Super tiny living

Last week, I finished building my first house. Propelled by the dregs of COVID-related boredom and my youthful obsession with HGTV, my wildest home renovation dreams were realized in the form of a 195mm x 183mm home.

It sure feels good living mortgage free, especially in this economic climate!

My parents, who know me too well, sent me this epic craft project as a belated birthday present. For a covert creative such as myself, building this highly-detailed tiny marvel of a construction has really just been the bee knees.

I used to live for HGTV’s reruns of Flip or Flop and Property Brothers, which inspired me to repaint, spackle and decorate my brother’s room in the house we grew up in, but my absolute favorite has to be Tiny House Nation. It is the perfect combination of quirky people who have made the choice to severely down-size, two builders who are clearly experts on functional creativity and minimalism, and last but not least, tiny spaces.

Oh, how I love to live in small flats and rooms.

During my junior year of college, the first year I lived in off-campus housing along with three of my friends, I was more than happy to take the smallest room in the house. When I say it was only slightly wider than a twin-sized bed, I am not exaggerating. And when I say that I adored that room, I do so without a hint of sarcasm. Small spaces feel like a constant hug to inhabitants like myself. Is that weird? Probably.

Obviously, this mega tiny home is not for living. However, building it was no small feat. It included very minute and complicated work, something that would surely destroy an impatient person. I have never cut shapes so small nor glued such a complicated sequence of microscopic items to make more super small items.

The tail-end of this project even required some soldering. To my terror, I had to light a flame to a few millimeters of slender rubber tubing to get the little lamp hanging from the trellis to work. The irony of risking burning one house down while trying to construct another was not lost on me.

But, after striping wires and soldering a plenty, the little turquoise lamp shone proudly. An explosive ball of excitement, I danced around the flat like the novice( pretend is probably more like it) electrician that I am. Seriously, I’m so dang proud of that lamp!

And I am so glad that the crafter/ HGTV addict was reawakened in the process because I was reminded that tiny creations are undoubted works of love. Even though this particular home is not exactly liveable, it sure does feel like the warmest of hugs from the people who gave it to me.

Thanks Mum and Dad (you are welcome anytime in the soon-to-be-constructed guest room extension 🙂 )

Be constructive,

Anna