Home Essentials
Essentials make your home functional. Space saving, or just useful from tiny house sized vacuum cleaners to tools. Stackable pots and pans to folding bicycles.
Appliances/Built-ins
The key to compact kitchen solutions is efficiency. Built-ins and dual-use modules will make your tiny space more efficient and fun to live in.
Furniture/Storage
A real challenge can be finding scaled down furniture to fit into your tiny home. We look for quality and durability and prefer furniture than folds away or can be used for multiple purposes.
Building Supplies
There are many products you'll need to make your home complete. Products for heating/cooling, plumbing, windows, doors, composting toilets and even water heaters.
Books/Plans
One of the hardest things about building a tiny home is finding resources. We have the plans, the building codes, and the information you need to create the perfect tiny house.
What is a tiny home? There are many types of tiny homes, from as small as 9 square feet up to under 1,000 square feet. Designs vary from traditional wood, to steel and glass. Often the smaller ones will incorporate off-the-grid features like solar/wind power, rainwater collection, and composting toilets.
What do you need to live? Not the luxuries, but what do you NEED. Most people require a comfortable, dry, quiet place to sleep, a bathroom, somewhere to relax sitting during the day, storage and some kind of food preparation area. You may want other things - such as a refrigerator for longer term food storage, or somewhere to wash and dry clothes, a hobby or computer area, or space for pets.
There are lots of benefits to "living small" - less cleaning, less junk accumulation, lower energy bills, a greener footprint, a faster turnover of food so everything is fresher, more time for outdoor activities or hobbies, and if your tiny home is on wheels...easy relocation!
Tiny homes, on average, tend to cost more per square foot than large houses mainly because designing for smaller areas is more complex. Furniture must be built in, appliances must be compact, cupboards and storage must be custom built. If you are designing or building your own home on a trailer bed, you need to take plumbing (grey water and black water storage and disposal) into consideration.
You have several options with tiny homes. You can build from plans, buy already made, or buy a used home. You can either work with plans and buy your own supplies, or get a 'kit' that provides almost everything you'll need, including instructions. The cheapest option for small living is to buy a well-maintained used RV or travel trailer. The downside is it's still a trailer...whereas a well-built tiny home is a HOME...customized to your lifestyle. And tiny homes are really about lifestyle, aren't they?
Throw stuff out! Pare down your belongings. You probably wear only 20% of your clothes, don't use most of what's currently in your house. You just store it. By getting rid of most of that wasted 80%, your life becomes immediately simpler. Instead of having 30 electrical appliances you may just need a computer and TV...or let your computer BE your TV. A laptop with a TV tuner is even more energy efficient.
Storage is the number one reason most people don't attempt tiny home living. But if you can be creative about storage and multi-function furniture - you'll probably realize you aren't missing much. Storage can be hidden in areas that are wasted in a 'normal' house. In a tiny house furniture will do dual duty...storage under a bed platform, tables that fold away, even the studs in the wall can hide storage!
We have accumulated a large variety of appliances, furniture, storage and necessities that will make your tiny home comfortable to live in, as well as efficient. Always plan for more storage than you'll think you need. Don't waste any space...even a small cubby can hold jewelry or a couple pair of socks. The motto of a small home afficinato is unused space is wasted space!