Throwing Some Cold Water on the 'Tiny Homes' Movement

The tiny home craze has spawned a whole cottage industry of Murphy beds, custom closets, and Danish "hygge." At the risk of simply repeating what common sense would dictate, Gene Tempest discusses some of the downsides.

"Embarrassing, ordinary objects like the hamper are empowered in small spaces; they become tyrants. In a larger home, this perfectly functional item might recede quietly into a closet or laundry room. No one warns you that everything is more concentrated in a tiny house, that the natural life cycle of objects accelerates."

Tempest goes on: "Our things are aging faster than they did in their previous homes. We sit on our lone couch more hours a day than in any previous dwelling. The cushions are fading, the springs sagging, the corners fraying [...] So we daydream big. Dreams of unfashionable, politically incorrect, old American aspirations that our generation isn't supposed to believe in anymore. Dreams of design features so vast that they sound like foreign countries."