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The tiny house movement is holding steady. Birthed amidst a trifecta of events – tiny houses were inspired by the market crash of 2008, the uprising of new college grads that refuse to take on large mortgage debt when already up to their ears in school loans, and parallel conservation trends that look for ways to live large with less.

Want to work less and play more? Want to sacrifice some material goods in an effort to live sustainably? Interested in having a comfortable place to live while you slowly build a mortgage-free home? The tiny house movement makes all this possible.

Tiny House vs Big House – Fun Facts and Comparisons

Before we start fantasizing about HGTV-worthy tiny houses – and boy are they cute – let’s look at a few interesting facts.

According to thetinylife.com:

• The cost of owning an average, single-family home (2100 sq ft) over 30-years is roughly $1,073,000 (that includes purchase price, loan interest, repairs, and maintenance, etc.
• The cost of owning a tiny house for 30-years – assuming you buy a piece of land to put it on – can run about half the cost of a conventional home, but over the course of 30-years, you save hundreds of thousands of dollars in property taxes, HO insurance, utilities, and repairs.
• 68% of tiny house homeowners are mortgage-free, compared with only 29.3% of all homeowners.
• 89% of tiny house owners have less credit card debt than the average American, and 65% of them are living debt free.

As you would assume from the name and the concept, those who get on board the tiny house train are innately drawn to getting more for less out of life – and keeping themselves detached from the American credit/debt consumption cycle.

Tiny Home Living Requires a Different Way of Being

Now, all that financial benefit is fantastic, but it comes at a price. For most of us, that is a complete restructuring of how we live our lives. The average tiny home is about 189-square feet, while the average American home is 2100 square feet. There are examples of families living in tiny homes, but realistically this way of life works best for singletons and couples. A moderate climate is also a good thing to aim for so substantial outdoor deck space can compensate for the lack of indoor square footage.

And, perhaps, what it really means is that we have to go back to how we lived before. When you consider that most people on the planet live in significantly less than 2100 square feet, perhaps the tiny house movement isn’t the movement at all – it’s the way things have mostly been; it is actually the “big house” movement that began sweeping the world by storm – specifically during the post-war era.

Even so, going from big to small requires a different way of planning, thinking and being. Here are things to consider if you’re thinking about building or buying a tiny house:

Does your city or town allow tiny houses?

If you want to build a tiny house as a guest space, office or studio, you may be able to fudge it without permits. However, if you plan to live in one, you want to make sure they are legal – or can be permitted – where you live. Otherwise, you can run into trouble with the building department.

Do you have a way to transport it legally?

While they do fall under recreational motor vehicles (the same way a motorhome or RV does) they aren’t designed to move around on a regular basis. And, after construction, yours may be slightly wider than the legal DMV width limit. Make sure you’ve dotted your “i”s and crossed your “t”s with the DMV before you haul yours on a major roadway.

Choose the smartest interior design you can find

Living in a tiny home is like living in a ship; there’s a place for everything, everything in its place, and it has to be very efficiently designed or you’ll have wasted precious inches that could have been more thoughtfully put to use. Spend a lot of time looking at various tiny house designs, like the ones here on tinyhousebuild.com, to find a plan that makes the most efficient use of space in a way that’s best for you.

I’m fascinated by the tiny house life – and I love the idea of owning one as a means of having a smaller primary home with additional space that is only consuming heating/cooling and other resources when in use. As for a primary living space – it’s not the answer for our household. It’s sure fun to fantasize, though.

Designing spaces with kids and mind requires a bit of a balancing act. For one thing, some of the tenets of “timeless design” fly right out the window because you’re designing for a very specific phase in your family’s life. Then, there’s that word – phase – which implies a period of time that will have an end.

So, your kid-friendly bathroom renovation needs to be done in a way that honors the temporary phase of “childhood” but that can be easily dismantled and re-accessorized when your kids have grown out of the kid phase.

Steps to Designing a Kid-Friendly Bathroom

1. Safety first. Did you know the bathroom is the most dangerous room in the house? Crazy but believable, what with all those hard surfaces, sharp corners and edges and wet floors. Then there’s the getting in and out of the tub. Therefore, make safety a priority when designing a bathroom for children. Think about slip-free flooring surfaces, rounded corners and edges on countertops and stable stepping stools to allow kids to access sinks. Unless you plan on aging-in-place or having an elderly relative live with you in the future, be careful about adjusting countertop heights as this can affect your home’s appeal if you want to sell it down the road. Also, installing grab bars in the tub isn’t a bad idea. They can be fairly innocuous visually, come in handy and can be appreciated by all – including guests.
2. Think about the extras. If you have more than one child, think about the little extras that make a bathroom more functional. Double sinks are popular in master bathrooms because mates often get ready at the same time. The same is true for families with more than one child – spare yourself the arguments and “sink hogging” disputes by using two sinks. Handheld shower sprayers are a must. Not only do they make it easy to bathe little ones, they also make it easier to clean the tub and shower, especially when you’re training kids to do it themselves. Consider where all the bath toys will be stored (a designated chest or a few galvanized buckets with their names on them?).
3. Curtain or Door? While a high-end glass shower door might be the more stylish choice, I recommend skipping this option and going the shower curtain route with a nice, heavy, weighted liner. Unless your kids are 10-years or older, glass doors are cumbersome to deal with when helping little kids bathe and it’s virtually impossible to train kids to squeegee the doors until they are well into adolescence (if you’re lucky).
4. Use some open shelving or cubbies. Avoid the wear-and-tear on cabinet doors and drawers by creating some open shelving and/or cubby spaces where kids can keep their own bathroom stuff. These storage options make the bathroom more accessible to little people, without always having to climb up on a stool to get to toothbrushes, Band-Aids, lotion, etc.
5. Make it colorful…the right way. Nobody appreciates a colorful environment more than kids. My advice, however, is to use a neutral palette for all the permanent features – like floors, tiles and cabinetry. Then, infuse the space with color using the shower curtain, towels, tissue box holder, and some fun art on the walls. That way, when they’re tired of the cartoon sea creature themed décor, you simply swap all those fixtures for more mature décor – and you’re good to go.
6. Let them have a say. Finally, if your children are old enough, let them have a say in the theme, colors and/or design options and they’ll be even more proud to help keep their brand new bathroom in tip-top shape. Simplify things (and keep the parents happy) by isolating your top three or five choices and then let them choose the winner.

Do you have a spare room without a plan? Lucky you! Whether you’ve recently purchased a home with a bonus room, or the last chick just flew the coop, an extra room can feel like a gold mine – but only if you know what to do with it.

Make the Most of a Spare Room With These Design Ideas

Here are some of my favorite ways KWD clients have made use of their spare room(s). If you’ll use it enough for a single purpose, that’s fine. Otherwise, blend two or three of these ideas together in a tasteful way. The key is to utilize the extra space so it doesn’t sit there empty and unused between guests.

Make it into a quiet zone

This is a noisy world we live in. In addition to the automated world outside our windows, we now have a whole host of electronic sounds to contend with, courtesy of our gadgets and digital devices. Even so, humans need a little quiet from time to time and you might find this is the best use for an extra space.

Decorate your Quiet Room using soothing colors and comfortable furniture and textiles. Then, make it a gadget-, screen- and noise-free zone where anyone can come to relax, sit in contemplation, stretch, unwind or simply Be.

Is it time to build your own library?

Are books stacked, piled and tumbling from the shelves in your living room or family room? Are you clearing out a child’s room and can’t bear to box up their childhood books? Do you have more time to read these days? Maybe it’s time to create a personal library.

The home library theme can combine with the aforementioned Quiet Zone idea to create a quiet reading room. Floor to ceiling shelving provides a way to move books out of the main living areas (or out of the boxes in the attic or closets) and into an organized space where they can be used and loved.

Any shelves not consumed by books can be used to display your collections or curios. Some comfortable reading chairs, an ottoman for your feet, a chaise lounge for napping and an coffee and/or end table will make the room complete.

Give it up for play

Do you find yourself in the miraculous position of having little ones AND a spare room? In this case, I say give it up for toys and playtime. When I was a child, our toys were isolated to our bedrooms. Period. If we did bring toys in the living areas, our parents made us put them away as soon as we were done. Today, I see parents allowing huge sections of a family room or sacrificing the formal dining room for the children’s toys – and that doesn’t seem quite right either.

Using an extra room for a play room seems like the ideal, happy medium – keeping toys and things out of the common living areas (parents deserve sanity too!) but giving children a place to have free reign with their imagination and creativity.

Design a home office that’s just right for you

Tired of working on your laptop in the common areas? A dedicated home office is just what you need to focus, be productive and get your work done in record time. Another bonus? Freelancers and contract employees can write the office space off on taxes, including a proportional amount of household utilities, office supplies, etc. Even the smallest of rooms or nooks can transform into a very organized and attractive office spaces.

Read, 10 Tips for Creating a Stylish Yet Functional Home Office for more specifics on designing an office that suits your tastes and the household’s needs.

The household art studio

Have a scrapbooker in the house? A painter? A knitter or crocheter? It doesn’t take long for arts and crafts supplies to take over the hallway closet no matter how organized you are. Once a spare room becomes available, it’s a wonderful opportunity to designate space to all those artistic endeavors.

Built-in and customizable storage spaces will ensure all of the supplies are neatly stored away in between project. Then, expansive countertops and/or portable tables can be used to provide adequate workspace. Depending on your hobbies of choice, we’ll make sure lighting and electrical outlets (and plumbing, if necessary) are all in convenient and accessible locations.