10 Tiny House Tours

By Kate Riley January 8, 2018

Just about everyone starts the new year looking around their homes thinking “Ugh, how did I acquire all this stuff” accompanied by the immediate need to purge it all. We go around and around with this cycle every year, consuming as the months go by then looking back with frustration and decluttering yet again.

Motivated myself, I fell down the rabbit hole of tiny houses and small space living. This is a growing movement of people who have decided to give up their large homes in exchange for living in miniature dwellings crafted of shipping containers or tiny homes on wheels.

I’m fascinated by this lifestyle if it’s your solo dwelling, and the freedom it brings from living with just the essentials. There are other uses for these tiny houses as well, perhaps a second unit parked on your property to house guests, or for use as an alternative residence you can take on a road trip. The tiny house movement is growing in such popularity, it even has its own TV show where you can watch custom tiny homes being designed and constructed.

These are not cookie cutter projects, rather they are real homes that showcase how simply one can live with considered detail, organization, and the bare necessities, yet they don’t compromise style. Both creativity and craftsmanship are required to maximize every square inch so each home functions for the residents’ lifestyle and also reflects their design preferences as well.

These tiny home share all the modern amenities we appreciate in larger residential homes on foundations: contemporary light fixtures, sliding barn doors, plank wall treatments, cozy textiles, tiled bathrooms and backsplashes, but all on smaller scale. Here are the links to tour ten favorites.

1) Pacific Harmony – House on Wheels

 

 

 

2) Denali Craftsman House on Wheels

 

 

 

3) Pacific Pioneer – House on Wheels

 

 

 

 

4) Silhouette Tiny Home

 

 

 

5) Sacramento Container Home

 

 

 

6) Le Laurier House on Wheels

 

 

 

7) Mayflower Tiny Home

 

 

 

8) San Francisco Family Tiny House (with video!)

 

 

 

9) Eucalyptus Tiny House on Wheels

 

 

 

10) Cindy Lou House on Wheels

 

 

When you read the stories of people who have jumped on board the tiny house movement, the themes of simpler living, energy independence, and financial freedom repeat themselves. Most people I know wouldn’t give up their houses to live so small but the people who have done it speak passionately of the benefits.

The biggest takeaway for me when I look at these tiny houses is I’m inspired to take action and live smaller, with far less stuff, in order to have more freedom.

What takeaways do you get from tiny house living?

 

14 comments

  1. I’m fascinated by this tiny house movement, but don’t believe I could live in one myself (too claustrophobic). I love to watch where they manage to find storage space and make use of small cubbies and “wasted space.” My former personal trainer, Midge Stanton, left her job at the gym to join her husband’s company (http://www.timbertrails.tv/) because they had so many tiny house projects. Apparently, folks in Richmond, Virginia are clamoring for more housing options.

  2. I agree that they are beautiful and functional, but I really need more space! Recently moved from a 3 story house to a 1600 foot condo and the amount of space feels just right.

  3. Having grown up in a very small, cramped house, this would not be my choice for a primary residence. But I’d love it for a weekend or vacation getaway. I also think tiny living is better suited for climates that allow for more outdoor living. Love all of the examples listed!

  4. My husband started a job in Dallas while we live in another state waiting on kids to finish school. We really want to buy one now, keep it there and him live it in right away. The hardest thing for us has been finding a place to put it when we do buy! Many areas are banning tiny house neighborhoods while approving permits for a 20,000 square foot house. It’s really a shame because they are fun and fabulous!

  5. Some of these homes are really pretty but just because one has less space and chooses to declutter doesn’t mean they actually do. We always see the completion of the tiny home and the excitement of the people who have chosen it and maybe we see an after shot of the people entertaining there but we never get a shot of the home on a day-to-day basis, untidied for the camera. I think I might run into some of the same problems I have in my small 1350 sq house now. I think they are a great idea for some situations as some of your readers mentioned. It was a brilliant idea for the young traveling nurse on one HGTV episode who did 2 to 3-year stints around the country and who didn’t want to have to move every time she was sent to a new state. She took her home with her and she and her pup lived very comfortably and cheaply wherever they went. For me, decluttering is always a goal but it depends on what all one might be involved in and numerous projects have their stuff and one needs a place for it. Still some very lovely homes in this bunch and some good ideas.

  6. Love them. I love watching the shows and the solutions for multi-use spaces, etc. I think I could do it myself but not with my hubby. He gets stir crazy fast and I think the small space would drive him crazy. Hopefully zoning laws will catch up with the demand and change to accommodate these homes as a primary residences.

    • Ha, yes agreed you have to be the kind of person (and live with the kind of person) who would not go crazy in such a small space!

  7. Living in the city, I already have a small apt. I love all the ideas about storage. I also love how beautiful they are. I do want to downsize more but live a more country life so I can travel more. Thank you for this post!

  8. These tiny houses are delightful to look at, but I struggle to understand the lure of living life on wheels. It doesn’t seem practical to me–unless it’s an RV, where designated spaces are readily available.

  9. Loving the Pacific Harmony house and its cottage-like design. While I probably couldn’t live in a tiny house, I think it is important to scale back on the “stuff” we just hold on to for the sake of having stuff that we don’t even need.

  10. When my husband and I bught 13 wooded acres in a rural setting, we had the idea to build a small guest house first because we needed to have a comfortable place to move into quickly becuse my son needed to be ready for his sophomore year of high schiol..
    We had a small family room, one bathroom, small kitchen and one bedroom.
    We made it work. We took turns sleep in tge bedroom and then on the sofa.
    We stayed in it the entire time we built our main house. We had already built our barn and would sometimes sleep in the lift when we went from our city house to our country placw.
    I had so much fun decorating and using square footage as to get tge mist out of the little guest house.
    It didn’t take long before we all got used to the smaller space and as we built the main house, I
    found it hard to leave the guest house since I had made it so cute.

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