What It's Really Like Living in a Tiny Home, from an Expert Who’s Done It

Precious Price didn’t set out to build her own tiny house soon after buying the three-bedroom home in October 2019.

However, when the pandemic hit, the Atlanta realtor and entrepreneur tells PEOPLE she found herself looking out the window and thinking about what she could do with the property’s “huge” backyard.

She had the idea of ​​living in a small house in her backyard, while renting out the larger house for extra income to pay the mortgage.

By June 2020, she was drawing up floor plans and working with the city to obtain the proper permits to build another structure. Later that year, she began converting the 12-by-24-foot shed into an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), a term for a small secondary home, with construction completed in March 2021.

Price’s tiny home has an open floor plan.

A precious price

Although the total cost of her home was $35,000, Price says the current cost of building a tiny house can be more than $60,000.

For the next year, she decided to rent a small home and stay in her original house. However, at the beginning of 2023, she decided to move into a small space herself, which she calls a “really cool experience”. She stayed in the tiny home for about six months before moving out to rent it again.

Price, who co-founded a startup called Gather ADU to help homeowners build tiny houses on their existing property, shared takeaways from her time in the unit to prepare future builders for what to expect.

Downsizing can be a welcome change

Price says her biggest realization was “the attachment many of us have to things.”

She notes that with larger homes, “since the space is there, we want to fill it.”

However, she discovered that there were things in her larger house that she hadn’t looked at in months, like unnecessary beauty products in her bathroom. Less storage space encouraged her to be more minimalistic.

“You move into a smaller space and you realize, ‘I’m not even using this,’ or ‘I don’t need this, I’m just hanging on to it,'” she says.

“We’ve just created an unhealthy attachment to overconsumption,” she adds. “There’s no reason why I need 10 facial cleansers and five moisturizers.”

We found a tiny two-story house for less than $10k on Amazon — and it has a roof terrace

The price has room for a full refrigerator.

A precious price

Spaces can do double duty

Price didn’t think she’d have room for a workspace in a tiny, open-plan house — but she was pleasantly surprised.

In the end, she got a folding table, which serves as a double space for working and eating.

“I can turn my dining room into an actual desk,” she says, “which was really important to me, because for the most part, since the pandemic, I’ve been working remotely.”

Price’s kitchen.

A precious price

You can still have a full kitchen and bathroom

“My two primary spaces that I didn’t compromise on were the bathroom and the kitchen, and I feel like I got everything I needed,” says Price.

The bathroom has a full shower, sink and toilet with proper plumbing.

And Price says she was able to fit a full-size refrigerator in the kitchen, plus an induction cooktop, two burners and a deep sink.

“There’s plenty of counter space, which I really enjoyed when I got up in the morning and cooked,” she adds.

Price’s bathroom.

A precious price

However, there will be compromises

Price says the two things she didn’t make room for were a washer and dryer because she thought she could use those in a bigger house. However, she admits it was a “hassle” not having them close in the unit.

“It’s probably the biggest design and layout problem I’ve done with my house,” she says.

You will save time on cleaning

Not surprisingly, Price says it’s “a lot easier” to keep a tiny home clean, given the much smaller space.

“I can do a quick deep cleanse on a weekly basis,” she says, explaining that it only takes 40 minutes, tops.

“That was the best, except I was able to get that time back, and also the money back,” she adds, noting that her larger home could take all day to clean, forcing her to pay for a cleaning service.

Price’s shower.

A precious price

You’re less likely to lose things

Price says another of her favorite parts of living in a tiny home is not having to walk across the house to get something she needs.

“I didn’t leave anything in the other room — there’s no other room,” she says. “It might sound lazy of me, but everything I need is legitimately there. I didn’t lose anything.”

Visitors might be surprised when they step inside

Price says people are often surprised by how much the inside of her tiny home “looks like a house.”

“It looks like a shed from the outside, and you walk in and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I had no idea it looked like this,'” she says.

She adds that “it’s definitely the aesthetics of it that surprise people.”

“They’re also surprised at how spacious 300 square feet is,” she says. “When you get inside and see that it legitimately has every essential you can think of, they’re very surprised that 300 square feet can feel like that.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

384 sq.m. Ft. The house is selling for more than the $1.7 million asking price — here’s why

Price’s porch.

A precious price

Outdoor space is a ‘game changer’

Price says adding a porch to the home was a “game changer.”

“Something that’s really important for homeowners to think about is how you can use that outdoor space or the space around the house to make the living space feel bigger,” she says. “Many times I would have breakfast on the porch. I could just go there and sit and enjoy the nature in the backyard.”

When people ask if living in a tiny home feels isolating, her answer is “no”—thanks in part to the outdoor space.

“I still invite my friends,” she says. “Your friends don’t feel cramped inside something that’s like a shed. You’re out on the fire pit or on the porch or whatever, and you can really still host people.”

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education