Living small more a matter of how, not why
It takes a lot of downsizing and organizing to make little living spaces work, but it’s worth it, tiny home owners say
WILLIS — One of the hardest parts about living tiny, said Susan Corbett, is the Christmas decorations.
When Corbett was in the Navy, she spent three years on an aircraft carrier with all of her possessions stored in a three-by-six-foot “coffin locker” underneath her bunk. “I know how small I can live,” she said.
But when Corbett, now a grandmother, downsized from a 1,300-square-foothouse in The Woodlands to a 399-square-foot tiny home rental in Willis, it was difficult to pare back the holidays. “Where do you put your Christmas tree?”
When I learned that developers were building tiny home communities in Texas, I set out to learn why. But people who have gone tiny often find themselves explaining how.
For Chad Glass, who lives in a 240-square-foot tiny home in San Marcos with his wife, downsizing felt overwhelming. “Some of it was really painful to do,” he said. “I was attached to things I thought I’d never get rid of, like album collections, books, collectible toys, holiday cards from people I’d kept for years.”
After the downsizing comes the organizing. Many items serve multiple purposes: Janet Roberts, who has lived in a 399-square-foot home for three years, has a small rolling island, which she uses as a table for two, countertop and silverware drawer. Other items are stored vertically — Roberts has containers on the side of her cabinets where she can store vegetables.
Organizing comes naturally to her, but she also believes the term “tiny” makes living in 399 square feet sound more radical than it really is. She thinks of her home as more of a small cot
tage or studio.
Corbett agreed. “Tiny homes are not as small as some of the walk-ups in New York City, let’s put it that way,” she said.
Fair point. I’ve lived in a 230-square-foot apartment and even had a boyfriend stay with me for part of that time. Things ended when he lost his temper at my cat for getting too close to his laptop. Not everyone can live tiny.
But Glass said living tiny has helped his relationship, in part because he and his wife spend more time doing the same activities. If she watches a movie, he will too. When one of them starts cleaning, the other joins in — not only because the work is so visible, but also because they have to get out of each other’s way.
After visiting a tiny home (or small cottage) community outside of Dallas, Chronicle photographer Elizabeth Conley and I stayed in one ourselves.
Compared to Roberts’ home, there was a noticeable lack of organizational features but a reasonable amount of room, with space for two beds. After we turned out the lights, I decided I wanted a drink of water and was prepared to blindly grope my way back to bed. To my surprise, my foot hit the bed frame with my first step into the room. There was no floor space to spare.
But people seem to make room for the things they find important. When we left Bluebonnet Ridge RV Park, where Roberts lives in a collection of 399-squarefoot homes, night had fallen. Christmas lights twinkled from the eaves.