Get their look: Philly tiny house

Philly tiny housecredit

Couple Haley & Michael moved into this 160 square ft Philly tiny house in the Germantown neighbourhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania less than a year ago. They acknowledge that they followed advice gleaned from the book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever by neatness doyenne, Marie Kondo. They say that it has altered their relationship with their possessions.

Ever since we, ourselves, halved our living space 15 months ago, we’ve found it easier to adjust than we thought. We dispensed with unnecessary ‘stuff’ that we’d collected over many years; we realised that we had a lot of unused, surplus rooms in our previous house. Like Haley & Michael, we’ve come up with unique and bespoke storage solutions; we built bookshelves from re-purposed scaffolding planks and have stacked old apple crates as kitchen ‘cupboards’. Our clothes, towels, bed linen and all sorts of other stuff are secreted away in stacked vintage luggage.

Baskets made from natural materials (wicker, bamboo, water hyacinth) of various shapes & sizes are also put to good use. We’ve even come up with a novel way to hide our broadband modem! Having compact accommodation makes you more mindful of how you use the precious room that you have.

Do you have any tips for maximising restrictive living space?

Get their look

Some of the links on our blog are affiliate links. We may receive a small commission - at no cost to you - if you click through and make a purchase.
Prices & links correct at time of publication.

Vintage wool blanket
Vintage wool blanket
Vintage wooden cheese boxes
Vintage wooden cheese boxes
Water hyacinth storage basket
Water hyacinth storage basket
Tab top curtain, white
Tab top curtain, white
RÄCKA curtain rod combination, black
RÄCKA curtain rod combination, black
5-blade white ceiling fan
5-blade white ceiling fan
Vintage wool blanket
Vintage wool blanket
Vintage wooden cheese boxes
Vintage wooden cheese boxes
Water hyacinth storage basket
Water hyacinth storage basket
Tab top curtain, white
Tab top curtain, white
RÄCKA curtain rod combination, black
RÄCKA curtain rod combination, black
5-blade white ceiling fan
5-blade white ceiling fan
Vintage wool blanket
Vintage wool blanket
Vintage wooden cheese boxes
Vintage wooden cheese boxes
Water hyacinth storage basket
Water hyacinth storage basket
Tab top curtain, white
Tab top curtain, white
RÄCKA curtain rod combination, black
RÄCKA curtain rod combination, black
5-blade white ceiling fan
5-blade white ceiling fan

In Miniature

'In Miniature' blog post banner

selection of vintage miniature items

We don’t know if it’s the hot weather shrinking everything, but we’ve certainly picked up lots of miniature items recently.

vintage miniature chest of drawers

It started with this wonderful little chest of drawers. It’s only 10 centimetres tall so should fit in any room! The drawers are ideal for jewellery or sewing accessories.

red vintage miniature safe

Then we came across this metal money box in the form of a safe. It’s appropriately called the “Midget” bank safe. We love the dial mechanism to open the door to retrieve the hard saved loot!

vintage miniature set of garden tools

This fabulous set of vintage garden tools has real age – possibly Edwardian. They’re either a child’s set of tools – or intended for genteel pottering in the conservatory or window box. They’re beautifully made with both wood & painted metal having a wonderful patina.

red vintage miniature tractor

And finally, some miniature heavy machinery! This gorgeous red tractor dates from the 1950s and was made by Dinky. These vintage die cast models are a very specialised area of collecting with prices to match. We don’t normally enter this world, but we found this lovely example at a local market, so the outlay was more reasonable. Four very different items with one thing in common – small is beautiful!