Comments on: Tiny Houses with Kids

By: Adam K. K. Figueira

Adam K. K. Figueira — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 23:24:19 +0000

There’s lots of good ideas here. Thanks!

My wife and I have lived with six daughters in suburban Utah for almost five years. Our home is about 1100 sq. ft. with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom. It’s not as compact as a lot of the homes out there, but we have eight people trying not to step on each other. We struggled with dining/work space for a long time, especially when I was freelancing from home. Now that I teach high school that’s gotten easier.

We had to get rid of a beautiful wooden dining table we were given in favor of a folding plastic one. Recently, we traded that in for two side-by-side breakfast nooks that fill one end of our living space. The bench seating against the walls avoids the clutter of chairs, and having two separate tables provides some much-needed separation when the kids are doing homework, coloring, or doing other indoor activities. We actually have more space with the two nooks than we did with the folding table, and less hassle. Plus the benches open for extra storage.

The only other furniture in the living area is a small futon, two hollow ottomans that we also use for storage, and bookshelves. We have a large shed in the backyard that holds the seasonal stuff.

The other issue we have with a family our size is laundry, and lots of it. We found we couldn’t put both beds and clothing in the bedrooms, since we have limited closet space, and under the beds goes for toys. We’re still working on this issue, but our current solution is to create a laundry room in the small nook off the kitchen with tupperware bins and drawers for the children’s things. When we have company, we hide the easily-moved tupperware in a bedroom, bring out the folding table and chairs, and we have plenty of room, even for family gatherings with more than 20 people.

My wife makes her own laundry soap, using a recipe that has cost us around $10/year. Our kitchen features hanging pots and pans to save cupboard space, and wall-mounted dispensers for popular food items like ramen noodles.

By: Judy Dailey

Judy Dailey — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:33:06 +0000

My husband and I created a studio apartment (650 sq. ft.) inside our regular-size house last fall to test the idea of living smaller. We love it. We halved our energy costs, spend more quality time together, and still entertain. We live in the city and use the local library, coffee shop, and our urban farm when we need space to spread out. What was planned as a short-term experiment has turned into a great lifestyle.

By: Jennifer Langston

Jennifer Langston — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:04:39 +0000

I love the “life-sized Jenga” analogy. I know exactly what you mean.

By: Beverly Hall

Beverly Hall — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:41:03 +0000

Wow, too much use of the word space. Maybe the dream of ownership should include a thesaurus?

By: Beverly Hall

Beverly Hall — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:39:35 +0000

My husband and I live with our 4 kiddios (age 7 months through 5 years old) in a 650 sq. foot, 2 bedroom quadplex. We have a mortgage payment worth of student loans every month and we always tell friends who ask when we’re going to buy that just as soon as we can afford 2 mortgages we’ll get right on that. We love our tiny apartment. Living close has forced our kids to learn cooperation and sharing from the get go. It does take patience and creativity (I equate it to life-sized Jenga), but honestly I don’t think we would have it any other way. But then I grew up in tiny ranch homes with three adults and two siblings, so it wasn’t a big adjustment for me. When we are ready to buy a house, I don’t foresee getting anything much bigger than what we currently live in. The dream isn’t really more space, just the freedom to do with that space whatever we want and maximize the space we have in a way you just aren’t allowed in a rental space!

By: Chris Newton

Chris Newton — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 00:42:05 +0000

Great topic … smaller houses are seriously under-rated.
We are a family of five (2 adults, 2girls and 1 boy) and we lived in 600 sqft for five years … we just finished building our new home and moved out this Christmas. Our old house (jokingly referred to by extended family as Newton’s Nutshell) was actually two old, renovated office trailers placed side by side.
Living in a small space can be challenging but also has its benefits … its very easy to clean! We found it harder as the kids got older (the kids are now 14, 13 and 12) as they all shared a bedroom (10′ x 10′) and privacy became an issue. Also, our 28″x43″ kitchen table which seemed okay five years ago, was getting pretty small to squeeze the family around for meals. We lived in a smaller home because it allowed us to build our current home without a mortgage at a pace that worked for us … it was definitely worth it.
We just moved into our 1700 sqft home and sometimes do not know what to do with all the space …

By: Shannon Tracey

Shannon Tracey — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 20:53:27 +0000

Yes, we have a fan in her room that does work pretty well – I can use my coffee grinder in the morning without waking her up (usually). Just reflecting on my Saturday night, where I met up with a couple of girlfriends (whose kids are also close to 2) and ended up at one of their houses laughing loudly in the front living room, far far away from a sleeping baby in the back bedroom. Right before my husband sent me this article I had been thinking about how we probably couldn’t have ended up at our house – of course we could have but just would have needed to be a tad bit quieter – and I really love that she comes out and tells you to be quiet! Not the end of the world. =)

By: Karin

Karin — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 04:55:04 +0000

Or try an air purifier, I find that it creates the same amount of “just enough noise” as a baby noise machine. I’ve even become so use to it that when it’s turned off I don’t like the stale quiet. Our kids sleep great with it, and it keeps the air in our tiny place clean!

By: Sussanne Maleki

Sussanne Maleki — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:06:22 +0000

would love to hear about living in small spaces with teenagers!

By: Jennifer Langston

Jennifer Langston — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 21:00:37 +0000

Have you tried a white noise machine? My 4-year-old still sleeps with one in her room, which opens directly to our living room,and falls asleep to a babbling brook every night. It seems to cut the noise just enough, though sometimes she still comes out and tells us to be quiet. Ours is a Marsona – some of the cheaper baby ones weren’t actually loud enough!