How To Stay Content Living in a 280-SQFT Home—This Little Adventure!

BY Toni & Karlton, This Little Adventure.

How do we do it?

How are we content with living in 280-ish sq ft of space—2 adults, an 8 year old boy and a dog?

The truth is, living in a small space comes pretty natural to us.

Our first house we rented together was just about 600 sq ft, and when we moved from that house into a 1,200 sq ft house, it just felt entirely too big. The TV was too far away from us on the couch, haha!

We genuinely missed the cozy feeling of having less space.

The only thing that has changed from when we were living in our larger rentals prior, really, is that now we just have one space that is an all-in-one rather than multiple rooms with dividing walls.

We can see everything that we own just by moving our head right to left. We see each other all the time, we are always together. If at any given time we were to stretch both of our arms out, we would probably hit something.

This might all sound crazy to some people, but it's something that we are so used to at this point, it doesn't even cross our minds. This is just the way we live now—this is our home.

Although living in a small space is something that comes easy to us, there are a few tips that we have picked up along the way that definitely help to make tiny living less chaotic and more enjoyable.

This one might be obvious, but it is the thing that has had the most impact on our tiny living life—be organized.

If you aren't naturally an organized person, strive to become one. Everything you have needs a home, and every time you use something, you must put it away. If even a few things are left out throughout the day, it feels as if the whole house is a cluttered mess.

We basically live in one hallway, so it's not like you can just walk around things left on the floor or just use counter space that doesn't have stuff on it. If something is on the counter, there is no more counter. Trying to remain organized and picking things up as we go are daily tasks for us, but tasks that make life better in our tiny home.

Another thing that helps us preserve a state of minimalist living is just not having many things.

By things, I mean clothes, knick-knacks, jewelry, shoes—material possessions that we don't need. We have everything that we need and also everything that we want.

I still find myself occasionally getting rid of a few articles of clothing that I haven't worn in a month or two, and it legitimately feels good to have more space in the bin that I store my clothes rather than stuffing it as tight as possible.

We all minimized our possessions, even our son, David. He has one bin that holds all of his toys. It is crazy to think that he once had an entire bedroom to himself filled with all sorts of toys and clothes and shoes, etc.

We used to have a garage filled with things that we hardly ever used! It was so full we couldn't even park our car in there, which is the main purpose of a garage! It is kind of ironic that now our entire house could fit inside that garage.

Let's talk about multi-purpose furniture real quick.

We have two couches in our home and they both lift up to have storage underneath. Our desk is also our dining table—it doesn't transform, we just use it both for working and for eating.

Our bed sits on top of two 8-bin storage cubicles from IKEA, which allows for the space in between to serve as what we have dubbed 'the doggy cave'. It's a little quiet place for our dog to sleep and hide if he is feeling nervous or shy.

We built David a loft bed over our driver cab area, and our TV mounts onto the wood on the underside of the loft. We crafted all of this furniture ourselves with ingenuity and the mindset of utilizing every opportunity to maximize space in our tiny home.

With all of the hidden storage that we have, mostly everything fits into their designated places with plenty of room, and we aren't packed full to the brim.

We feel content in our tiny home.

It feels more like home to us than any other house we have lived in prior.

I think a big part of it is because we did such an extensive renovation and changed just about everything in here to make it our own. Everything is custom made to fit our needs and our way of life.

It's a perfect situation for us, and I couldn't imagine life being any different than it is right now.

If you are interested in learning more about our journey, follow our Instagram for regular updates from our family and subscribe to our YouTube channel!

Images courtesy of ©This Little Adventure. 

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