by Andrew Odom
During the course of our nearly 3-year tiny house build we spent a lot of time thinking about the inside. Where would we sit? Where would the bed go? How would the kitchen work best and in what layout? But what we didn’t think about was what colors our walls would be. We never asked ourselves if the house would be too bright with our large skylight. Besides the electrical outlet placement in specific spots for things like our small computer/TV monitor, the pump for our SleepNumber bed, and the hidden plug for our iPad and iPhone charging needs, we didn’t once think about whether or not we would hang pictures anywhere or what kind of window coverings might work best for both energy efficiency and style. And I think this is fairly common in the tiny house community. Due to necessity of design so much time is spent thinking about the design and build that little energy is given to how the house will transform into a home.
The author Jane Austen once said, “There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” But how comfortable are we making our tiny houses? And therein lies the reason we have recently published our first Tiny r(E)volution e-Book entitled How To Decorate the Tiny House.
A 48-page digital download, How To Decorate the Tiny House is a guide for helping tiny house dwellers and small home aficionados figure out what will turn their four walls into a nest of comfort, style, and emotional well being. Complete with space-saving tips, color tricks, psychological and physiological effects of decor, and some of the best top tiny tips, How To Decorate the Tiny House is more a passion project than a task of authorship.
The motivation behind our writing the book truly came from a 2-hour online workshop we taught on the same subject. During the preparation for the workshop it became obvious that the landscape for tiny houses sort of ended with design, wood product, and space saving ideas. There was little to be found on color choices, furniture selection and placement, and even style development. Curating dozens of photos of small houses, model homes, and tiny spaces, we were able to put together a sourcebook that we think is worth far more than its $4.95 price tag. It is that guide that helps us all find our comfort in our home and the tranquility in our decor decisions.