Getting Used to Our Home

When we first decided to go Tiny, we were extremely excited by the idea of financial freedom, being able to move our home wherever we wanted to live, and simplifying our belongings.  However, it was not until our completion date was quickly approaching that we started going through our stuff that the stress of getting rid of so much truly set in.  In this post, we will tell you all the ins and outs of how our space (or lack thereof) has actually worked out.

I previously wrote about how great it was to reduce our possessions to the stuff we use and love most, but with full transparency, that was not an easy process.  In your twenty-somethings, it is really difficult to know what you will need down the road, and what is worth keeping for some unknown future purpose.  In order to convince ourselves that the fourth and fifth rounds of purging were completely necessary, we put an image in our own heads that we were crazy people that were moving into an oversized shoebox.  We also felt that living in a cluttered space was not appealing to us.

Granted, our home is 31ft long, which is pretty sizable as most Tiny Homes go, but we had never lived together or individually in anything remotely close to the size of our new home.  Even after getting rid of about half of our belongings, we feared for the day where we had to find a place for everything.

Getting set up in the middle of a beautiful winter in Bend

Here we are, months later, with all of our stuff moved in and we are starting to realize that all of those stressful purging moments may not have been entirely justified.  Maybe we did not give ourselves enough credit.  We made thousands of decisions in designing our home to accommodate for the stuff we had, but we doubted our competence in design, and that seemed to override the confidence from our calculated choices. 

All this to say, we actually have enough space.  That is not to say that we have not encountered any issues with moving into our home, but I will talk about those more in a later post once everything has been fixed. 

Finding a place for everything was honestly a breeze.  It took about two days to figure out a system for where everything should go.  Essentially, things we use frequently goes downstairs, and things that are needed but used less frequently (extra paper towels, suitcases, out-of-season clothing, etc.) go upstairs in the loft.

Starting in our bedroom, the space underneath our lift-up bed is absolutely cavernous. Admittedly, not all of the space is that easy to get to, so again we organized this with clothes used more frequently at the foot of the bed, and things used less frequently at the head of the bed where it is harder to reach.  I even have enough room on my side of the bed to store my two trekking backpacks.  Our shoes are easily accessed from the sides of the bed without even having to lift the bed up.  We still have to get some bins that fit well and look nicer than the rag-tag assortment of clothing storage baskets that we have now, but for the time being, it works.  There is certainly a method to the madness, but believe me, it still looks like madness under there. 

Master Bedroom Set-up

One of the biggest drawbacks about the space and layout of our bedroom is the closets/nightstands.  Functionally, they work great.  I am able to hang about 8-10 sweaters and jackets, and once summer comes around, I should be able to fit 10-15 t-shirts.  On the other hand, the narrow closets are crammed between the wall and the bed, so actually getting inside them is slightly uncomfortable.  Unexpectedly, the biggest issue that we have been having with these closets is condensation building up inside them.  Although Bend is considered semi-arid high desert climate, humidity this winter has frequently exceeded 90% at night.  That factor combined with the difference in air temperature from inside to outside, condensation build-up from our breathing at night, and the closets being the absolute furthest thing in the house from our HVAC unit are all reasons we have had to keep a close eye on the moisture build-up.  Hopefully this will be less of an issue as the temperatures rise and the air gets drier. 

42 inch wide Subway-tiled shower with Delta fixtures

Moving into the bathroom, again we have seen a large upside to the layout we chose, along with a couple of drawbacks.  Our shower feels incredibly spacious.  At 42" wide x 32" deep, I have never hit my elbows on the wall while washing my hair.  Naturally, this is the standard I use to measure the roominess of a shower.  Even at 6'2", I thought I might bump into the shower head, but it still feels like a perfectly normal shower.  The white subway tile and shampoo insert has also worked great in making the space feel very open.

The one criticism that I have of our shower is that it might even be too big.  It is not that I necessarily want a smaller shower, but our bathroom vanity shares the same side of the bathroom as the shower, and that is the only space in the bathroom that feels really small.  The vanity is barely large enough for my shoulders to fit through, and definitely not roomy enough for two people to brush their teeth at once. 

If we could do it all over again and take away 3-6" off of the shower and add that extra width to the vanity, I
would not hesitate to make that decision.  With that said, the vanity looks beautiful and works great and the three drawers and medicine cabinet provide enough space for all of our stuff.  The only drawback here is that it just feels small.

Even with a composting toilet, we still try to have refined taste

Now to my favorite conversation starter, the Separett composting toilet.  In all honesty, it has been a wonderful experience.  There is no smell, it is comfortable, and we use a fraction of the amount of water as a conventional toilet.  Emptying the compost load is also very simple, and not nearly as crappy of an experience as we thought it would be.  My one complaint about this miraculous contraption is that in order to separate the liquids from the solids, men have to pee sitting down, which can feel quite emasculating at times.  I'll get over it.

The washer/dryer unit has been another win in the book for our layout and product choices (we will update at a later date about the durability of our Magic Chef Washer Dryer Combo unit).  The washer has a pretty small capacity, so we just run it more frequently.  The one obvious drawback about our washer/dryer combo unit is it take an agonizing four hours to dry a load!  We can just about air-dry things that fast, so that is exactly what we do.  Since most of our clothes are wool, waterproof, or delicate, not much would be able to go in the dryer anyway. For bigger loads like sheets and towels, we have been using the laundry facilities at our RV resort.  We also have a space above the washer/dryer to put our hamper, hang clothes to dry, and store a basket with our detergent and other miscellaneous cleaning items.

We obsess over our zero-radius stainless steel sink.  Having the knives hung on a magnetic strip helps keep them accessible, yet out of the way

Onto the kitchen, the room where all of the magic happens.  Our cabinets and drawers have given us loads of storage space for all of our kitchenware.  We were even able to keep our slow cooker, panini press, AND blender!  Since we cook almost all of our meals, it was a big priority for us to have full-sized appliances, so that we could cook real meals without any limitations.  In our time shopping for appliances, we also found that smaller RV or boat-sized appliances were often more expensive and less reliable than standard-sized consumer appliances. 

We love the contrast between the rich wood tones and the stainless steel and marble finishes

So far, we have cooked up a storm and would not have had our kitchen design any other way.  The only appliances that we downsized was our refrigerator, and our over-range microwave.  The refrigerator has not felt small to us at all.  We typically grocery shop once a week, so for two people, this space has been more than sufficient.  Our microwave is a standard width, but about 5 inches shorter than most microwaves on the market.  Its low-profile design is sleek, extremely functional, and as beautiful as a microwave can be, but we did have to pay a bit extra for it.  Those extra dollars spent on the microwave were 100% worth it, because now the tall cabinet over the microwave can store bottles of olive oil and loads of other dry goods. 

Our rolling table fits perfectly next to the countertop, providing almost 3 feet of extra prep space

That brings us to our dining and living area.  Our rolling table has been super clutch for a multitude of reasons.  For informal meals, we can just pull the bar stools out and sit side-by-side.  Admittedly, this is not the most comfortable way to eat, because the table is a bit narrow, but when you just want to scarf down a quick breakfast, this is a complete non-issue.  For dinners where we want to take our time and enjoy the meal as well as each others company, we quickly roll the table to the open floor space in front of our couch and sit across from each other.  Then there are times when we want to watch a game or movie while we eat, so we actually use our bar stools as personal tables and sit on the couch to watch the TV. 

Our chandelier is perfect for creating ambient light for hanging out

Speaking of the couch, we have been delighted with our Wayfair selection.  It is not the most comfortable couch in the world, but it looks fantastic, fits the space well, and has various functions that work for us.  The back of the couch folds down futon-style, forming a spacious bed for one, or a tight space for two.  The chaise also pops up, revealing a bunch of storage space underneath, where I keep a lot of my camping gear.   The couch is oriented facing our front door and our TV.  We just purchased our 49" 4K Smart TV, and we are so happy with how it fits the space.  It is a decent size TV, but since we sit only seven feet away from it, it seems huge.  Since all of our TV is streamed through WiFi with either YouTube TV or Netflix, we do not have any wires or cable hanging down, which creates a nice clean look.

Lastly, that brings us to the loft, the most neglected space in the house.  So far, we have really only used the loft for storage.  This has been great in allowing us to remove clutter from the areas we frequent downstairs.  However, we currently have a full-sized mattress up there which will be awesome to have when guests come and visit, but until then, the space will not get used very often unfortunately.  We are torn between keeping the good mattress and having a nice space for guests, or selling the mattress, buying a queen size air mattress that can be put away, and making a comfortable reading nook type of sitting area. 

Please let us know your thoughts on this matter and all other matters, because your opinion matters!