Anything you miss from living in a “regular size” home?
For me, since I clearly have the mindset (which I think it takes) to live small/tiny, never having to wonder where something is, makes life simpler. Deciding what to let go of has proven to be a benefit, rather than an issue. An example: I love to bake. My kitchen has what would be a counter-top oven in a regular-sized home. There is only one baking container that will not fit in the oven, and it was one I might use a couple of times a year. Shrug: I just won’t bake that anymore. My 12-cup Bundt pans turn out spectacular pound cakes, cookies are a breeze when I use the convection settings, and pies: from Southern classics (chess, buttermilk, custard) to fresh fruit, “mile high” pies, I can bake them all!
Did you have any financial problems getting financing for your tiny home?
For me it was easy to purchase a tiny home; it was not unlike purchasing a luxury vehicle of some sort. I used tiny living advocates online to help me find insurers in Alabama. Since I chose to have my house built without wheels and on a foundation, finding a property on which to settle the cabin was crucial. Timbercraft provided every service along the way: building the foundation, having the house transported, and tying it down (with multiple stabilizers buried six-feet-deep).
What advice could you offer to people interested in living in a tiny home?
- Make sure you have the mindset to live small. No matter how much online searching you do to find your dream home, visit a builder and go inside! I had no idea if my over-six-foot frame would feel comfortable until I walked in my first tiny house.
- Location, location, location. I chose to have my home permanently settled, so property had to be found. Even that proved hit-or-miss until I ditched a realtor, sad to say. Until the rest of the world catches up to the benefits of living small, most residential properties have a minimum size and building restrictions. (My desire for woods, water, and the mountains, placed me well “off-grid” with those restrictions. If you plan to live on the road/travel and have not done so before, finding where tiny homes are accepted is crucial. I have heard that it can be tough.)
- Start looking for home insurers early. Again, using online tiny living advocates is great. They are a simple online search away!
- Once you have chosen the home that you will live in, start imagining yourself inside, think of your day-to-day activities, and consider what you will need—and what you can let go of—to be content. In our fractious economy, non-profit thrift stores and their customers can benefit from what you no longer need. Plus, if you choose, you can get a tax deduction.
Anything else you would like to add?
This is just my take on all of the tiny home construction shows on television: while all of the extravagant bells and whistles that you see in these homes might be appealing, consider how they might “live” a few months or years from now. The fanciest things we included in BranchHill included a drop-down table at the end of the ten-foot solid maple kitchen counter, two slipper doors (for the bathroom and the back room that has the daybed), and rollers on the ladder that leads to the sleeping loft—so it can be stored every day out of the way and out of sight. Easy.
The process, for me, was ideal. Finding Timbercraft just months after retiring led the way to what is already, and what should continue to be, a comfortable, easy “third act” of life. I am a lucky, lucky man.
