I was looking at house designs the other day (I enjoy looking at beautiful designs) when I had a sudden thought.

“Why not make your house smaller instead of bigger?”

I’ve always been a minimalist. I prefer less stuff instead of more and I prefer to get items that can serve multiple uses. So the thought of a house that was just the right size for me (and no bigger than that) sounded very appealing.

I googled “smaller homes”

The Tumbleweed Tiny House

I googled “smaller homes” and… someone already beat me to it. A lot of someones actually. It turns out there are a whole group of people who try to use up as little space as possible in this world. Almost as if they’re planning to live in space and all they’ve got is a tiny box the size of a bathtub to live in. They cram a kitchen, living room and dining room into a 100 foot square area. Check out the video below showing the insides.

The Tumbleweed Tiny House (3.5 mins)

And here’s another video of a similar design (same designer):

A tiny home tour: living in 89 square feet (7 mins)

Floor plans

That’s just a little bit bigger than my bedroom!!!

That’s too tiny for me.

Advantages

It turns out there are some distinct advantages to living small. Which is why these guys try so hard.

  1. The cost goes way waaayyy down. All those loans you take to buy a home? Cut them in half.

  2. Easier to clean. With less things to clear up, it takes a lot less time too.

But they’re trying too hard!! Some of these houses look way too cramped to me. They can’t be comfortable.

Disadvantages

And it’s true, there are some disadvantages to living small as well.

  1. You don’t have a cupboard to throw junk into. This means you have to think very hard before buying anything. It just might not fit…

  2. In a small space, even a tiny mess can take up your whole house.

  3. Your mother-in-law won’t have space to stay over anymore (Or maybe this is an advantage?).

Whitespace

Then it hit me! That’s why it didn’t look comfortable to me. There’s no whitespace! Some people call it negative space but the meaning is the same. In minimalist philosophy, you take away the clutter and add plenty of whitespace. This will focus the mind and the eye on the few things which ARE there. Removing most of your stuff also generally means that you’ll only keep the beautiful and useful stuff. The eye and mind are then focused on these. Quality over quantity, right?

Cramped spaces DONT have whitespace. It turns out it’s not minimalist at all (at least not design wise. Maybe space wise).

Living small doesn’t have to mean living in a small space

So now I’m thinking of a compromise. Using the ideas and lifehacks I’ve found to help minimize my clutter while keeping my space large. Make corridors smaller and rooms huge! Cut away the useless rooms and make the remaining rooms even huger! Have closets to hide away the work office in and keep the room empty to make it LOOK even more huge!

Yes. Yes, I see it now. Living small doesn’t have to mean living in a small space. It just means removing everything that’s useless in your life. I could live with that. I could definitely live with that.

Note: Updated during May 2012 due to some old links not working.