Written by a man:
With space in the Bay Area at a premium, we are all faced with some potentially difficult choices as to what gets to stay and what gets voted off the island.
This can be even more difficult if you have an active family with ‘gear’. It’s inevitable if you live and play in the Bay Area that you not only need piles of layers for our changing weather but also those more dedicated items like winter wear for Tahoe, the obligatory paddle board or kayak for romps at Crown Beach, a pile of bikes, scooters and wagons, the list can go on and on.
This doesn’t even take into account the earthquake kit, lawn tools, Halloween, and other holiday decorations (yes, we know who you are!). Though if you live on Christmas Tree Lane then you probably have already rented a warehouse so maybe this conundrum doesn’t apply to you.
“Yes!”, you say. “I know, I really should get rid of some of this stuff.”
But let’s face it, some of this stuff needs to stay. Building a tiny home in your backyard may mean that you need to remove that often dilapidated garage/shed thing that is already there. Yes, it may be a little worse for the wear since it was first put together sometime around WWII but it is undeniably useful in keeping the stuff of Bay Area living out of sight.
A big part of taking the plunge to tear down your shed and build a more versatile tiny home is about taking apart our priorities and putting them back together in a more purposeful way.
Even if you can’t bring yourself to offload your worldly goods to Goodwill, do not fear- there are amazing things that can be done through organizing! Ask anyone who has ever lived on boat. If everything has a place and everything is in its place, clutter can be kept under control even in tight spaces.
For my money, deciding to get my inventory under control and organized and stored in manageable ways is a worthwhile proposition not only because it opens the door to a better backyard structure.
A small but liveable space, also known as an accessory dwelling unit (ADU), even one where the closet is well stocked, is so much better than a ramshackle shed or tired old garage.
