Paola and her husband downsized in 2012 from a 5 bedroom home in Rome to a quaint country cottage in Cambridge with two bedrooms. She has no regrets except that it took her until her 40s to choose a little home!
Her Instagram stole my attention right away, with her cozy shabby chic decor that immediately makes me feel warm! I reached out and she shared pictures of her little house, along with answers to our Q&A about how she spends half as much on bills since making the transition.
Enjoy a photo tour of her fairytale cottage and be sure to read our interview with her below! Follow her on Instagram here.
Many people are skeptical of how long people really live tiny before throwing in the towel on cramped quarters. But the Reed Family’s story shows that sometimes tiny living can be a useful stepping stone to dreams come true.
The family were struggling financially trying to serve at a church in the LA area (Dad/Husband Nick is a pastor), and finally decided to fix up an RV, move 35 miles away from the church (long commute!) and live tiny to remove the financial burden of rising rents. During their RV life, they were able to save up enough money for a 1100 square foot fixer-upper just 10 minutes away from their church! They sold the RV and used that money as part of their down payment on the home.
The family of 6 (@reedsindeed) feels like their little home is a mansion in comparison! The four girls share one of the home’s two bedrooms with amazing built-in quad bunks, and the home features the coolest glass dining area. We got to interview mom, Rachel, so be sure to read her story at the end of the post!
This is simple living story a guest post by Gaylin Weber (share yours)
This SHOULD be titled, The Accidental Small Houser, as this wasn’t really a planned thing…It was prayed for, hoped for, longed for…but never actually thought out and planned…at least, not by me!
We were busy raising our 2 daughters in the typical ticky tacky stuccoed cookie-cutter neighborhood in the burbs of South Orange County, Ca. Don’t get me wrong; it’s what I wanted! A lovely home with a tropical backyard built around a deep blue salt water pool. Five bedrooms; all the kids upstairs, master down, thank you very much! Top rated schools right down the road. Who didn’t want that? Millions of people watched my lifestyle on the TV every week and wished for what I had! Anyone of them would have traded places with me in a South County Second! But I felt restless. Wanted something more. Or less.
In this video based post you’ll get to see how a family of five lives in an 850 sq. ft. small house that’s 100 years old. And if you do the division, that’s only 170 sq. ft. per person. So if you really wanted to, you can say that they’re living tiny, right?
But it’s really more of a ‘normal’ small house with fenced in yard (which is great!). They even bought a shed that they’ll later on be turning into a tiny house to use as a guest house later on. You can get the full story from Talya Rose in the video below so you can learn how and why they’re living in this little home as a growing family.
I think they made a great decision for their life long-term because it seems like this house will work well for them for many years to come if not for the rest of their lives. What do you think about families and tiny houses? In your opinion, should they go tiny or go small instead? Please share your best thoughts in the comments below. Thank you.
‘From Tiny House to Little House’ is a guest post by Jane Dwinell
After living and traveling in our Tiny House for a year, we decided it was time to settle down. We missed gardening, and wanted the community you can build by staying in one place. We looked for property and found what we wanted in Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain.
Unfortunately, the Tiny House was not built to withstand a Vermont winter. And, to be honest, we wanted more space…. not much more, but more. If we had known we were going to stay put in a Tiny House, we would have designed and built it differently. We would have gone to the tallest height we could have legally (instead of two feet lower for ease of going down the road), and had a sleeping loft. That would have given us more floor space in the living area, and greater storage options. We would have added more insulation, and been less concerned about weight.
