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Thinking of ditching your family home once the kids are grown and gone? Who hasn’t at least thought of downsizing after their kids leave home? Less responsibility, more free time – win/win. If you’ve watched a Tiny House show they make it look like pure bliss! No yard to maintain, no clutter, and you can always just move it if you feel like it – pure freedom, right?!
My husband and I took a luxury tiny house vacation - sort of a test drive to see if we could live in a tiny house one day when we retire. Conclusion? Absolutely, positively no way! Cool idea in theory - in reality it was fun and novel for the weekend but not permanently. We’ve lived in NY where tiny spaces are the norm but this, this made those seem palatial.
We’ll gladly keep our space and leave the tiny house living for watching on TV. Now I wish I taken a video!
I do have an idea for a reality show though - follow people around who gave up their regular house living for tiny house living. I guarantee you after few months they were going crazy - especially if they have kids!
Here are a few of the highlights of our weekend – take a minute to read our account then decide for yourself…
My husband found it on AirBnB and surprised me with it because he knows I love those tiny house shows - this one is in the rural North GA Mountains - the views were amazing!
There were 5 tiny houses on this piece of property all about the same size as they were all built on trailer bases. Don’t expect to save any money just because it’s tiny - it was $250/night and booked solid for months! It was quite lovely and very nicely decorated but there is absolutely NO storage – we had to take our suitcases, plastic totes, etc back out to the car once we unpacked. So unless you are single, eat out every meal and have no clothing that you need to store, this might not be a practical, full time living situation – unless you LOVE cigars – see below…
It was about 300 square feet and with furniture it got very small, very quickly! It was hilarious watching my 6’2” husband try to maneuver around the place – there was a lot of bumping into things - for both of us!
Even with all the bumping into furniture, we were never seriously injured - only minor bruising and some colorful swearing (and bruised egos from laughing at each other’s clumsiness). My husband certainly didn’t appreciate my “oaf” comment but I couldn’t help it – he’d bump into something and curse and I’d laugh (until it happened to me)… “Did you hit your head on the bedroom ceiling again?” “Yes, go back to sleep, I’m fine” as I crawl out of the “bed room” (There was only room in the loft for a bed on the floor and a tiny table!) to make my way to the bathroom in the middle of the night. With no railing, I had to crawl backwards down the loft stairs in the dark like a toddler! Why did I have that last drink? Where’s the Advil? In the car? Oh, forget it. Never mind, I’m fine without it.
Bonus - our tiny house had a “rooftop bar” which was great for watching the sunset - as long as you could squeeze through the Hobbit Hole door in the bedroom to get to the “ladder” to crawl onto the roof (while holding your wine/champagne) to sit in two flimsy lawn chairs. We were the envy of the other Tiny House vacation dwellers around us - "That’s right, we’re living the good life up here while you sit on your tiny back porch"!
I’m pretty sure we were the oldest people there. We had to be very careful shimmying back down to get back inside after a few drinks! My husband was thankful for all yoga we’d recently been doing. Where’s the Advil again? Still in the car? Oh, forget it. I’m fine.
There was a 4 foot humidor - that’s right, no storage at all for anything but all the cigars you can smoke and the owners generously told us to “help yourselves”. We had to take our luggage, plastic totes back out to the car - but room for cigars? You bet! My husband loves cigars so he was tempted but this was supposed to be a “romantic getaway weekend” and even if you like cigars, they stink. So, no, he didn’t smoke one - even though I did catch him eyeing them lovingly. He’s got plenty at home – so I didn’t feel bad one bit!
It really was a lovely place - granite, porcelain, wood tiles, and hardwood floors, well thought out and cared for - when your bathroom sink is only 6” by 3” you can afford the finest materials! On that topic, the sink in the bathroom was so tiny we both spit on our feet while brushing our teeth!
As I remember it - and there has been some debate...I was brushing my teeth - and I swear I was over the teensy sink when I found myself with toothpaste spit all over my feet. I said to my husband over my shoulder (no need to shout here) - “I just spit on my own feet!” His reply? “I know, me too. I just did that 10 minutes ago!” I’m like - “We’ll, thanks for the warning!” Hahaha - hysterical!
Yes, we are still married – to answer the question some have asked after hearing that we embarked on this adventure together. There was no TV (we were fine with this but if this is important to you, you should ask before going) and nowhere to be alone but it was only a weekend. Plus, we kind of like each other’s company- thankfully! Though we did seriously consider bailing after the first night, we decided - Hey, we’re in it now so let’s finish it! And then we went for an all day hike.
We’ll never forget it! We had lots of laughs, and we came home feeling a renewed gratefulness for our own home for sure – wow, look how I can stretch out and not even touch the walls! We used to tell our older son we were going to live in a tiny house on the land he wants to own one day - we’d live way in the back of his property like squatters, and he’d never even know we were there. No worries, honey, Never. Gonna. Happen!!!
The hiking was great and the waterfalls spectacular, but maybe next time we'll stay at a comfy spacious hotel!
Hope you enjoyed our fun experiment- maybe you’re intrigued or maybe you’re satisfied knowing you don’t need to try it now.
Either way, I’m pushing Bravo and TLC for a follow up show to see how people (especially with kids survive) living this way.
Tiny House, Huge Regrets!