Why I Went Tiny

I’ve always had a thing for tiny things. As a kid, I collected miniature toys, tiny instruments, and little board games you could actually play. If it came in a mini version, I had to have it. I can’t quite explain why, these things just always seemed to grab my attention.

Fast forward to 2019, I was “living the dream.” I’d been out of college for about a year, working full-time as a mechanical engineer, and renting a 600-square-foot one bedroom apartment in North Austin for about $1,000 a month. It was my first real space all to myself, I had had roommates in college and moved back into my childhood bedroom for 6 months after graduation. I could easily afford it, yet paying rent each month and not truly owning the space meant it never really felt like mine. But that’s what you did, right? You went to school, got a job, rented an apartment until you could buy a house.

But I started to imagine what it might look like to do something different. What it might look like to go tiny.

Tiny houses where all the rage back then, I’d been watching Tiny House Nation since high school. It seemed so cool, a tiny house built for a fraction of the cost of a traditional home and I would own it! With my background in engineering, my dad’s experience in architecture, and the fact that my parents owned seven acres of land out in Leander, I knew I had an opportunity many others didn't and I had to take advantage of it, so I started designing. 

I opened Revit, the same program I used at work to lay out ductwork each day, I started laying out walls, doors and creating rough floor plans. I measured my apartment for reference and even spent a weekend at a tiny Airbnb in Durham, North Carolina. That stay taught me a lot about what worked for me and what most definitely did not.

I went through five different designs before finally landing on my sixth and final version. I remember printing out floor plans and getting my friends and family’s input along the way.

Then the building began. That story deserves its own post or two! For now, let’s just say I don’t recommend starting your build in the middle of a Texas summer.

Now I have been living in my tiny house since December 2021. Almost four years later, I can confidently say that going tiny has been one of the most rewarding, and challenging things I have ever done. 

In my next post, I’ll be sharing the unfiltered pros and cons of going tiny, what worked, what didn’t, and what I plan to do differently on my next build. Stay tuned!