Living Big in Small Spaces

Jessica Whelan jokes that, in her line of work, she often feels like a therapist.

Whelan doesn’t work in health care, nor has she been trained as a life coach. She does, however, co-own a 10-year-old firm with her husband Patrick that started out as one of the very few tiny home builders in western North America.

“We get a lot of people who come to us and they go through these ups and downs of being like, ‘Yeah, this is awesome, I’m getting rid of my stuff. I’m going to just be able to focus on life,’ ” says Whelan. “Then, a couple weeks later they’re like, ‘Omigod, what am I doing? Am I making a major mistake?’ ”

Smaller spaces necessitate owning less. They can mean greater flexibility, saving money, even living more sustainably. They can also mean creating usable space where none existed.

For those looking to add room(s), especially in a region where upgrading to a larger house is often unrealistic, bringing in a tiny home can also mean finally having that in- law suite, yoga studio or private retreat.

Whelan says people who find her and Patrick’s work at their Cobble Hill-based Rewild Homes often arrive when they are facing a transitional phase in their lives.

“It’s not that they want to live tiny forever; it’s just that, for the next, say, five years, they can picture themselves being kind of minimal,” she says.

Tiny homes have always existed — generally, below the legislative radar or in the wilderness. But as costs rise, demands for affordable alternatives have resulted in homeowners or families grouping together in search of alternatives that create space for everyone. While the tiny home “movement” has trended on social media, companies like Whelan’s have tried to make livability the focus of their spaces, regardless of size.

These custom options can function as complete homes, but they can also act as stand-alone in-law suites, music rooms, art studios, yoga dens and sometimes vacation rentals. Most people, however, use the space themselves.

“Almost half of [our buyers] are looking to downsize, already have land and are wanting to live in something smaller,” she says.

The other half are young professionals getting out of the rental market and looking for their own asset: a home to own.

Rewild only builds custom homes, each based on a trailer-mounted shell, ranging from 100 to over 250 square feet of surprisingly luxurious, liveable space.

These move-in ready units allow the personal selection of layout (single-storey or lofts, stairs or ladders), appliances, roofline (gabled or shed slope) interior and exterior finishes (cedar, metal, or a combo), toilet (composting, incinerating, flush), bathrooms — even the number of skylights, the height of the cabinets, and the heat source (electric, propane, in-floor, wood).

People can choose to make these units entirely off-grid or set up for the city, with traditional amp or solar power. Those with DIY skills can even opt to buy a partially completed shell on a trailer. It’s easy to see how one of these little rectangles could sit well in a backyard, beside a garden, or on a private lot out in the woods.

Even when leaned on as an extra suite, however, tiny homes are not RVs, mobile homes or modular homes — all of which come with restrictions about where you can set them up and how you may occupy them.

It’s all perspective.

Whelan says Rewild recently completed a unit for a young woman who moved from a 140-square-foot residence. The tiny space was huge by comparison.

“And every time she’d come to the shop to see the build progress,” says Whelan, “the first thing she’d say is ‘Oh wow! This is so big.’ ”

In Sweden, the average size of an apartment is 68 square metres (732 square feet). In Hong Kong, 18-square-metre (194-square-foot) micro flats are common. As long as that small living space is designed with functional detail and sunlight in mind, small can be as beautiful as that traditional three-bedroom rancher.

It’s not all retirees, either. Rewild sells homes to families with kids, noting that most layouts can accommodate more than you’d expect. Whelan suggests those looking at a tiny home existence need to be organized, however, and understand their priorities.

Those purchasing a tiny home — whether for their own use or just as an option to expand — are investing in a choice asset they can later repurpose, or at the very least resell for a profit, says Whelan. That investment doesn’t hurt property value, either.

“So far, every home of ours we see sell [that re-enters the market] has resold for significantly more than we sold it for,” she says.