If you’re someone who lives in a small space that even makes breathing hard to keep on doing, you know about all the troubles that come with fitting an entire life inside of it.
You have nowhere to keep your clutter, all your draws are filled to the brim with random assortments anyway, your kitchen is just an oven and a fridge, and your bed is beset on all sides by walls. It doesn’t strike as the most convenient and happy way to live… But some people prefer it: sometimes tiny living is a conscious decision, and having a tiny home to decorate and furnish properly is a welcome challenge!
When it comes to living in a space smaller than an average apartment, there’s a lot of concessions you have to make for your comfort; it’s the reality of living compact at the end of the day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with what you choose! And because of that, there’s some little tips and tricks on the menu below to help you out with your plans of becoming minimalist in both mental and physical aspects; so here’s some ideas to help you out with your tiny room designs.
Use Outdoor Light More Than Indoor Light
When you’ve got plenty of windows to accompany your literal four walls, you’re going to be receiving plenty of outdoor light whenever you have the curtains open. And you need to use this to your advantage. Not only does natural light help a room to look bigger, but it also means you don’t have the trouble of fitting lamps, shades, and other lighting arrangements into your already dense rooms.
So always have your curtains open during the day, keep them open for as long as possible, and only switch on a light when it’s totally dark out. If you live near a street lamp, this might just do the illumination job for you when there’s no natural light to help you out. Anything works if it means you don’t have to cram more and more standing lights and dangling shades into your rooms, where you can trip over their wires in your limited moving space and hit your head if you’re someone of the taller variety.
Use A Unified Pallette
If you’ve got unity in your decoration, your house is going to feel a lot bigger compared to decoration that segregates each room off from each other. Having a common color pallette to coat your walls and floor in makes sure you’ve got a sense of balance and harmony within your tiny home, and helps to make you feel you have a lot more room to move in. And hey, it can also be a lot cheaper at the end of the day, and that’s why tiny living is sometimes about!
So pick a color you absolutely love; something you know you won’t get bored of, and can be used for general purposes. Red isn’t usually the best choice here, but something like a warm or a soft blue, or a white or sandy color, could do some great things for you here. Not only are these colors quite calming and perfect for any situation, but they’re also more likely to reflect the light around you, making sure you tiny house is as bright and open as you need it to be.
Make Repairs More Possible
Being handy at DIY is going to be a lifesaver for you here. Being able to fit a professional crew into your house when something goes wrong or breaks down isn’t always going to be possible, but knowing the ins and outs of repairing your appliances and your house systems is going to save you a lot of time, effort, and money.
When it comes to questions like when to replace your toilet or how to keep your pipes as secure as possible under the sink, there’s a lot to take into consideration compared to someone with a bungalow or a three bedroom house in the suburbs. Having a tiny house about you means any kind of flooding is going to be a complete disaster, and you’re not going to have room to spread your tools out either. So always check on your systems and any appliances you own regularly, and find yourself a toolkit that keeps everything you’re going to need compact. Mini screwdrivers and wrenches exist out there, try to find some to invest in!
Fitting More and More Storage In
If you’ve got tiny rooms on your hands, you’re not going to have a lot of space to keep all of your possessions. Sure, a tiny house can be revolutionary in its storage tactics: you can roll the kitchen in and out of existence when need be, and you can turn the counters into another sofa if you’ve got a guest over. But otherwise, the minimalist lifestyle is going to be the best option for you.
But if you’re not satisfied with that answer, now’s the time to fix your storage solutions up a little. And that means utilizing every surface and nook and cranny you have in your house as a storage area. Attach boxes to the ceiling, attach more shelves to the walls to rest all your things on, and try not to cram in any traditional furniture you know won’t fit.
Compromise where you can with your needs; use the bookshelf as a TV stand, forego a nightstand by your bed and either use the floor or have another shelf mounted on the wall behind you etc. It all counts towards your storage space whilst still making your space feel open.
Living in a tiny house is going to be difficult, but the difficulties in designing your space don’t always have to be insurmountable. Use tips like these and little bit advice from other tiny housers for better luck!
