Tiny House Tour Part I

I've been meaning to do this literally for a year... Our house was something that a lot of my readers seemed to be interested in and I have always wanted to share more about it but honestly it's been so busy being our house and not being neat and pretty that I never got around to taking good photos. I figured as long as we live in it it's not going to be perfectly neat so I went ahead and took these anyways! 

What I love so much about tiny houses and our house specifically is that it's altogether very malleable and functional. We've rearranged and repurposed countless times in the two years we've lived here to account for life changes. Initially Brandon and I slept in the loft on one end of the house and then an unexpected baby made that really difficult! So we moved downstairs and moved Jude over to our loft which he turned into an Xbox cave! That left the girls on the other end and other than some impatience with a little blonde baby girl that worked out great too. Now that the big kids are back with their mom we're using what was originally our loft for storage. So Gemma has lots of space to play in her loft. Rue sleeps in a moses basket near our bed and I'll be so sad when she outgrows it! It's such a sweet concept... When she does we'll switch to a mini crib or I'm really hoping Brandon will build one to fit our space a little better. He's got a nack for building things I see in my mind!

 

Like the rest of the world I'm crazy about Ikea. The cart and the dresser in this photo are both from there. The cart was originally in the bathroom for storage and now it hold diapers and a million baby blankets! The key caddy on the wall was pulled from the dumpster the day we emptied our storage unit!

Brandon found the barn light above the backdoor for $5 at the Habitat ReStore near us... So many things in our house are living a second life. Items we've found in an old house in the woods or items found on the side of the road... It's hard to have a home with a lot of character in our culture... The most affordable way we found to do that was to reuse items we loved whether they matched the design idea or not. Our home is truly a culmination of things and ideas we loved individually... Sometimes, like with the fixture over the back door, it took us two years to find the right thing!

In our last house this dresser was Gemma's changing table and only clothing storage. Now it's Rue's Changing table and it holds my clothes and Brandon's. It's also been a media cabinet...

Rocking Chair thrifted form Craigslist for $30! This thing has rocked four babies!!! and before that it belonged to a church nursery!

I've lived in lots of homes and this is by far the one I've loved the most. When we realized we'd be a family of six we made the decision to sell and the house was shown countless times and it generated so much interest. So many people building their own tiny houses came to check it out which was so flattering. I always felt so uneasy when someone would come to see it and finally we decided we couldn't sell it. We spent so many hours pouring our hearts into it, especially Brandon. It took him 28 working days from start to finish to make it what it is now. He did that virtually on his own and I helped where I could. Selling it just seemed like the wrong decision and I'm so glad we didn't go through with it. 

Hopefully I'll be doing separate posts for the kitchen, lofts and bathroom! This is my favorite part of the bathroom and maybe the entire house... The bath tub.

Tiny House living is definitely not for every family. There are many things we sacrificed the day we emptied our storage unit and moved in but honestly I don't miss them a bit. There's been an article floating around social media lately about how the content of a house affects the female homeowner's stress level. It's an interesting concept and it's hard to admit that we comfort ourselves with possessions subconsciously. Americans live in a very competitive state of mind so this whole tiny house thing has been very liberating. 

Obviously we realize that people think we are a bit crazy. Depending on the time of year there are six people in this house... When people ask how it affects us I tell them this; we lived in a 4,000 sq ft house before we started building this one. Each kid had their own room... When there was a disagreement they'd run to their rooms and slam the door. Then they'd stay there all day ignoring each other. Now when there is a disagreement or an argument they talk to each other or ask for some space. So if anything it's helped our kids learn how to talk to each other in a productive way. We spend more time together, we know more about each other, we enjoy each other so much more than we did living in a traditional home. It's been so worth it. I know we won't always live in a tiny house but it has been so perfect for this season of our lives and I know I will miss it one day. 

XOXO

Miranda