How to Perfect Tiny Living in a Green Home

Living in a Smaller Home is Eco-Friendly – But How Easy is Tiny Living?

What You'll Discover Here:

Living in a smaller space is not just eco-friendly, it’s also a great money-saver and might even allow you to achieve financial freedom instead of being handcuffed to a mortgage load for years on end. You might also be able to live in an idyllic location close to Nature. But tiny living is not always easy – it takes a bit of planning to make sure you enjoy it to the max!

Porch.com has written a great article with tips on tiny living – and yes, I contributed to it!

So I’m going to share my favourite tips from this article – and if you want to read the full piece, great, it’s here.

Why Tiny Living?

Tiny living is all about simplicity, efficiency, and sustainability. When you live in a smaller home, you use fewer resources. That’s great for your finances and for the planet too!

Here are some key aspects you need to consider:

You need to get really clever in a tiny home – there’s no spare space! Multi-purpose furniture and creative storage really help.
You effectively need to go minimalist – keep only necessary or joyful items.
You need thoughtful decor that creates a cozy and personalized space without overwhelming it.

So, let’s look at this in a bit more detail with some expert tips.

Clever Decor

You want your small home to look spacious rather than cramped. One way to do this is to use one floor covering throughout (breaking your space up into different areas makes it look smaller).

Using one light color throughout, and placing mirrors opposite windows also make the space feel larger.

Another interesting tip is to hide things in plain sight. Use books as decor, make pots and pans a style statement, and put your best keepsakes on display.

tiny home built by fritztinyhomes interior gorgeous — Tiny home built by FritzTinyHomes for their client

Furniture

Arrange your furniture to promote a smooth, un-blocked flow throughout your tiny home. You need convertible and multi-functional furniture, such as a sofa bed, fold-out desk, or a coffee table with storage.

Folding brackets allow you to have foldable shelves, tables, or desks that you can easily tuck away when they’re not in use, freeing up valuable floor space.

Ideally, you want multifunctional furniture that is easy to change – using only one person. You don’t want it to take long to switch between things. You can save a ton of space by combining multiple functions into one, making your home much more versatile.

The Kitchen

This is perhaps one of the more difficult areas of a tiny home – but there are solutions!

Use a sink cover to extend your countertop and give you room for food prep.

Most people want to keep spices close to the stove for east access, but heat can damage them and their containers, so instead, stories them inside a cabinet with spice clips or a tiered organizer.

Add a collapsible island or drop-leaf table to create counter space when needed. They can double as extra seating or be folded away when not in use.

and then, there’s the dreaded de-cluttering ….. continued below

De-Cluttering

Oh dear, I’m hopeless at this! Here are the best tips:-

Go through everything every few months and remove what you don’t need. Does it serve a purpose and/or bring you joy? If not, don’t keep it.
If you bring in something new, discard one existing item.
Use organizers and bins or containers to keep things tidy and easy to find, and label things.
Keep digital instead of physical copies to reduce paper clutter.

Making it Energy Efficient

See what I wrote for Porch about making your tiny home nicely energy efficient – but in fact, the tips work for bigger homes too! Check out my tips here.