The traveler – strong, yet exhausted from his trek – looked up from the outpost where he had slept a few hours to half protect himself from the pounding snow of the region and half to rest his now-aching joints. He focused hard on a collection of jagged rocks that stood in formation some three miles away. It was not going to be an easy climb nor hike but he knew that only there could he find the answer to his question.
Where do you get furniture for your tiny house?
Okay, so it isn’t exactly a question worthy of an unruly hike to the peak of a mountain upon which a wise old man sits dispensing seemingly perfect wisdom. It is however a question that seems to be asked every once in a while of tiny house communities and forums. Where do you get furniture for your tiny house? If you are like Macy Miller of MiniMotives your decision on furniture comes out of necessity rather than idealistic planning and complete style-based decisions. In fact, in a recent blog post she took us through the timeline of butts needing seats in her tiny house. It is obvious that she made both necessity and style work in her favor.
That still leave the initial question though. Where do you get furniture for your tiny house? The obvious answer is IKEA. I mean, next to conversations about poop isn’t the “tie that binds” amongst tiny housers the inclusion of a NORBO (or maybe the NORBERG, if you are into the contemporary look) wall-mounted drop-down table? Mention tiny house furniture or storage and suddenly you find yourself deep into a conversation about IKEA, flat packing, clean lines, neutral tones, and perfect prices. Surely that can’t be the only option though. Yes, the LACK series in plain birch is almost too good to be true, but what if you don’t live within 9 hours of one of the Swedish mazes…I mean, stores…and you aren’t wealthy enough to pay for shipping? Here are some idea that may help you:
EXPAND FURNITURE
From multifunctional smart wall beds to convertible coffee tables, Expand Furniture (Vancouver, BC, Canada) have a wide variety of space expanding solutions. While they are a bit pricey, they do offer worldwide shipping and have designs that are incredibly clever and stylish. I especially recommend checking out their Wall Bed Sofa Combos!
GET GALVANIZED
This comes in under the “budget” heading. In recent years furniture using galvanized pipe and fittings has seemingly taken Pinterest by storm. There are DIYs for desks, shelves, lights, seats, etc. Truth is, folks like my dad have been cobbling together threaded pipes to make all sorts of ridiculous but necessary units for years. They are still very cool though and a quick search of the the Google-sphere will produce some very neat results that are both easy to build and sized for a tiny.
HOME RESERVE
In doing some research I came across a website that specializes in apartment size furniture which in any other terms means ‘furniture for your tiny house’. HOME | RESERVE.com works well for those of us needing to work with exceedingly small spaces, small entries, and even small stairs (or no stairs). The scale of the furniture offered suits the aforementioned applications, and the ready-to-assemble shipping method makes it easy to get the packages through tight quarters and into position.
RESOURCEFULNESS
I truly do love the innovation shown by Resource Furniture. Their take on furniture that is incredibly stylish, contemporary, and transforming. From the moment you arrive on their website you can see how a small space can be turned into very large living. Wondering what I mean? Go on over to their site and check out their video on Carmel Place; New York City’s first micro apartment development. Some of the features that would work well in any tiny house are the sofa wall bed, the rising coffee table, and pocket chairs.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL….
Truth be told there is no store called “Furniture For Your Tiny House” or a website that exclusively sells furniture that doesn’t exceed 18″ deep and 60″ wide. Part of living in a small space – and one of the coolest parts, I think – is that it forces you to really connect with the space. You really have to determine what you need, what you just want, and what convention tells you you should have. It has been 8 years since my wife and I have had a dresser. We don’t even have drawers anywhere. We don’t see a need in it. Instead we have found ways of organization and storage that work for us and our collection of t-shirts. So don’t feel limited. Don’t search exclusively for tiny house furniture. Instead, find pieces you love and make them work. It’s your life and so far as I know, you’ve only got one of them to live. Have some fun!
What do you do for furniture in your small space? Is there a particular piece of furniture you simply must have? Where did you find it?
By Andrew M. Odom for the [Tiny House Blog]