Using The Third Dimension
It is a simple idea, really, but rarely does it show up in real estate. There are more than two dimensions. Use them, or at least the more obvious one. Go 3D! (String theorists are welcome to use all eleven. Good luck. The video will be awesome, or mind-bending.
How big's your house? At a bet, the answer will be in so many square feet, maybe in terms of the number of rooms. Area, square footage, is a 2D measurement. A house is about more than what fits on the floor. A house comes with walls and ceilings, too. A house has volume. There's room up there. Use it!
Yes, it is a duh moment, but it quickly becomes an obvious option when moving in and unpacking. Furniture sits on the floor, usually. Lots of things go into cupboards, drawers, and closets. But a tiny house doesn't have yet another room to dump things into. So much for counting on the spare bedroom or the bonus room or moving a car out of the garage so some boxes have a place to live.
For me, the inevitable happened while moving into the kitchen. Where does the wok go? Or the big colander? How about the pizza pan? I use those things. I don't use them all of the time, but they are used often enough that I don't want to send me to the storage unit just to be able to make a frozen dinner or an involved stir fry. They couldn't fit in the smaller-than-normal cupboards, but they could fit on top. To some, it looks like clutter. Others might like the functional architecture aspect of the placement. A pragmatist can appreciate its convenience - assuming the cook is tall enough or has a step stool.
Long things hang. Long-handled utensils, long-handled pans, and wide and round things like splatter screens hang into the third dimension from a rack I installed. Convenience versus clutter, again. That's OK. I wanted the extra rack space for my Cuisinart toaster oven, and some pot and pan storage.
A kitchen apron hangs from a hook, waiting to get used. Pot holders dangle near hot spots, but not too near.
At least in this tiny house, the modern American convention continues that emphasizes windows instead of walls, which means there's less room for showing off art. But the tops of cabinets become display areas for things that are visually appealing but that don't need to be moved - except for dusting. (Many of these options are probably welcomed by spiders, as cobwebs can prove.)
There's less opportunity in the bathroom, though some plants enjoy swaying in the warm, humid air.
As for the bedroom, hangers have always dominated. The difference, for me, is that extra shelves were added that reach to the ceiling. Seasonal stuff gets boxed and lifted out of the way for a few months. Things like hiking gear get air. Backpacks and foul weather gear may not be stylish, but they are out of place in a drawer. For the folks who optimize, hanging or softly stowing sleeping bags is better anyways.
As I look out the window, my neighbors remind me that tiny houses have enough design variation that every house can be different. Mine is peaked, no loft, a steep roof, and almost like a mini-cathedral up there. The neighbor with a loft may better utilize the volume, but could feel more closed in. There's something to be said about having the smoke alarm within arms reach - something I find annoying as my house's alarms are necessarily near the peak and definitely out of reach without hauling in a full-sized ladder. Grr.
Square footage is easy to measure and mention. It is harder to talk about cubic footage. Someone else owned my house until I bought it; from the landscaping outside and the hooks in the ceiling, I'm guessing there were lots of plants up there. I wonder if the spiders had a highway set up.
Like I said/wrote, it is a simple idea. Any house can benefit from using the space above the floor. A tiny house may not be big enough for a Foucalts' Pendulum, but instead of trying to cram everything into fitting behind cupboard and closet doors, don't fight it. Stack them or hang them. It may not look tidy, but every item becomes a seed for a conversation. If the spiders could talk, they may thank you for the extra space.