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Hosting a Party in a Tiny House: Happy Valentine’s Day


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Guest Post by Tonita

Some people like to entertain or host holiday parties. Tiny house owners might shy away from any thought of it due to not having an adequate amount of space where people can be seated somewhat comfortably.

Dinner parties can be fun in a tiny house, that is of course if your guests are not claustrophobic, and you don’t serve Mexican food in such a small space.

Here are some tips to create a festive holiday party in your tiny home.

You might also want to check out my Pink Christmas in a Tiny House post.

Hosting a Party in a Tiny House: Happy Valentine's Day

Hosting a Party in a Tiny House: Happy Valentine's Day Hosting a Party in a Tiny House: Happy Valentine's Day Hosting a Party in a Tiny House: Happy Valentine's Day

Before building your tiny home decide in advance if this is something you are interested in. If so, I highly recommend using a standard size front door in your tiny home. This will provide your guests as well as yourself a more comfortable entry into your tiny abode. It will also allow you to move in a table that will seat up to four guests comfortably, that is if you build your home at least eight feet wide by eighteen (ish) feet long. Of course, there is always an option to purchase a table with removable legs or a fold down compact table and chairs in order to move it through a tiny door that is not a standard size. However, with tiny nonstandard front doors, your furniture options become a bit more limited. If you live in a teeny tiny house I recommend a buffet style dinner or skipping dinner altogether and just drink beer and eat peanuts with your friends and call it a mini party.

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One good thing about hosting a dinner party (or any party) in a small or even tiny home is that there is not much square footage for you to clean beforehand. The downside is that there is not much storage space for things you may want out of your guest’s view. This is where your shower stall or bathtub will come in handy. You might also use this area to hold ice and cold drinks. I have a vintage coat and hat rack attached to the wall above my bathtub. It works great for hanging guests coats, purses, or other items while allowing me to use the bathtub for temporary storage.

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You might consider cooking a meal ahead of time so that you can hang out with your guests and relax. Serving food buffet style is also a popular option as well as using paper plates and cups for easy cleanup. For my Valentines dinner party, I am planning a sit-down dinner for guests. After dinner, the table will be cleared for more elbow room as we enjoy dessert. With a good size table, you have options to play cards or board games after dinner if you choose.

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You may want to decorate your tiny home and make it festive for holidays or on special occasions. This is not only fun but it is also memorable for your guests. Not everyone who owns a tiny home is a full-fledged minimalist. I admit that I am not even near to being a minimalist, nor do I care to be. I like to shop and I like my stuff. There are those who like the concept of a tiny house but don’t want to part with nick knacks, collections, hobbies and so forth. Good news, you don’t have to. There is no law that says you can not have a storage shed or storage rental unit full of your beloved treasures that serve no other purpose than to make you smile. In fact, I can not imagine living in a tiny space looking at the same window coverings, furniture, pictures and so forth day in and day out for years on end. Hats off to the minimalists, but that is just not my style. I like to decorate for each holiday, as well as change things out and mix things up a bit for some variety throughout the year.

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For my dinner party, I pulled out my Valentines Day decorations. Even though my tiny house is just 8′ x 18′ (on the inside) I filled her with Valentine décor both inside and outside on the 6′ x 8′ front porch. So, come along with me to take a look at my shabby chic tiny retreat in her Valentines dinner party décor. Hearts, angels, roses, candles, and lace fill all corners of my home and spill over to the front porch where a lavender topiary is dressed in tiny red hearts.

Thanks for stopping by my girl cave. Hope your life is filled with love this Valentines Day.

This is a guest post by Tonita from Shabby Chic Tiny Retreat.

 

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Alex

Alex is a contributor and editor for TinyHouseTalk.com and the always free Tiny House Newsletter. He has a passion for exploring and sharing tiny homes (from yurts and RVs to tiny cabins and cottages) and inspiring simple living stories. We invite you to send in your story and tiny home photos too so we can re-share and inspire others towards a simple life too. Thank you!
{ 20 comments… add one }
  • Judith
    February 14, 2013, 9:33 am

    It would have been more helpful to see the general layout of your tiny home, rather than the minuscule details of your decor. Your floor plan seems quite different from most, and I was curious to see how you fit in the bathroom, whether you had one or 2 lofts, how the kitchen is laid out, and whether you have a “living room” space. No way to tell those things from the photos. When you show closeups of details, we don’t get a sense of the big picture, which would have given some suggestions of how to fit people into a tiny home for a party.

  • Emily
    February 14, 2013, 10:41 am

    This is one of the most gorgeous, most feminine and dainty tiny houses I’ve ever seen. What an eye for details! I wish you’d also included a layout of your home, because I couldn’t figure out where you fit that adorable little fireplace or the two bedrooms. Thank you for the eye candy – it was a wonderful Valentine’s present!

  • dawna
    February 14, 2013, 11:41 am

    Hey Judith…check here for this entire tiny house blog…

    http://shabbychictinyretreat.blogspot.com/2012/12/my-tiny-house-christmas-2012.html

    Super fun Christmas style…but the blogger has links to the builder and more pics.

  • Victoria
    February 14, 2013, 12:42 pm

    What a treat! I haven’t seen your home before and I love the way in which you have completely filled your Tiny Home with your Big Vision and your own sense of aesthetic. You have my dream porch. It sounds like you built on a 8×24′ trailer. Is there any place where I can see more about the floor plan and the overall design? Thanks for sharing your home.

  • Kristie
    February 14, 2013, 3:50 pm

    This is the prettiest little house, I love all the little details!

  • deborah
    February 14, 2013, 5:39 pm

    I never get tired of seeing this gem and all her trimmings no matter what the holiday you are decorating for. You are a true genius in this realm and I bow to you. This is every woman’s dream! Happy Valentines Day to you!

  • mary jean haden
    February 14, 2013, 6:09 pm

    I love this house it is sooo cute!!!

  • mary jean
    February 14, 2013, 6:14 pm

    Love this tiny house its sooo cute!!!!

  • Maria
    February 14, 2013, 6:36 pm

    LOVE THIS HOUSE!!!! Would love the house plans on this cute house. So share it with us. Happy Valentines Day!

    • Tonita
      July 21, 2013, 5:13 pm

      Maria,
      There is a YouTube video of the interior and exterior of my little home on my blog, under the “My Tiny House” tab.
      I don’t have a scanner to copy and upload my house plan. My house was built by Slabtown Customs in Arkansas. He has a basic blog at http://www.SlabtownCustoms.blogspot.com , but reaching him by phone is the best way to contact Scott.

      My tiny house is 8′ x 18′ on the inside and a 6′ x 8′ attached porch.

  • Debra
    February 14, 2013, 10:02 pm

    Hi Tonita! Your home is just dreamy – so gorgeous. Thanks for the great info on entertaining in a tiny house. I had 17 people in mine last Sunday 🙂 It is like a Rubiks Cube. No one makes any hasty moves, and all is cool. It is interesting, people linger much longer than when I had a ‘big’ house. Maybe it is because they are trapped 🙂 , but I like to think it is because they are relaxed!

  • jipsi
    February 15, 2013, 9:24 pm

    Hi, I LOVE this little house, and your decorating eye! You featured a little portable lapdesk/writing box in two of the photos in this Valentine party story, and I MUST KNOW WHERE you found it! As a former writer/artist now living sidelined with MS, I think being able to have those creative essentials more easily at hand would help me work myself back into creating again…

    • Tonita
      July 21, 2013, 4:34 pm

      Hi Jipsi,
      I am so bad at blogging and keeping up with anything to do with computers so I just found this post. The portable lap desk is a vintage piece I bought at an antique store. I bet if you checked Etsy or Ebay you might find one that is different but functions in the same way.

  • Cahow
    February 16, 2013, 11:01 pm

    Dear, dear Tonita: To quote you, ” Not everyone who owns a tiny home is a full fledged minimalist. I admit that I am not even near to being a minimalist, nor do I care to be. I like to shop and I like my stuff.” Amen, Sista, Amen!!! I am SO sick and tired of the “New & Improved” attitude of the Tiny House crowd whereby each new zealot tries to chop off another square foot of space, eliminate toilets/bathing, and actually COUNT their possessions to keep them under the “300 body count”. When did Downsizing become a Contest of the Extreme? You live your life exactly as I do, Tonita; I have a dedicated closet in my 800 square foot home JUST for holiday decorations and my grown kids, grandkids and husband LOVE the changeouts! It’s something my Granma did, my Mom did, I do, and now my two daughters do, just to make life more festive.

    We used to live in a 2,800 square foot home when all three kids were around so reducing our living to just 800 square feet with NO other storage except the tool shed is “radical” in our social circle. We live in snowy Michigan so having an out-building to house the snowblower, lawnmower, rakes, etc., is critical. But, we have no basement, no attic, no U-Store It; we first offered things to the kids and grandkids and donated the rest that didn’t fit into our smaller home.

    I realize that the hipster zealots that think that 80 square feet “homes” are TOO big would scoff at our view that 800 square feet is “tiny”, but it’s all relative. When you have 3 grown children, all married, and they have two kids each, that’s a grand total of TWELVE people that come for dinner each Sunday afternoon, plus my husband and I bringing it up to 14. It’s currently 14 degrees above zero in Michigan; not too many folks would be entertaining on their porch at this time of year so our interior must hold 20 people.

    I adore your “Downton Abbey-ette” home and I tip my hat to you in admiration of your decorating style! I’d so dearly love to see the floor plan and an exterior shot of the outside, from afar. Best of luck to you and keep on keepin’ on with the parties! <3

    • Tonita
      July 21, 2013, 4:48 pm

      Hi Cahow,
      Thanks for your comments. I am definitely not like the majority of other tiny home owners. I don’t follow the “less is more” road, but hats off to those that do. I just want people to know you don’t have to get rid of what you enjoy having around. Who wrote the rules for tiny house ownership? If you want to have a 200 square foot shed to hold all your clothes, shoes and possessions so that you can rotate them in and out of your teeny tiny, cozy home during the year – SO what? The old proverb says “It is better to have joy in a cottage than sorrow in a palace”. My own quote is this -” Surround yourself with pretties and lovely things that serve no other purpose than to bring a smile to your face”.

      • Cahow
        July 23, 2013, 1:17 pm

        Lovely to hear from you, Tonita. I copied and pasted BOTH of your quotes from the bottom of your comment; they are truly words to live by. I admire your moxy and admire your being true to yourself. THANK YOU for inspiring potential tiny home owners insomuch that they do NOT have to live a monk-like existance to enjoy tiny house living! I hope to see many more holiday blog posts from you. I bet Halloween is darling at your wee home. <3

    • Tonita
      July 21, 2013, 4:56 pm

      Hi Cahow,
      Thanks for your comments. I am definitely not like the majority of other tiny home owners. I don’t follow the “less is more” road, but hats off to those that do. I just want people to know you don’t have to get rid of what you enjoy having around. Who wrote the rules for tiny house ownership? If you want to have a 200 square foot shed to hold all your clothes, shoes and possessions so that you can rotate them in and out of your teeny tiny, cozy home during the year – SO what? The old proverb says “It is better to have joy in a cottage than sorrow in a palace”. My own quote is this -” Surround yourself with pretties and lovely things that serve no other purpose than to bring a smile to your face”.

      There are pictures of the outside of my tiny house on my blog and there is also a YouTube video of when it was first built.

  • Lannette Madden
    February 17, 2013, 11:03 am

    Do you actually live in this beautiful tiny house? If so where do you store the various decorations out of season.

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