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Hubbie and I are selling our 103 acre farm with a 2600 sf house.
We are in our mid 60's and just don't want (or can't do) all the work anymore. I'm also getting tired of cleaning a large house, and all the furnishings in a large house. There's got to be a life other than working to maintain a large home.
So when we sell I was thinking of buying something under 1000sf. Thinking anywhere in the 800- 900sf range, tho idea is "not carved in stone."
We are already slowly cleaning out barns and rooms getting rid of or selling lots of stuff. I currently- as I write this- have a truck and trailer packed and heading to an auction in 2 weeks. Will pack up our SUV also next weekend for our first load (of approx. 3-4) we'll make next week alone. Already did 3 loads of stuff to a different auction (most of our horse tack and supplies) 2 weeks ago.
Questions:
Does anyone live in a very small house?
How do you like it?
Did you go from a large home to a tiny home?
How small is your home?
What are the pros and cons?
Are you happy you did it, or do you want to go back to something larger?
What would you do differently or change?
All info would be welcome. Thanks.
My house is 1005 square feet. It’s laid out well. We use every bit of it. I quilt and crochet, and hubby collects old Hollywood and wrestling memorabilia. Our kitchen is small, and one thing I’ve discovered is it’s far easier to keep ingredients on hand to make various sauces and salad dressing than it is to buy things premade. Takes up far less room.
We also have cats, and that necessitates keeping things under wrap. Like my quilting — I tend to cut and count and stack, and when done it goes into a plastic lockable project box. You can’t leave little pieces of fabric laying around, way to tempting for kitties to play with.
It’s not difficult. And I’ve cooked lots of big dinners in my little kitchen.
If you are moving from a 103 acre farm to a house in the suburbs or on the outskirts of the suburbs, you will want to think about getting a large enough lot to be isolated from your neighbors a little. Half an acre should be the minimum, and it should be fenced. Otherwise, you will hear and feel their doors slam, trash cans being moved, cars coming and going, arguments, dogs barking, etc. And if you find your house is a little too small, get yourself a "she shed".
Good points. The transition from having space around the exterior to living in a densely populated setting was extremely stressful to me. That change went from about 2500 sf (house and second floor of a garage) on only 1.4 acres down to about 1800 sf on a mere 1/8 acre lot. NEVER AGAIN!
Downsizing the house from 2500 sf to 1800 sf was not bad. Exchanging the privacy of our forested, steep terrain for a convenient but sardiney in-town lot was the real bear.
We then downsized even further with this build, down to 900-something sf in the house and 300-something in part of the garage building (counting only “living-grade” space, not the garage bay). This time, the reduction in volume has been tough due to noticeably less storage space. But we LOVE multiplying that tiny lot size by, oh, 320.
I think going directly from 2500 sf to 1300 sf—let alone to 900 sf—in one step would have been much harder. Not impossible, but make sure you sell or give away a lot of stuff, and then plan on using many shelves and other multitiered storage pieces. And allow for the possibility of adding one or two sheds later.
Agree. I'm not opposed to the idea of scaled down living. But like everything on TV, it's too often exaggerated.
It wasn't even a proper "tiny house" but I remember the time taken to find and retrieve all the tools to do a simple job. We didn't have a huge amount of tools but even a pretty minimal set of tools takes a lot of storage space - drill set, saw, hand tools, painting tools, level, spare paint, adhesives, tapes, fasteners, caulk and caulking gun, etc, etc, etc. So much storage is needed for even this basic set of tools. Lots of swearing from my husband around this!
So true! I look at all the tools and supplies garnered for just the bits of DIY I have done and think how much more room the garage would have without those...but there are also the auto and bike tools and supplies.
There would be soooo much more space available if I had never had a life. That is what it comes to: moving at age 30 it is just clothes, stereo, bikes, and books. After gaining some new interests and associated equipment over the years without losing the old ones, the sheer volume of stuff adds up.
I live in an 1800 sq. ft. house, but I have spent some extended sabbatical time in a 250 sq. ft. hermitage. The cottage was built into the side of a hill and had two levels. Through the front door was a wood stove and off to the left was a tiny kitchen and a sitting area with a recliner and a couple of window seats. To the right of the entry was a study area with built-in bookshelves and a table that served for studying and dining.
Next to the stove were stairs to a small landing, which featured a standard closet with sliding doors. To the right was a bedroom large enough for a single bed, a chair, and a bedside table. (A double bed would likely have fit, but space would have been very tight.) Off to the left of the landing was a full bathroom.
The kitchen was very basic but had what was needed to prepare meals for one or two people, including a two-burner cooktop, a counter-top convection/toaster oven, a small refrigerator, and enough storage for a couple of place settings, basic cookware, and pantry items.
I found the place surprisingly comfortable, and I spent a restful summer there, but that may have been as much the setting as the cottage. Noteworthy was what conveniences I did not miss from my modern and plentiful suburban life. The cottage contained everything I needed and nothing I did not.
My home is 438 square feet. There is one big room which I have split in two serving both as a bedroom and a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom and an entry way with closet. That is my only real closet. The bathroom has shelving space behind the door, so it's like a closet, plus I have 2 medicine cabinets and space under the sink. I have a number of kitchen cabinets so plenty of room there. There's also a basement and a garage for additional storage.
In a small house, you have to constantly put things away or throw things out as it can get cluttered very easily. I need to get some filing cabinets for the basement and transfer papers I have stuffed in drawers as papers can take up a lot of room.
mine isn't a "tiny home" per se....but it is tiny. 800 sq. feet. it's a challenge sometimes, to keep the clutter under control, I have WAYYYYYYYYY too many books (lol, well, actually i believe there is no such thing as way too many books) they spill out of the crammed walls of bookcases and into corners, piles of them walk up the edges of my stairs. My upstairs is two beds and a bath, both bedrooms are my walk in closet. the bathroom is the miscellaneous junk room really. I find myself curiously content to live in the little downstairs "den" that has a really tiny bathroom right off of it. I do have a back porch, it's not included in the living space, but it has two deep storage chests for storage and a whole little "closet" i keep my bike in, paint, tools etc.
I don't see the need for over 1,000 sq. feet for 2 or less people. it helps conserve energy resources and i am firmly one of those annoying tree huggers who believes in maintaining a healthy ecosystem and preserving natural resources. we are a wasteful nation. we have that keep-up-with-the-joneses syndrome in spades. The only good thing is all those people with luxurious added extra toys, garbage, clothing, furniture might show up at my little recycling station, and i can refurbish them and supplement my social security income and satisfy my creative juices.
My home is 438 square feet. There is one big room which I have split in two serving both as a bedroom and a living room, a kitchen, a bathroom and an entry way with closet. That is my only real closet. The bathroom has shelving space behind the door, so it's like a closet, plus I have 2 medicine cabinets and space under the sink. I have a number of kitchen cabinets so plenty of room there. There's also a basement and a garage for additional storage.
In a small house, you have to constantly put things away or throw things out as it can get cluttered very easily. I need to get some filing cabinets for the basement and transfer papers I have stuffed in drawers as papers can take up a lot of room.
Another thing to be aware of: When a house has plenty of extra space, use of it can be inefficient. With small houses, you need to think ahead whether the layout will work for every one of your needs. There is little or no margin for mistakes in planning.
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Solly says — Be nice!
That is what it comes to: moving at age 30 it is just clothes, stereo, bikes, and books. After gaining some new interests and associated equipment over the years without losing the old ones, the sheer volume of stuff adds up.
