Try a Tiny Home Before You, Buy A Tiny Home.
After pitching the idea about buying a tiny home to Mom & Dad, Dad's response was, "Isn't there a way to rent a Tiny Home for a year to try it out?" So without actually knowing, I casually said, "Yeah, of course." Turns out my 50/50 bet was right.
There are quite a number of tiny homes you can rent around the US. As we mentioned in another blog post "Tiny Home Friendly Places", it turns out Maggie Daniels from Tryittiny.com already has an amazing program to help connect "big home people" with tiny homes! Think of this as Airbnb, but better since there are tiny homes involved. I cannot stress enough that we highly recommend trying a tiny home before buying one. Clearly, we liked it.
After deciding this, I called Adam to see if he knew of anybody that he would recommend. He mentioned he knew a guy named Jeremy in Siesta Key that rents tiny homes. We lived in Sarasota so this was a no-brainer, and we ended up booking a week stay with Tinyhousesiesta.com . Not only are they close to one of the best beaches in the world, but all their tiny home homes are beach themed. The one we stayed in had splashes of bright yellow on both the interior and exterior. 🐙 If you're looking for a beach getaway the tiny way, this is the spot.
I think what Sam and I learned from staying in a tiny home first is important. Before living tiny you need to know: A. If you like the feel of the space of tiny homes, and B. What you want in a tiny home. While staying at Siesta Beach Tiny home we quickly realized the design of these tiny homes is for rentals, not living full time in. Although it had a lot of storage, there was space that could have been used for other things. A great example of this is how Tiffany's stairs have sliding drawers that pull out rather than cubbies. The Siesta Beach had big beautiful doors on the side of the home Sam and I thought we wouldn't want in our own tiny home because we could use that wall space to hang baskets or use as storage somehow. Also, we could not leave those doors open because our fuzzy buddy Oliver would end up chasing after lizards. On a side note, wall space in a tiny home will be your best friend. It can be used for so many things, from baskets to folding your table or bed into the wall for more floor space. Sam instantly knew she wanted a full stove instead of the convection this home had since she often uses the oven (and could make bigger batches of my favorite "Sam's original Korean beef", nom nom nom).
So let's talk about what we missed from our home compared to a tiny home during our stay.
Nothing besides a dishwasher! That was simple. Really though, the only things we missed were things we would have in our tiny home. A couple doo-dads here and there such as spices for cooking or a couple of Oliver's favorite toys. Nothing we couldn't live without.
I think you will be surprised by the impact of staying in a tiny home will have on you, especially before diving deeper into the dream of owning a tiny home. So go find a tiny home to rent, and as my brother Ryan suggested to me, spend a rainy weekend in one to see what it's like to be cooped up inside for a while. Although you might not want to spend the money to try it before you buy it, it's a short term investment to make for a long term commitment.
-Tim
Make sure to let us know (in the comment section below) what you found out in your tiny home rental experience or know of a great tiny home rental!
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The tiny home we at stayed from Tinyhousesiesta.com