivings about how they'd react) my kids' friends are simply following their lead & acting like it's all normal too ~ like sure, "Doesn't everyone sleep in the same room with their mom, two siblings, a dog, stove, fridge, big bookshelves spanning the room, dining table & chairs, mom's sewing area & much too much fabric..." Yep, just your average family home...