The Reality of Living in a Tiny House: 8 Things I Hate

1. No creative space

Creativity is a huge part of our lives. I paint, make jewelry and cards, and do other arts and crafts. My husband is into leathercraft. Thankfully, we do have my husband's desk to store supplies, but it’s in our kitchen. We also have space in my parent’s garage for bigger craft items.

All of our supplies are scattered in different places. If we want to create something, we have to get it all out first and put it all away when we’re done. It’s not the biggest issue in the world, but it sometimes makes it hard to get started.

With my son starting to crawl, I’m nervous about the little pieces and even needles that we use. We would love to have a studio space, ideally with a large table, where we can just leave everything we are working on out.

2. No space to invite guests

The reality of living in a tiny house is that having guests over is difficult. Outdoor indoor dining table just fits our family. It extends, but we don't have enough chairs. 

Usually, when we have guests, we'll eat outside, but, in the summer, it's too hot. With our bed downstairs, it's basically like we’re inviting people into our bedroom. 

Plus our restroom is literally right off of our bedroom, so you can hear everything that people are doing in the bathroom, which is not ideal. So that is one of the bad things about living in a tiny house.

3. Our loft isn’t walkable

A lot of people ask why we didn't make the loft walkable. It’s because that’s the way the loft was structured initially, and we would’ve had to tear down the whole roof to fix it. Since this isn’t our forever house, we don’t want to spend the extra time, money, and effort.

Our loft has a couch and a TV, alongside our closet and storage. We never go up there. It's been super hot this summer, and the loft is ten degrees hotter than downstairs. When it cools down, we hope to turn the loft into a creative space, so can leave everything out and not worry about our son getting into our craft supplies. 

Along with the loft not being the most functional space, the ladder is also not the best thing. But, that is what came with the house, so we've kept it. 

4. No downstairs closet

I'm really into fashion and I love organizing my closet and making it all clean, and color coordinated. So, it makes me sad to have most of my clothing downstairs right now. I'm so looking forward to having a downstairs closet when we move.

5. We clean up all the time

The upside of living in a tiny house is that it takes basically no time to clean. The downside is that it gets messy and dirty very quickly because we use 100% of our space, all the time.

I have to sweep or vacuum at least once a day and things pile up very quickly. The reality of living in a tiny house is that I’m constantly cleaning up. I need my space to be visually clear so that I can focus and be productive.

When we have guests over, there isn't a space where we can close the door and not let people in. Visitors see our entire house. I feel like we always have to have our house clean and in order, which probably is a good thing, but can be stressful.

If we want to get something out to organize it, it takes up the whole house. It would be kind of nice to have a separate space to organize things, shut the door, and not have to worry about it. But I guess that's part of minimalism, right?

6. Our kitchen

Now, this was a bad choice on our part; we put the oven above the countertop, which is rare and weird. Usually, it goes underneath the counter. However, we wanted to utilize all of the storage underneath the cabinets. We have open shelves and needed a place to store things that weren’t so pretty. 

When I use the oven, I either have to use a stool or ask my husband, who’s taller, to help. Thankfully, I haven't burnt myself, but it’s kind of a hazard. Additionally, since the oven is above our stovetop, when we cook things, there isn't enough airflow. 

7. Space for baby to play 

I don't like that our baby doesn't have a lot of space to crawl and play around in. I would like to get a tummy time floor mat for him and make space for him to play with his toys when he gets older.

I guess living in a tiny house encourages going outside. But, it would be nice to have a little bit more space for our baby. I know that the house is going to get smaller and smaller as he gets bigger and bigger.

8. Space to decorate 

Lastly, my inner interior decorator, the artsy side, is sad that there isn’t enough space for me to be creative with decor. I love decorating my house, and I've run out of wall space. So I am looking forward to moving into a bigger house. Being able to decorate makes me so excited.

The reality of living in a tiny house

This is the reality of living in a tiny house; there are things we like and don’t like about it. When we buy or build our next house, we want something not too big, not too small, but just the right size. 

What do you like and dislike about where you live? Let us know in the comments.