- Tim and Shannon Soine live in a 210-square-foot tiny home on wheels with their infant son and two dogs.
- The house consists of a kitchen and living area in one big space, with a small bathroom that doesn’t even have a door.
- But the home has more than enough space for the Soines, and Shannon said it’s made taking care of an infant easy because everything the family needs is nearby.
- “We’re enjoying our time more because it’s actually ours now,” Shannon told Insider of living tiny.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Tim and Shannon Soine live in a 210-square-foot tiny home with their infant and two dogs.
Tim and Shannon haven’t always lived tiny.
“A few years into our marriage, around 2013, we found ourselves really frustrated with the amount of time, money, and effort it took to maintain our 1,600-square-foot home,” Shannon told Insider. “We wanted more free time, more travel, and more freedom.”
“After lots of failed attempts to convince Tim to build a tiny house, I stumbled across Brian Levy’s MiNiM home on Pinterest,” she added. “Tim was mildly interested. He happened to be taking a work trip to Washington, DC, around that time and reached out to Brian, who graciously offered to show Tim the house.”
“A month later, Tim purchased the plans and gave them to me on my birthday,” Shannon said.
The Soines built their house in 2014, and they moved into it a year later.
"We took a year to downsize our belongings and sell our house," Shannon said. "We moved in the following spring and have been living the tiny life ever since."
The couple has two pit bulls, Adam and Juno, and their son Nico joined the family four months ago.
The home's interior has an open-concept layout.
"Our tiny house is basically one wide open space," Shannon told Insider. "The only distinct-ish room is the bathroom."
"When you enter the house, the kitchen - equipped with a two-burner gas stove, an apartment-sized fridge, and a small convection oven - runs along the back wall," she said.
The kitchen then opens up into a living space that includes a long bench seat with storage that ends with a washer and dryer combo. The area also features a dining table and a projection screen.
"We've used a lot of cabinetry to create storage while keeping it visually clean," Shannon said of the kitchen's organization.
"When we first built the house, we had glass cabinets in the kitchen, and every time I looked at it, it just felt cluttered," she added. "Swapping out solid doors made a big difference."
The big kitchen window brings light to the space, which is a big bonus for Shannon, who loves plants.
"After a really painful pregnancy loss when we first started trying to start a family, I went completely crazy with plants, and it completely changed me," Shannon said. "I was previously a plant killer, and somehow at that time in my life, caring for something living brought me so much healing, purpose, and joy."
Nico is also a big fan of the plants, according to his mom.
Shannon describes her decor style as "jungalow" because of the plants.
"Everywhere we live in the future will surely have some jungalow to it," Shannon said. "The plants have brought so much life and whimsy to our space, and they feed my need to change and style things in different ways all the time."
The couple pulls their bed into the living space at night.
"Our bed pulls out into this main space at night, right in front of the projection screen," Shannon said.
"I love how having a projection system naturally limits our TV time," she added. "It's hard to see during the daytime, so we find other things to do."
Nico sleeps nearby in a bassinet.
"Currently, Nico's bassinet, a beautiful suspended bassinet from Hussh Cradles, hangs in front of the screen as well," Shannon said.
But the bassinet will soon be gone, as they are currently transitioning Nico to a Pack 'N Play.
Across from the living space, there's a small office and a closet area.
A desk and two dog beds sit in the space in addition to the family's clothes.
"Recently, we added hooks in the closet area to keep baby carriers, totes to hold books, and the diaper bag," Shannon said. "Hooks can be used to store anything."
A small wet bath sits at the back of the house.
The bathroom isn't big, but it has everything the couple needs.
The entire bathroom can get wet, so they don't need as much space. However, it doesn't have a door.
"People might be surprised to learn that we use noise-canceling headphones when someone needs to use the bathroom because we have a shower curtain as a door," Shannon told Insider.
"I keep tagging Bose on Instagram to try and get a sponsorship, but to no avail," she joked.
"Everything about the main living space is so wonderful to us," Shannon said.
"We love the huge windows and the light they let in, the view out the windows from the couch, and just the wide-open feel that hiding the bed brings to the house," she said. "I don't think we would have lasted as long as we have without having the space so open."
And outside, the family has a large patio area.
The couple has been able to pay off debt while living tiny, which has been really helpful for them.
"One of our objectives was to pay off all of our debt, and we paid off more than $175,000 over the course of the six years we've lived here," Shannon said. "And we've traveled pretty freely as well."
"We don't have car payments anymore, and all of our money goes into savings and investment now," she added. "It's completely changed our lives."
"We also love how quick and easy the house is to clean and maintain," Shannon said of why her family likes the house.
Shannon said they can have the tiny house cleaned top to bottom in two hours, which is more ideal than spending an entire day cleaning a 1,600-square-foot home like they used to.
"We're enjoying our time more because it's actually ours now," she told Insider.
Shannon said they've been surprised by how well they've adjusted to having Nico in the house with them.
"Raising a baby has been surprisingly easy in a tiny space," Shannon said. "Everything is so close by that you never need to go far to grab a new outfit, burp cloth, or quickly put the baby down for a nap when tiredness sets in."
"We've been able to keep minimal baby 'gear' because we just don't have space," she added. "It's kept things really simple, and we can't rely on any gadget to calm our baby."
"He's just as happy to play with a soda can, wooden spoon, or jar of peanut butter as he would be with any toy," she said.
But the couple is hoping to have another child, so they're planning to move to a bigger space soon.
"We are in the process of submitting a proposal to build a 900-square-foot home that we had designed by an architect," Shannon said. "At the time we built the tiny house, we weren't sure if we wanted kids at all, and we felt confident that we could live together in the tiny house indefinitely."
"We actually feel confident that we'd be fine with Nico here for at least a few years as well," she told Insider. "We're hoping to expand the crew by one, though, and it might get a little crowded, so we're trying to plan accordingly."
"I think anyone can downsize if they don't go to an extreme," Shannon said.
"We could have easily attained the same debt-payoff, travel, and simplified lifestyle by moving into a studio apartment," she said.
"I do think that limiting your space forces you to closely consider your belongings, and it took a long time and a ton of effort to pare down, so start that process early," Shannon said of anyone interested in living tiny.
The Soines encouraged people to really think about why they want to live tiny before they do it.
"I think it's about asking yourself why you want to downsize, what you would be comfortable with, and then just going for it," Shannon said of downsizing.
"Once we knew our reasons and felt confident that we would be happy in this particular space for years to come, we just did it," she added. "We didn't even know where we would park it, and it all worked out. You find a way to make it work."
You can follow Shannon on Instagram and check out her website here.
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