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The obsession with photogenic tiny homes is stripping away the real benefits | Tiny House Living - Topic Shares

The obsession with photogenic tiny homes is stripping away the real benefits

I built my tiny house during the early days of the movement when it was all about practical living and escaping consumerism. Now, I keep seeing these glossy, minimalist setups in my city that look like they're staged for a magazine shoot, not actual habitation. It hit me last month when a neighbor proudly showed off their tiny home with a custom marble countertop that probably cost more than my entire build. That got me thinking about how we're losing sight of the financial freedom and environmental mindfulness that drew me in, you know? When I chose a composting toilet and solar panels, it was for function, not for likes on a post. If this keeps up, tiny living will just become another luxury trend for the wealthy, pushing out regular folks. Let's refocus on why we started this, before it turns into another unsustainable fad.

5 comments

5 Comments

william_nelson548mo ago

My first tiny house had a shower that doubled as a storage closet, so maybe I took the function-over-form thing too far. Totally get what you're saying though, it's becoming more about the aesthetic than the actual point of it all.

verah388mo ago

Is the function versus form debate in tiny homes actually that serious? People just do what works for them, whether it's a shower closet or a marble countertop. Sometimes it feels like we're inventing problems where there don't need to be any.

nancy_owens8mo ago

Your shower closet example, @william_nelson54, totally changed my mind on function vs. form!

tessa4658mo ago

That marble countertop, was it chosen for function or just for show?

seth_wells498mo ago

Marble countertops in a tiny home seem like a bold choice, honestly. My own attempt at a 'functional' surface involved repurposing an old door as a desk, which looked terrible and warped within a month. Now I just use a folding table and pretend it's a minimalist statement. Sometimes the form-versus-function debate is just about covering up poor decisions.