The Teacup Tiny Homes Birth Story
May 17, 2022
Here at Teacup Tiny Homes, we aspire to make going tiny as effortless as we can. But, it’s not enough for us to just give you a great house- we want to take you along for the ride and help you enjoy the journey as much as the destination. That’s what life is about, right?
For that reason, I (Jen) would like to take you back to the very beginning of the Teacup journey. Choosing a tiny home builder requires immense trust, and I want to give you the full story so that you can be confident in choosing Teacup Tiny Homes as your guiding light toward simpler living.
Simple living is possible, but it has taken effort to create a company that could streamline the process of purchasing a tiny house. In fact, I titled this post The Teacup Tiny Homes Birth Story because starting a company is not unlike giving birth: it’s exciting, it’s hard, it’s scary, but ultimately, it’s a deeply rewarding endeavor. How do I know this? Well, I’m a mother who started a company. Actually, (ironically,) the Teacup Tiny Homes birth story began while I was on maternity leave.
~
It was 2015, and I had just given birth to my son. Like all new moms, I was exhausted, but like all type-A designers, my brain couldn’t stop creating! I was attending to both needs by watching HGTV, when I discovered a popular tiny house show. I was hooked immediately! I just couldn’t look away from the adorable little houses with their ingenious use of space and seemingly endless design possibilities!
Looking back, it’s not surprising that a tiny house resonated with me the way that it did. After finishing design school at nineteen, I went to work for a traditional home builder. It was through that experience I became dedicated to the idea of building spaces that fostered emotional connection.
Fostering emotional connection through design requires a deep understanding of how people use space. And the use of space is a tricky thing! Most people struggle with describing what they want in a space, but they know how they want to feel or what they want life to look like. That’s why I see my job largely as that of a translator- you tell me what you envision, and then it’s my job to create functional and beautiful designs that facilitate the lived experience you describe.
But anyway, back to the couch! As I sat there with my son, studying the pieces of these tiny homes, I had one distinct thought.
I could be good at this.
As I mentioned, I’d spent almost fourteen years studying and designing traditional homes, so I knew what people were looking for in a living space. I also knew the mechanics behind creating spaces, and (perhaps most valuably in tiny-house-world) I knew what space went unused. I’d also conveniently dated a trailer manufacturer for six years, so I was very familiar with the most crucial piece of any house: the foundation.
Though I’m primarily analytic, I believe in listening to my gut when something comes up repeatedly. That’s why I knew I had to heed the call when shortly after that day spent watching HGTV, I had FIVE people suggest that I get into tiny home design and construction.
So, armed with my background knowledge and the support of friends and family, I set out to complete a one-time project: to build a few tiny houses.
Well, if you’ve visited our products gallery lately, you’ll know that that’s not exactly how things turned out! Instead, my hobby immediately became a full-blown career. Oh, and I became obsessed. Teacup Tiny Homes Ltd. was officially incorporated in the fall of 2016.
My obsession with tiny houses started when I realized the potency of small spaces. Small spaces are natural facilitators of relationship building. But, I realized that when I stopped thinking in square feet and started thinking in square inches, my ability to foster emotional connection through design grew ten-fold.
A tiny house kitchen is a particularly compelling example of how thinking in square inches pays off. Let me explain. In a regular-sized house, one doesn’t have to think nearly as much about what I call kitchen-choreography. There is plenty of room to move about and set things down at your leisure in a traditional kitchen. In a tiny house kitchen, however, accomplishing that same seamlessness requires a much deeper understanding of not only how people use kitchens, but how they use them together with others.
Take the kitchen in our Ruby model, for example. You’ll see that the sink separates two distinct counter spaces: a larger one on the left and a smaller one on the right. This allows you to prep food and then wash dishes in a natural sequence. What makes it natural? Well, in Western cultures, we read left to right. It’s not something we’re likely to think about when making dinner, but on a subconscious level, it makes sense to our brains to start on the left. Prep left, clean (finish) right.
The decisions that went into The Ruby’s kitchen don’t stop there, either! Why is the stove opposite the sink? So one person can cook, and another can clean without bumping elbows. Why is there a bar counter? Because kitchens are social hubs and I wanted to provide a place for people to gather while staying out of the way of whoever is doing the actual cooking.
The Ruby, like all of our tiny’s, comes with design decisions for you to personalize your build. One thing that comes standard, however, is our built-in rollout pantry! Rollout pantries are your friend in small spaces because they allow you easy access to the items you use most often. No digging through your cabinets to find the crackers in the back! Oh, and those pantry shelves are adjustable- only you know how tall your favorite olive oil bottle is!
The choices that have been made in designing The Ruby (or any of our other models!) are too many to capture in a single blog post. Suffice it to say, however, that I have made every one of them in pursuit of creating a house that makes you feel confident, nurtured, and peaceful.
I do this inch-by-inch in the design process, but the truth is that I couldn’t run a tiny house company alone. In fact, the only thing I’m more proud of than building tiny houses is building our team.
Speaking of our team, you’ll get Shireen on the phone after you book your Discovery Call. Why Shireen? Because she is absolutely the best listener and question-asker around! When you move into the design process, you’ll get to know Ryan, and trust me, you couldn’t be in better hands at that stage. Here at Teacup, we want you to feel informed, inspired, and cared for, and we’ve made sure to find the best people to support you during every step of the journey.
I am grateful for this opportunity to share our story with you today, and more than anything, our team at Teacup wants to know yours. What does your most authentic life look like? What kinds of emotional connections are you looking to foster? And also, what can we do to help?
You don’t have to do it alone.
If you are ready to say yes to Teacup tiny house, you can book your Discovery Call with Shireen here!
Until next time,
-Jen
