Our Tiny Home Vacation: How to Live in a Tiny House
On a recent vacation, we decided to rent and live in a tiny house for several days! While we could have taken the traditional route and stayed in a hotel or resort, I really wanted to see what it was like to stay in a tiny home.
Fortunately, we had no trouble finding a tiny house for our vacation!
Why people want to live in a tiny house
There are so many reasons people want to live in a tiny house.
Tiny houses are not only trendy, but they are really changing the way people think about housing.
Tiny homes are becoming a new way of living for so many people, and I love some of the reasons behind why people are shifting to tiny homes:
- Lower cost of tiny home vs purchasing a regular home or renting
- Ability to travel and transport home anywhere!
- Adopt a more minimal lifetsyle
- Less carbon footprint
- Downsizing
What it was like to live in a tiny house while on vacation
While every tiny home is different, here’s a few pictures of what our tiny house looked like on the exterior and interior. Of course, I forgot to take pictures of the bedroom and loft, but you get the idea below.
It was bigger than I thought it would be; roughly around 350 square feet, which includes the loft space.
Here’s an exterior shot. We had a small driveway, cute but tiny front porch and tons of windows!
Part of the reason the space felt so big was because of the 20 foot ceilings! I never imagined a tiny home having this kind of space, so we were totally surprised.
We also loved the ladder. It was fun and didn’t take up much space.
While it was no problem for us to get up and down into the loft space, which was a living room and could have doubled as an extra bedroom, it could be an issue for small children!
The bathroom was amazing and I’m so glad it wasn’t small and cramped. It was a full size bathroom with a rainhead shower, a window and glass enclosure, which made the space feel even bigger!
Here’s a list of some of my favorite things I liked about the tiny home!
There were so many great things about staying in a tiny home on vacation.
1. There are tiny homes that are designed and built to be mobile and on wheels, but I specifically wanted to find a tiny house that was a fixed, permanent structure and felt like a small home.
2. The tiny home had similar features you would find in a house!
The kitchen had granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and nice cabinets. The bedroom had a queen size bed and the bathroom was huge.
The high ceilings made the space feel so much bigger.
The light walls and floors, along with a lot of windows, made the space feel larger than it was.
Because of all of this, we never felt cramped for space or claustrophobic.
3. Every area in the tiny home had a purpose. I’m a minimalist, so being able to live in a tiny house for vacation was a dream come true!
Although this was a vacation house and not a true ‘home’, I definitely tried to envision what the space would look like with all of our stuff.
I would still need to cut down on on my belongings and be purposeful about what we could keep and what we would need to ditch.
4. There is less to clean. Cleaning a house each week can be a major time suck. With a tiny home, there is less house work.
5. The price.
If I were to build a home or buy an existing house, building a tiny house can be extremely affordable option! In addition, furnishing a tiny home would cost so much less than trying to have furniture for an entire home.
I think with a lot of careful planning, we could live in a tiny house depending on what stage we were at with our life.
How you can vacation and live in a tiny house
Here are the exact steps to find and live in a tiny house on vacation!
We found our tiny home through Airbnb. You can sign up here and receive a $40 credit.
Select your location.
Next, scroll down and select Unique Homes > Tiny House
Next, you will see a list of tiny homes to choose from. All you have left to do is select your tiny house dream home for vacation 🙂
Would I ever want to live in a tiny house?
I’m really into tiny homes for various reasons. I think they are a great alternative for people that want an untraditional home life and perfect for people of all ages.
I think with careful planning and the right location, I could live in tiny house. I’m pretty organized and don’t like to have a lot of ‘stuff’, so I would be a great candidate for a tiny home.
Unfortunately, I’m not really in the right mind-set or phase in my life where a tiny home would make sense. This would be especially challenging for someone with a family and pets 🙂
Bottom line
I love tiny houses! I think we will definitely plan to vacation and stay in another tiny home.
I can also envision building a tiny home on a property that would be perfect for visitors, like family and friends. It’s such a fun and unique experience!
Related reading:
You made a good point that a tiny home has a lot of ties to minimalism, where every single part of the space has a use. I’ve always been an interior design enthusiast since I used to work on the set designs of the theatre club back when I was in high school. Perhaps I could use some of that knowledge if I’d want to live in a tiny home someday.
I would love to stay in one! I would have never thought to look for one to stay in during a vacation. Seems like a great way to get a feel for it too before buying one. Looks absolutely gorgeous. I’m always surprised with how functional they can make tiny homes.
This one was really functional, but would definitely need some minor changes if it were to be lived in full time! It was really fun and much better than staying in a hotel room 🙂
Hello Kristen,
I currently live in a 5th wheel with my husband, two big dogs, and two cats. While it can be challenging we love the freedom this gives us. I love the idea of vacationing in a tiny house as well.
Yes, love it, it definitely makes it easier to move around and see more places!
Our motorhome is about the same square footage – but we don’t have 20-foot ceilings. And our bathroom is much smaller that what your pic indicates. However, on the plus side, we do get to travel across the country (usually for 4-6 weeks at a time) and stay a while in different locations with different scenery. But on the other hand, we do have to pay for fuel . . . Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
Sounds fun!
I love the idea of staying in a tiny home for a vacation – so fun! And that bathroom doesn’t look any smaller than our bathroom at home. Lol. We don’t live in a tiny home but we do live in a small home. It’s just over double the size of your rental (~800 SF) for two adults, a very active toddler, and two cats that try to escape from the toddler ;-). Quite small for a house by today’s standards.
The bathroom was amazing and huge, I was not expecting that 🙂 We live in a really small home similar to your size, so it was fun to see how to go even smaller!
Oh, cool. I didnt know you could rent one! Ive been fantasizing about doing a solo getaway writing weekend. This could be interesting!
I didn’t know either! I had to play around on AirBnB and figure it out 🙂 We are definitely looking into renting another one for other vacations. I would TOTALLY stay in one for a getaway as well to get caught up on work!!
As someone who lives in a very tiny room, has lived on boats, and values both budget and sustainability, I can’t believe I never thought to vacation in a tiny home! I love this idea!
Yes! I have lived in a studio apartment and a small home, I wasn’t sure about it at first. But we LOVED it. There were definitely pros and cons about vacationing in one vs. living in one, as the vacation one didn’t have some features (like a washer & dryer) but it could totally be worked in. It was really cool!