Tiny houses just might be a lot popular lately because they could invoke a part of our childhood that we had forgotten about…
So here is a “tiny” rant of mine that I have about tiny homes.
I think tiny houses may be so popular because many people wanted to have a treehouse when they were children and the tiny house serves this desire.
I don’t think that’s the case for everyone who has a tiny house or for everyone who may want one but when I look at them and their average square footage, I think to myself, “A tiny house is basically:
- a tree house
- an RV without wheels
or
- a pool/guest house with some fluff”
Today I had someone ask me if I had a chance to live in a tiny house, would I do it? And I quickly answered “YES!!!…” I then changed that answer and said, “Well, not all of the tiny houses would work with my living arrangements now that I have a son”.
And of course this was basically because I wanted more room than what a tiny house provided.
But I do love the ones that are made out of renovated buses and old or unused shipping containers. Modified shipping containers are my favorite.
Since tiny houses started getting popular a few years ago I always liked the creative ways that people would make their tiny homes. I like to discover how people would pick and choose what they would want to use to make their homes. Some people would dig them up out of the ground while others used mud to make mud houses. This kind of makes me think about how we were when were were children playing in the sand and making mud and sand castles. Seems that part of us never left when we see adults building up castles and homes from the ground.
But no matter what the tiny home was made out of they always appealed to me as a tree house or a tiny cottage home similar to the kind that I would envision from reading stories like The Little House on the Prairies series from my — childhood.
Laura would describe her cottage home as small home, but it still seemed cozy to live in. It was still so full of love. When I would read her series and many like it I used to dream about how it would be like living in a cozy cottage in my own back part of the woods. I still think about that from time to time.
A tiny home might be the closest thing I can get to that cottage feeling that could fit my budget; at least in the foreseeable future. I could just get a shipping container renovated where I would design the layout myself, and then just buy some land and park the tiny house out there in peace.
When I was younger I wanted a treehouse to be able to have my own “cottage in the tree” although we didn’t have a tree that was good enough to put a house in its branches.
I also liked to build things as a child, and still kinda do, so back in my first home where I was raised I would find a place behind the tool shed to plot my house I wanted to build. Then I would sometimes find old scraps of wood, tarps, and materials from around the neighborhood and the forest behind the neighborhood and I would build my own “treehouse” except it was more of a groundhouse since it was on the ground instead of a tree. My imagination at the time said otherwise.
But it was my tiny clubhouse that me and the other children would play in. I tended to like playing outside in it more than playing indoors with a doll house. I used to figure that the dolls were having more fun than I was, but outside I was “Barbie” and every day (or whenever our parents let us play outside after school) everyone would go to each other’s backyards and play in the built “tiny” clubhouses that we made and we would hang out with one another and just have fun.
I kinda miss that now that I’m talking about it.
But maybe this is the same case for the many who love these tiny houses. I wonder if this is what could be going on subconsciously in some people who find tiny homes fascinating where before, the thought of living in a studio apartment would be considered unheard of by the same people who are buying tiny homes!
When I see tiny houses on tv or the internet I wonder if the reason for why the fad is so popular and continues to be so is because there are a lot of people who may be reliving their childhood desires and dreams of living in a tiny tree house or a cozy cottage home; especially when that tiny home has a ladder that leads to a loft in it.
That and there’s also the idea that tiny houses are popular because there’s a huge preference for living more minimalistic than “average” ( although they turn into a storage shed if you put too much in them).
Tiny houses are — well, tiny and cozy. And by looking at them I wonder if you would get that warm cozy, “covered” feeling that comes with being snuggled tightly in a huge bed.
A house’s roof gives the feeling and appearance of a covering and protection, but when the house is smaller I wonder if you feel like you’re getting a hug by the walls while receiving a feeling of comfort that is different then what would be felt in a bigger house.
I’ve never been in a tiny house before and the closest that I would say I’ve been near one was a Home Depot shed that looked like a house.
But I do wonder if people feel snug in those tiny homes in the same way that I described. Many have said that living in one is therapeutic and have discovered that having a huge house with many things to fill it up with; is all overrated and is America’s Dream and not theirs.
Or maybe it’s not a dream that people are trying to relive. What if this tiny house trend is the result of people coming to the reality that what is considered a “tiny” home to Americans is considered an average house in other countries? That tiny homes are the standard overseas and going beyond the normal size of one, would possibly be going beyond what is necessary in most cases?
Maybe the reality of the matter is that we in the US are so accustomed to being ungrateful and calling things “small” or “tiny” when things really aren’t, while the rest of the world calls what we call tiny, normal and average or — reality. And so what is confusing is to see how many that are raised in “tiny” homes overseas are trying to leave reality and come to the illusion of the American dream thinking that the dream here is better than reality.
Over here people are still living in a dream,protesting and wanting more while claiming to not have a fair shot at life, while also having a 2-4 bedroom apartment or home as compared to people who; again; were raised in a 1-2 room tiny home overseas.
People throughout human history have been able to have large families, sometimes going up to 8 person homes or more and they would do all of this while living in tents, cottages, and “tiny” homes that worked. Families had issues then of course but they were more closer than families are today in bigger homes.
I even saw somewhat saw a shift in the distance of my family when my family moved from our 3 bedroom home that I was raised in, where I made my “tree” houses in the backyard, to a 5 bedroom home where all the rooms were spread out. It seemed like we became more distant from one another being so spread out from each other.
Now don’t get me wrong I prefer and think that having your personal space is necessary for your health and sanity. But when families lived in smaller homes this may have encouraged for not only families to be closer together (because yea there was less privacy) but smaller homes also encouraged moving out on your own to have your own space. To have your own tiny home. To start your own family or just to have your own space.
Now, many people are not able to move out into their own homes here in America due to so many issues that I’m not even trying to list out in this post — ahem greeed — but so many young adults are having to move back in with their parents because of the difficulties of attaining home ownership; but what if these difficulties are self-imposed by trying to persue more than what you should be trying to attain initially?
I say this because I have seen many people in my age range from their 20s to their 30s complain about not being able to own homes and, yes I get that even the cost of some 1 bedroom apartments are higher than most houses these days, but what is the problem when my age range is trying to own that big home with the white picket fence on their first try without being settled first? I say they have been taught to bite off more than they can chew when chasing after that American dream, because they are biting off fantasies and are now choking in the same society that is raising the cost of rent ridiculously in some areas because some landlords may realize they can make a profit off of someone’s “dreams”.
And then there are those who are not even considering leaving the nest and try to mooch off their parents as long as they live because they would what? — have their own tiny home to themselves called their bedroom. They could live out of their bedroom that they were raised in. In that sense they would be living out their childhood dream. A Peter Pan dream.
The moocher child wouldn’t have to venture out through self discovery to discover how to get their own food. And a man that doesn’t work, doesn’t eat, but when a parent doesn’t care about this, they become the enable of their moocher child. Some people can be raised in a huge home and would never have a sense of urgency or be given the opportunity that comes with being left with having to practice self-sufficiency. Why practice being without when you’re living in comfort?
If the moocher child can just venture from their bedroom or basement to their parent’s tiny home (the kitchen) for something to eat why go find food for themselves with their own skills? Then after they would leave the kitchen they could just go back to their “tiny” home to indulge in pleasures away from the family they would be using. All of this could go on in huge homes with many tiny homes in it…while people are crying to have more space. But maybe its not more space that people need it’s less. What profits a man to gain the whole world but lose their soul, right?
This is a common state of affairs in the society we live in today. This looks like many peoples’ large and lavish homes where we have so much “wealth” here in America and yet so many are spiritually poor followed by broken families that are spread apart in huge homes. Huge shells of a home.
Maybe God is allowing all of this tiny house fad to happen here in America to show that we grew up and grew out of what is natural in us to consider when it comes to living comfortably, cozy, and close with one another in a family unit. A tiny home doesn’t have to be 300 square foot but its a start.
But I don’t know. These are just some ponderings. This could all easily be another tangent. I think I started one towards the end of this. I tend to do that though.
But if I do get a tiny house of my own I still would like to have that cottage feel to it. Less is more, so no need to fill it up with all the things I have in my apartment now. If we spent more time outside in the nature that God has made, we wouldn’t need to fill our house up with things to look at and gaze upon. We wouldn’t spend enough time indoors to do so. We wouldn’t need screensavers on “window” desktops showing a mountain and some fields that imitate reality. We have an entire world to be amazed at! A world to look upon and adventure in! And once the day has turned in and we return back into a tiny home whose walls are so close that if the walls could talk they would say, “Let me tuck you in so you can dream about all that you saw and did that day”, instead of some American dream — Yea I would prefer that.
Who knows, I may put that treehouse up in the backyard as a finishing touch.
Cover Image credit: Clay Banks