Any tips for a tiny house?

[SebastionTheCrab]

We have a very old, very small 3 bedroomed house with 3 children.
We don't have a loft or any storage area in the house so Christmas tree, suitcases etc go under our bed, I have to keep the tumble dryer in my bedroom (I really can't live without a tumble dryer ), we got rid of our dishwasher when we moved in as it won't fit in the tiny kitchen.. the list goes on.
Our plans so far include getting my DH a Kindle to replace his mini library of books and we're hoping to fit a slimline dishwasher in the kitchen. We hope .
Just wondered if anybody else has experience of a tiny house and how they made life a little easier.

Do you have an attached garage ? if so a lot of stuff can go in there esp trumble dryer/freezer etc ? how large is the garden ? if big enough and finances allow what about putting up a lean to/conservatory ? friend of mine did this and tuned it into a dining room/playroom/storage area - it was fab !

Unfortunately no garage.
We do have a large garden and have been thinking about a conservatory to use as a dining room. It might take us 300 years to save up for it but definitely thinking about it.

If you have room in the garden, how about one of those plastic storage huts or a shed.
If you put everything in sealed plastic boxes they should be fine.

Do you make best use of the space under the stairs?
Do you have any cupboards and make best use of those?
Do you have fitted wardrobes - We had them put in and it's amazing how much you can fit in there if you have several sections
Put up a shed

You don't have a loft? at all? is it one of those weird houses with the flat roof?

Declutter. How much of what you've got do you actually need?

We've got a tiny 2 bed. We've made use of under the stairs, fitted extra shelves into the airing cupboard, had fitted wardrobes and store a lot of stuff there and we got a shed and a lockable box outside.

oh, and got the kids beds with the drawers under and a lot of their little toys can go in there. Fitted a row of shelves into the little walk in cupboard in their room and most of the rest of their toys go in there. There are 2 doors into the kitchen so we blocked off one and the fridgefreezer goes there. The tumble dryer is on top of one of the worksurfaces. That sounds weird but the other freezer is below it, then the worksurface then the tumble dryer on top. It means we've lost a bit of worksurface but we've got another bit and it means it all fits in.

Quality shed for the tumble dryer? Obv you will have to run electricty out to it.

Use the height of the rooms, we've got tall trofast storage for the dc, we put our own rails in the tall wardrobes, one high up and one low down. Basically you have to use floor to ceiling storage. We put in sliding door wardrobes in our bedroom so we could have double rails in 2/3 of it - dh is tall so easily reaches the top rail.

Other than that you just have to be very very ruthless.

How old are the dc?

I've got a 3 bed terrace with tiny kitchen - we use lots of pan hooks on the walls, use the under stairs space, have a washer/dryer (bosch, really good). No room for dish washer sadly unless we extend a bit into our (also small) back yard.

Umm - dd's bed has drawers under which is handy.

I got a kindle for christmas!

We have built in bookcases.

Keep a lot in the shed - have you got a shed?

De-clutter regularly (need to take my own advice)!

Work vertically when creating storage. If it's off the ground it does not feel so cluttered.

Have a look at plastic storage boxes (the walk in type) they cost about £300 but you can get a shit load of stuff in them (not mold intolerant stuff unless you heat them but if you raise things off the ground on pallets you can normally get away with it).

Get clever with cupboard, put boxes inside cupboards so you can fit more in (you can stack to the top of the box instead of just having, for example, one bottle of squash on a shelf. 50 cans in one box was my personal best (though it was farking heavy).

Remove packaging from things -I know it sounds silly but food comes in a lot of packaging and I used to decant things into stackable tuppaware etc.

Needless to say we now live in a large house because all of the above drove me potty. I wish you luck :)

Indoor washing lines in bathroom and above stairwell.

Floor to ceiling shelving (ikea white ones, billy?) lining the bedroom wall for toys.

If you have no understairs cupboard, put as large a wardrobe as you can fit under there for the clutter shoes, coats, board games, etc

Declutter regularly, obviously.

White/cream walls and curtains for illusion of space

Foldaway bed for the grownups, allowing for overenergetic flailing playing space during the day.

Definitely find a way to squeeze in the slimline dishwasher, it IS worth sacrificing a cupboard or floor space for it.

High shelving in kitchen.

Replace dining chairs with toy/storage boxes so you sit on storage.

Oh and have you seen those fab triple bunk beds??

We kept ours in cots for as long as possible (just took one side off) as they took up less space than beds.

Huge freestanding on wheels pull out under bed storage.

In the small room we got one of the those shortie loft beds to maximise floor space.

Get a washer-dryer, I could live without a dishwasher, but if you can squeeze a slimline one in so much the better. Storage under beds for toys etc. Kindle is an excellent idea and presumably an ipod. It sounds obvious, but I also think the key is not to have too much stuff - ie just one set of bed linen for each bed (wash it, tumble it and put it straight back on) same goes for towels etc. Don't be seduced by the three for the price of two offers either when out shopping - in a small house you need to use up what you've got before you go out and buy more. I would argue that if you live in a tiny house with a garden do you even need a Christmas tree - get some outside lights and have it in the garden. And definitely get a shed, but before you store anything always ask yourself if you really need it or would you really be better to chuck it out.

We had some cupboards built in our bedroom above the bed, up to the ceiling. We have 3 double cupboards which are about 3 foot high and have 1 shelf each (on an internal wall so they don't get mould growing in them) which we use to store winter coats(in Summer) and vice versa. Also bedding, and spare blankets and pillows.

Though you could use them to store anything really.

We also have a shelf above one of the upstairs doors which is used for ds's books. We also have a storage coffee table. And we have a shed which we use for the lawnmower, DIY stuff and garden toys.

My kitchen cupboards full of these (from lakeland) and these (more lakeland). While looking just now I saw this which looks rather good too.

I had a massive sort out a while ago and spent some time with the lakeland catalogue and a tape measure (exciting times), I places a great big order and the result was that I got loads more stuff into my kitchen. The metal shelf is better for tins and the plastic 'lock and lock' tubs that they do. The second shelf I use for mugs and glasses. I decant everything into the tubs so I can get loads in and still get to everything.

I've even got an ironing board that has a top that folds so that it takes up less space, not the best ironing surface but I don't iron much anyway.

Storage units aren't too bad. My sister rents what's called a room in a unit that is accessible 7 days a week 7am -10pm and its only about £35/ month. I rented a whole container that was (just) big enough to fit everything from my old cluttered 2500sqft house and double garage - It was full to the top but it came in at £100/ month with 24hr access.

Its much cheaper to store stuff this way than pay for an extra room in your house just used for treasures -junk- but not ideal for stuff you need everyday.

We were living in two rooms whilst renovating our current home and the kids particularly liked the weekend visit to the unit where they chose their chest of toys for the week - rather like a toy/ book library but for their stuff.