Our Night in a Tiny House

My husband and I have imagined for years what it might be like to live in a tiny house. We follow tiny home accounts on Instagram and have chats about what features we would want in our ideal tiny home. Mind you, most of this was before we had a baby.

Although I know that we won't be trading our home for a tiny home anytime soon (maybe once we're empty nesters and/or retired), we have still been curious about what it would be like to have one.

A couple years back, I introduced y'all to Tee Tiny Houses, an Acadiana-based tiny house builder, and gave y'all a tour of their first construction. Since then, they have turned the home into an AirBNB located in Sunset, Louisiana.

 

The owner, Cherie, and manager, Jamie, were so kind to let us spend a night at the home to check it out and see what it's like. We made our plans and took a one-night staycation not long before Coronavirus shut everything down and our governor implemented a stay-at-home order. Looking back, it really was nice to have a night out before many, many nights in.

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A Tour of Tee Tiny Houses

As I teased in Friday's blog post, and on my Instagram over the weekend, my husband and I got to tour a tiny house built locally in Arnaudville, Louisiana.

The weather was absolutely perfect for a 20-mile drive out of Lafayette, after Friday evening's rainy weather cleared out and my first pot of gumbo for the season was put away in 309 containers.

We bundled up in comfy clothing, finished our first cups of coffee, and headed out along Louisiana's scenic by-ways.

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Photo Friday | Tee Tiny Houses Open House

A few months ago, I shared some construction photos of a tiny house from Tee Tiny Houses. Check out that blog post here! The Arnaudville, Louisiana-based company has been hard at work building their model tiny house, and tomorrow, they're showing off the completed home!

It is a special treat for us to welcome you to visit our first complete, custom tiny home. On Saturday, October 28th, join us anytime between 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. to see our first tricked-out Tee Tiny House at our facility at 1056B Coteau Rodaire Hwy., Arnaudville, LA 70512.

In addition to a tour, we will also have information on hand for all five of our tiny house models that are available for construction and can answer any questions you may have about a custom build. Hope to see you there!

Visiting the tiny home, even while it was still under construction, was a really fun experience. My husband and I always talk about living in a tiny home, but we had never actually physically stood in one before! It was really interesting to actually get the feel of being in a tiny house, and I'm looking forward to seeing the completed home tomorrow. I'm curious if it will truly give us the envie to go tiny!

Want to check out this tiny house for yourself?

View the Facebook event.

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Photo Friday | Going Tiny

Last week, we got to make a visit to Tee Tiny Houses in Arnaudville, Louisiana. The brand new company is Louisiana's first tiny home manufacturer, and they're hard at work on building their first model homes.

I've written about tiny homes on the blog before, and about how inevitably, tiny homes are closely linked with environmentalism. By living in a very small space, you are forced to utilize every inch. Everything must have a purpose and significance, and if you don't use something, you don't let it take up valuable space.

Many tiny homes are built and furnished with salvaged, repurposed or sustainable materials. A smaller footprint automatically means smaller utility bills. What's not to love about that!? You can even go off the grid with solar panels on the roof.
 

Phillip and I are fascinated with tiny homes, but whether we could realistically live in one is another story! Nonetheless, getting to visit a tiny home under construction in person was a pretty fascinating morning. Standing inside this home was really interesting, from seeing where the kitchen will be and how roomy the bathroom is, to learning about all of the unique storage tactics.

Tee Tiny Houses will be holding a grand opening later this year, once this model home nears completion, and I'm looking forward to following the construction process and seeing a furnished home!

What would be the one thing your tiny home would HAVE to have?

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Living In Style...In 200 Square Feet

Tiny homes are increasingly popular these days. Instead of going for a 4,000 square-foot megahouse, many creative and frugal people are investing in a home that's 500 square feet or smaller.

The key to a tiny home life is intrinsically rooted in environmentalism. By living in a very small space, you are forced to utilize every inch. Everything must have a purpose, and if you don't use something, you don't let it take up valuable space. Many homes are built and furnished with salvaged or repurposed materials. A smaller footprint automatically means smaller utility bills. What's not to love about that!? You can even go off the grid with solar panels on the roof.

Tiny homes come two ways - as a permanent structure, just like a regular house, or constructed on a trailer that can be pulled, just like an RV. Being able to move your tiny home provides many benefits. For people who travel often, or have a less stationary job, you can simply pack up and get on the road with your entire home behind you.

Additionally, tiny homes make great vacation places. Got some property at Toledo Bend, or False River, or wherever? Roll up with your 200 square-foot home and start relaxing!

Most homes are laid out pretty similar. There's a living space, small kitchen (with or without a small stove, and usually without an oven), toilet and shower, storage built into every nook and cranny, and most of the time, a loft bedroom, with space-saving stairs.

Image: HGTV

Decorating is where you can vary wildly. Some homes have a sleek minimalist look, some have a wooden cabin feel, and some look like a salvaged junkyard, pieced together with scrap materials.

Image: Tiny Heirloom Homes, via Curbed

If you can't get enough of peeking at other people's tiny homes, there are TV shows and documentaries on Netflix to satisfy you: Tiny House Nation and Tiny House Hunters on HGTV, and Tiny: A Story About Living Small” and “Small Is Beautiful: A Tiny House Documentary.

Think tiny homes are just for wanderers out in the mountains? The movement has even hit New Orleans! Gambit recently wrote an article about tiny homes being a possible answer to skyrocketing home prices in the city. Two years ago, the Times Picayune featured a music teacher in Covington who lives in a 200 square-foot house made of mostly recycled materials.

Image: NOLA.com

Curbed NOLA has a tag dedicated to tiny homes, and the main Curbed site has five impressive homes to drool over, along with a tag for tiny homes around the country.

My fiance and I are obsessed with different tiny home styles, and dream of one day being able to have one out in the mountains of Colorado. Bonus points for in the trees near a lake. We debate over just how many square feet we could live in (less for him, more for me, obviously.) We prefer a fixed home over a glorified RV. We love windows and a clean interior design, with space for our cats, of course!

My absolute favorite tiny home, may be on the larger end of the spectrum at 600 square feet, but is cozy and full of style. Located in Little Rock, Arkansas, the house uses the Tumbleweed Whidbey layout. Take a photo and video tour of Lyndsey's home, but don't blame me if you fall in love with it!

Check out some tiny home vendors:

• Tennessee Tiny Homes
• Tumbleweed Tiny House Company (they sell the mobile versions, but sell simply the floor plans for fixed homes)
• Tiny Heirloom 
• Atkinson & Stone Carpentry

More articles on the tiny home movement:

• LiveScience: Living Small: The Science of Psychology Houses
• Salon: Living Large in 150 Square Feet: Why the Tiny House Movement is Taking Off
• Washington Post: Tiny house, big benefits: Freedom from a mortgage and worries - and stuff

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