Seemingly everyone loves looking at pictures of tiny homes on the internet, and it’s also not uncommon for many of us to daydream about parting with our worldly possessions (and monthly rent check) in favor of the simpler life they provide. But how much do those of us residing in average-sized homes really know about tiny home life? For example: What kind of customizations can you make? Where do you store the belongings you end up hanging onto? And, uh, how the hell do you have sex in one?
We posed these question to two tiny home builders and designers, Brian Crabb of VIVA Collectiv and Paul Beckmann of Wind River Tiny Homes, who, thankfully, obliged in answering. Read on for everything you’ve ever wanted to know about living tiny, and prepare for the sudden onslaught of many more daydreams.
What Kind Of Customizations Can A Tiny Home Have?
Because downsizing your life isn’t easy, many tiny home buyers choose to make very specific customizations that help ensure they’re making the most of every square inch of space at their disposal.
"One that stands out the most is the giant working speaker I designed into the side of Asha Mevlana’s ‘amplified’ tiny home. She’s the lead violin for Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and wanted a place where local musicians could play small concerts at her house," shares Crabb. "So I said, ‘What if we make the house a speaker?’ She thought it was the coolest idea ever, and somehow we pulled it off. You can literally plug into her house and play concerts!"
"We’ve been asked to do a gypsy wagon with curved roof and slanted walls," says Beckmann. "It’s actually quite doable and we’ve got a design for that. It’s not always requests for components and features that are out there, we also work with people to achieve a particular overall look-and-feel. Someone once asked us if we could do a cross between Samurai and Steampunk for look-and-feel. We said, ‘We can do that!’"
Believe it or not, some clients are even trying to create spaces that pull double duty. "I designed a home for a couple in Atlanta … By day, the home transforms into fully functional mobile clothing store. They just drive it around town and set up shop like a food truck," Crabb recalls. "By night, everything stores away and transforms back into a home. Trying to figure out how to create a space that works as both had me wracking my brain for weeks."
VIVA Collectiv
What Are Some Of The Biggest Concerns People Have When Going Tiny?
"The biggest concern is always, ALWAYS ‘Where can I put my stuff?’ That question begins the tiny house journey," says Crabb. "As far as design goes, it always starts with, ‘What do you need? What can’t you live without?’ And that answer is different for every single human being. But that is where it must always start. Some people can’t live without the grand piano that was passed down through generations. Some people have a record collection that could fill a stadium. You start with what you can’t live without, and work backwards from there. 99% of people don’t realize how much stuff they have that they don’t care about."
For Beckmann, it’s more about managing expectations for what the final product will look like. "They wonder, ‘How do I know what I’m going to get?’ We collaborate on two main design phases: one, the outside of the home, exterior color and materials, roof color, window trim and two, interior design, flooring, fixtures, walls, stains, features and lighting, etc. I think people pick up pretty quick that we are willing to collaborate with them and we’re not just saying that," he explains.
Wind River Tiny Homes
But How Can You Have Sex In There?
Apparently, we’re not the only ones who have been wondering. "Oh my god, this issue comes up constantly in families with either young children or more than one child," says Crabb. "Being 20 feet away from your kid is always a concern when two people want to have some privacy. Luckily, there are some easy solutions: One, lock the kids out of the house. (Kidding, but effective no matter how tiny you live). All kidding aside, I usually design a wall and door into a loft or room where parents sleep. Creating visual barriers from one room to the next, and putting your child’s room on the other side of the home usually solves the problem. I did design a 28′ tiny house on wheels for a young family of five: we solved their problem with thicker framing and lots of insulation!"
VIVA Collectiv
What If I I’m A Total Clotheshorse?
This one hits close to home for us. Beckmann cautions, "If you are not ready to purge, you are not ready to go tiny. However, you’d be surprised at the storage options even in a 200 sq ft base model — kitchen cabinets, storage stairs, closet, loft storage, storage couch." Keeping shoes in the kitchen cabinets does sound very Carrie Bradshaw, doesn’t it? (Not that she’s at all someone we imagine would be cut out for tiny living.)
Crabb agrees. "Everyone loves the idea of a simpler, cleaner, more direct life, but no one wants to get rid of their shit," he admits. "However, good tiny home design is about making use of space that is generally wasted. Look at the sofa in your current home. You might see the place that you sit with your dogs while watching The Office. I see a drawer to hold 30 pairs of shoes in the gap between the sofa and the floor. And when you start thinking in this regard, you start to see little opportunities everywhere you look."
"For example, I’m 6′ tall. Standard ceilings are 8′ tall. This means that in almost every house in the entire US, at least 2 feet of vertical space per foot is wasted that could be used for storage or a million other things," Crabb explains. "What if you had a cabinet above your front door that stored all your shoes? You are about to leave, pull down the drawer, grab your shoes, and off you go. You have immediately saved yourself an entire closet’s worth of space by simply rethinking how a closet works."
And then he said this, which gave us all of the hope: "Believe it or not, the biggest use-of-space issues are always with the outdoorsy minimalists: Yes, they only have one pair of pants, three socks, and headband, but they are always the clients who MUST HAVE storage for two kayaks, 18 mountain bikes (PS-why does everyone have so many mountain bikes?), five tents, 21 skis, snowboards, 764 pounds of ‘layers’ and a fucking yurt." Suddenly, we don’t feel quite so high-maintenance.
Wind River Tiny Homes
What’s Your Biggest Challenge As A Tiny Home Builder?
"The biggest challenge is usually explaining the actual costs of building a tiny home. There are a ton of YouTube videos out there telling people they can build a Tiny Home for $1,500. This is simply not true. If you have 8 years and scavenge the junkyard, maybe this could be true, but the reality is that homes cost money," explains Crabb.
"You can get an amazing tiny home for $60-$75,000. The bonus is that this home will have been built and created for you. I can’t stress this enough. Most people grow up and spend their lives in homes that were built before they were born. We have no control over our home environments. But now we do. Now we can dictate the layout, flow, and design of our homes in a very affordable way."
VIVA Collectiv
Do You Live In A Tiny Home?
"I currently do not. I did, however, grow up in a very small house with 4 siblings, and shared a room with 2 brothers until I went away to college, so I’m no stranger to tight spaces! I also lived in a 400 sq ft apartment in Los Angeles for 5 years, and the thing you notice is that there is such waste of useful space compared to tiny homes," says Crabb.
"Our founder, Travis Pyke lived in the Wind River Bungalow for four years. When you live in a tiny space, tiny things stands out. It’s led us to pay close attention to detail," says Beckmann.
Wind River Tiny Homes
Okay, So What’s Your Very Best Tiny Home Story?
"I had the pleasure of designing a tiny home for an autistic and physically handicapped young man just last year. For him, the home represents a way for him to get out of his parents’ house while still being close (the home is set up next to his parents’ home). The home gives him, for the first time in his life, his independence. Sometimes tiny things can make a world of difference," shares Crabb.
"Another interesting bit of information is that about a third of the tiny homes I design are for elderly folks, most of whom have just lost their partners. They take a look at their giant empty houses, and decide that they would rather spend their golden years traveling the country in a home that is designed to fit their needs instead of wasting away in sadness. For them, it truly is a new lease on life."
VIVA Collectiv
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Source: Refinery29 – Cait Munro