Living in a tiny house means learning how to make yourself comfortable with minimal square footage. That may seem like a challenge if you are new to tiny living, but you will soon discover it is easier than you think.
Something else that may surprise you is how comfortably you can accommodate guests in a tiny home. In this post, we share some tips with you for successful overnight hosting of family or friends.
1. Choose a layout that offers guests a room or loft of their own.
If you do not yet own a tiny house, you can start by planning ahead when you choose your layout. If you know that you are going to regularly want to have guests over to stay, it makes sense to choose a floor plan that is ideally suited to that purpose.
We recommend that you pick a layout that includes both a downstairs bedroom and an upstairs flex space in the loft. That way, you can potentially offer either the bedroom or the loft to your guests instead of having them sleep in the living room.
In both cases, have privacy in mind when you choose the customization options for your floor plan. In particular, consider how you want to partition off the loft from the rest of your living space.
We suggest that instead of going with an open railing, that you instead choose a closed wall partition like this one in our Liberty model.
Notice how much more secluded the loft is. Curtains or screens over the windows can add even more privacy when guests are over. You can then pull them aside again when you want a direct line of sight between the loft and common areas.
2. Consider convertible furniture.
In some scenarios, you might not be able to have a separate room for guests (say, perhaps, if you have children and need both the downstairs bedroom and the loft to yourselves).
In those situations, you should take advantage of convertible furniture. A large sofa bed in the living room can offer a cozy spot for your guests to sleep in your park model home.
(any photo of a sofa bed in any park model)
3. Make sure you have storage space available for your guests’ belongings.
Your guests will be bringing more than just themselves when they visit you; they will also have luggage.
Make sure you have somewhere convenient for them to put it, especially if they are going to be staying for a while. Have some cabinets or cubbies cleared out in advance for them so that they can get their belongings out of the way.
4. Always declutter before having guests over.
It is easy for clutter to pile up in a tiny house. It may be easy for you to overlook, but your guests might notice it. So, clear off countertops and other surfaces, and make sure everything is in its right place before bringing your guests over.
5. Invest in a simple privacy screen.
An indoor privacy screen can be a very useful purchase for a park model home if you expect to have regular company over. As we mentioned earlier, it might be helpful in partitioning off your loft space if your guests will be staying upstairs. But it is even more indispensable if they will be sleeping in the living room.
That being said, guests sleeping in the living room may not be comfortable changing there, even if they have a privacy screen. So it is extra important to make sure that you have decluttered the bathroom so that they have room in there to change.
6. Make cooking easy.
Even if you have a spacious kitchen like this one in our Champion Athens – APH 518, there is no denying that there can be too many cooks in the kitchen when guests are over.
To prevent a pile-up of dishes, ingredients strewn around, and elbows bumping together as you and your guests simultaneously try to prepare food, you should plot out simple solutions.
That might mean cooking in advance so that heating up meals is fast and easy. Or it could mean stocking up on snacks or foods that do not require a lot of preparation.
Another option is just to plan on eating out a lot and saving your leftovers.
7. Use your outdoor spaces.
One more idea for making it easier to cook when your guests are over is to do so outdoors. Consider setting up a grill in your yard. Get some chairs for your patio, and enjoy entertaining in the fresh air. Many of our models of park model homes include large porches for just such occasions.
Enjoy Having Guests Stay Over at Your Park Model Home
Now you have some tips for hosting guests in your park model home or tiny house. While it may sound difficult to squeeze even more people into a home with such a small footprint, the recommendations above will see to it that your guests’ experiences are always cozy, but never cramped.
Need suggestions for which park model homes are best for accommodating frequent guests? Please fill out our contact form or give us a call today. We will be glad to discuss specific features and layouts we offer that will help you host family and friends.