{"id":6178,"date":"2021-06-08T12:57:39","date_gmt":"2021-06-08T16:57:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whitefire-publishing.com\/read\/?p=6178"},"modified":"2022-08-10T13:49:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T17:49:55","slug":"home-sweet-tiny-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitefire-publishing.com\/read\/home-sweet-tiny-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Home Sweet Tiny Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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by\u00a0Melody Carlson<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Kate Burrows has a life many would envy\u2014a good job at a design firm, a huge house, beautiful memories of the late husband who gave her everything, and two grown kids doing well for themselves. But it\u2019s all begun to ring hollow as she wanders around a house that\u2019s too big for her. So when she gets caught up in binge watching a show all about tiny homes, something clicks\u2014something that soon has Kate embarking on a whole new life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though some people call her crazy, she decides to quit her job and relocate to the small tourist town she and her husband always wanted to retire to, and to buy a tiny home of her own. The Lord seems to be paving the way, and she soon meets just the person she needs to help her get her dream going\u2014and even growing! Hank Branson, architect and gentleman farmer, is quick to jump on board her dream to parcel some land off for tiny homes, and soon they have a community in the works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But is Kate in over her head? How can she possibly uproot her whole life and chase dreams long dormant? Can Hank and his beautiful farm be as perfect as they seem? And what about their competition\u2014the gregarious, confident Glen who won\u2019t take no for an answer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate may be moving into a tiny house\u2026but it soon becomes clear she\u2019s in for a big adventure.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Chapter 1<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Less is more, less is more, less is more.<\/em> Kate Burrows muttered these three words to herself as she gazed blankly at the spacious great room she\u2019d once loved. But that was when it had been filled with family<\/a> and friends, light and life and music. But then Kenneth passed away, and the kids went off to college. For several years she\u2019d known that 5,280 square feet was too much house for her, but at the same time she\u2019d had no choice. But today she felt trapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate paused the TV show that had her mesmerized, staring in wonder at the charming tiny home featured in this segment. The proud owner of the pint-sized bungalow was frozen too, but the three simple words she\u2019d just proclaimed seemed to still hang in the air. \u201cLess is more.\u201d And Kate couldn\u2019t help but agree with the young woman. Less did seem like it could be more. But how did someone like Kate reach that place?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate sighed as she laid down the remote. Time for a break from what had turned into an embarrassingly long TV show binge. But as she wandered through her oversized house, she just sadly shook her head. Would she ever feel at home in this oversized McMansion again? And was it her imagination or were these spaces actually growing larger right before her eyes? Less<\/em> was growing more and more appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Kate carried a half-eaten carton of mocha-fudge ice cream back into the cavernous great room, she put the blame on her college-aged daughter. A couple of weeks ago, Zinnia had texted Kate about an architect friend featured on Teeny, Tiny Home<\/em>, begging her to record it. Naturally, Kate had agreed, and not knowing which episode to record, she\u2019d set her DVR for \u201cunlimited\u201d and then forgotten about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this weekend, which just happened to be Mother\u2019s Day weekend complete with a deluge of rain, Kate had abandoned her plans to work in the yard. Feeling slightly depressed by the weather, and slightly neglected by her kids, Kate turned on her first episode of Teeny, Tiny Home<\/em>. That was all it took. She spent all of Saturday glued to her big screen TV, obsessively blasting through show after show after show. After all, wasn\u2019t bad weather the perfect excuse for a good long TV binge?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But by Sunday morning the storm had passed and Kate\u2019s neglected palette of perennials remained sequestered in her oversized three-car garage. Kate shamelessly remained in her I Love Lucy<\/em> flannel pajamas, remote in hand, skipping commercials, and soaking in every single episode of Teeny, Tiny Home<\/em>. For the whole day! By that afternoon, her shoulder-length auburn hair, which needed a good shampoo, resembled Bozo the Clown. But she no longer cared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate couldn\u2019t quite grasp why she was so fascinated by these thirty-minute shows. Maybe it was just plain boredom. But something about these energetic souls in search of a scaled-down lifestyle was inexplicably compelling. Equally intriguing were the tiny structures that became their new abodes. From quaint recycled cabooses and old school buses to tree houses and seaside yurts, it seemed that everyone was hopping onto the tiny house bandwagon. And she became even more convinced that less really was more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By early Sunday evening (which still happened to be Mother\u2019s Day\u2014without a word from either of her children) Kate began to seriously envy these optimistic carefree souls of all ages and backgrounds, bravely turning their backs on traditional oversized housing. They seemed to have a spring in their step as they walked away from the excess of \u201ctoo much stuff.\u201d Boasting about how freeing it was to live the simple life. It was all strangely liberating. Kate realized (after the first dozen or so episodes) there was a certain \u201cformula\u201d to these shows. Still, it didn\u2019t bother her\u2014maybe she was hooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each show began by showing how a single person or couple\u2014and occasionally a family\u2014were dissatisfied with a lifestyle that had gotten too big, too busy, or simply too costly. They would then decide upon a tiny home that suited their needs and voila\u2014by the end of the thirty-minute episode, the smiling people would triumphantly move into a perfectly adorable and highly efficient miniature house where, Kate assumed, they were sure to live happily ever after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By late on Sunday evening (still nothing from Jake or Zinnia) Kate knew a real sense of desperation. Unlike those liberated tiny homeowners, she felt imprisoned. Except her \u201cjail cell\u201d was an enormous, luxurious home. And she felt slightly ridiculous\u2014who would pity someone living in this large, lovely house\u2014complete with vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, home theater, cook\u2019s kitchen, spa-like bathrooms?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But get real, why did she need four and a half baths? She only used two of the toilets but still had to clean the other three to keep them from getting a water ring. And her kitchen\u2026 She used to enjoy cooking, but she probably hadn\u2019t cooked a real meal since last Christmas\u2014nearly six months ago. She didn\u2019t need that six-burner stove any more than she needed the oversized refrigerator. And she wasn\u2019t even sure what she had stashed in the multitude of extra tall cherry cabinets\u2014clever culinary contraptions that she probably couldn\u2019t even remember how to use. And what about the \u201cacres\u201d of cold, hard black granite countertop? Good grief, she spent more time dusting the surface than using it. It was all so ridiculous. Why did one woman need so much?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate glanced at the TV screen, pausing it once again in order to study the interior design of a particularly well-constructed tiny home. This one was a contemporary design, with excellent craftsmanship, and very clever. Every inch of the 280 square feet looked fully utilized\u2014and yet the small space didn\u2019t seem crowded or cluttered. She stared at the little washer-dryer unit, tucked neatly beneath the loft ladder\u2014noticing that it even had a miniature pull-down clothes-drying rack above it. So handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate cringed to think of her own laundry room. Oh, sure, she had been grateful for the extra large room when the kids were small. The deep sink and granite countertops with storage shelves for the kids\u2019 stuff. But as she considered the hike from her second-floor master bedroom, clear down to the finished basement, well, it just made her tired. Plus it reminded her that she still hadn\u2019t done laundry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuning her attention back to the TV, she pushed \u201cplay\u201d and watched as the new homeowner, a divorcee a bit older than Kate, climbed the ladder into her cozy sleeping loft. Showing her built-in bookshelves, filled with interesting novels, and her handy reading light, the woman looked happy as a clam. She pointed out the ledge created to hold her coffee mug then leaned back into a pile of fluffy colorful pillows and, gazing up through the skylight above her, she let out a long contented sigh. \u201cIt reminds me of the tree house I had as a child,\u201d she said blissfully. \u201cI never want to leave this place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I sure want to leave this<\/em> place.\u201d Kate tossed the remote down\u2014making a different kind of sigh. Had this mad binge watching messed with her head? The more she\u2019d watched, the more discontented she\u2019d become. Like the proverbial kid with her nose pressed to the candy-store window. Filled with a desperate longing for less stuff, less ownership, and more simplicity\u2014she suddenly despised her stupid big house. She felt lost in the cavernous great room, overwhelmed by the tall rock fireplace that Kenneth had insisted upon. And the twenty-foot ceiling\u2014who needed it? The thought of facing the future in a house that would never feel cozy wasn\u2019t just overwhelming\u2014it was pathetic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was nearly midnight when she finished the last episode and finally went upstairs\u2014only to be reminded that the spacious master suite no longer felt cozy. Not since losing Kenneth. The vaulted ceiling and hardwood floors made it feel cold up there. And her \u201cspa-like\u201d master bath was too big and drafty for a nice warm bath, not to mention she got chilled every time she emerged from the oversized shower. And as for that \u201crain\u201d showerhead, she was tired of getting her naturally curly hair wet every time she took a quick rinse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate paced back and forth in her bedroom, mulling everything over, wondering what she might do to make her home cozier. But, really, wouldn\u2019t it make more sense to move into something smaller? Like a tiny house?<\/em> She grabbed the remote for the master suite TV and, feeling a bit like an addict grasping for her next fix, turned the DVR back on and rewatched another Teeny, Tiny Home<\/em> episode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it ended\u2014happily of course\u2014she noticed the time and remembered tomorrow was a workday. But after getting in bed, her thoughts were still racing and tumbling, visions of tiny homes seemed to dance through her brain. And so, as usual when she couldn\u2019t sleep, she prayed. She begged God to lead her, to direct her path, to help her find a new and satisfying life. It was high time. Suddenly, she knew what she needed to do. And this had nothing to do with Mother\u2019s Day neglect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 In one simple split second, her mind was made up. Even if friends and family questioned her sanity\u2014and she suspected they would\u2014she was determined to do this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kate Burrows was going to reinvent her life. And she was going to do it with a tiny house. Feeling an incredible sense of wonder, relief, and great expectations, she texted her realtor friend Jennifer, simply stating that she wanted to sell her house. As soon as possible.<\/em> Feeling guilty for texting at this late hour, she apologized and promised to call first thing the next morning. And then she leaned back and closed her eyes and\u2014for the first time in a long time\u2014felt happy and hopeful and peaceful. Her life was about to get better.<\/p>\n\n\n