Here's how people living in a tiny home make their space seem big, according to those who designed their houses themselves

Courtesy of Joshua and Shelley Engberg

• Tiny houses are actually pretty spacious if you utilize them right.
• Business Insider spoke with four tiny house dwellers about how they make their tiny houses work for them.
• They shared their best space hacks: opting for multifunctional furniture, maximizing storage, and bringing the outdoors in.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

There's more to tiny houses than what meets the eye.

They may be small — generally defined as less than 400 square feet — but they're bigger than they look if you get savvy with the space.

Four people who traded their homes for minimalism shared with Business Insider their best tips and tricks on maximizing and utilizing a tiny house.

They love multifunctional furniture — think a bathroom door that doubles as a ladder to a loft or a bench that folds out into a guest bed. And, of course, tiny living requires creativity with storage. One couple installed floor cubbies in their bedroom to hold miscellaneous items, while another uses magnets to keep kitchen accessories on the walls.

But making the most of a tiny house is about more than purpose and organization. Some make their space seem bigger by designing big picture windows to let natural light in or using an off-white paint to create the illusion of openness. And many expand their space by bringing the outdoors in, from building a deck to installing an accordion window.

Here's how tiny house dwellers make living tiny work for them.

Bela and Spencer Fishbeyn live in a 300-square foot tiny house in California's Santa Cruz Mountains.

Ryan Tuttle

They document their tiny house life in their blog, thisxlife.

They told Business Insider they aimed to design their tiny house without any compromises — they wanted it to have everything a traditional home would.

Courtesy of Bela, thisxlife

For them, that means a full-sized kitchen, a king-sized bed, an extra room for their daughter, a river-tile shower, a dishwasher, and a professional kitchen range. "Living in a tiny home doesn't have to involve a lot of shortcomings," they said.

"We've learned that most of our storage and multi-functional space 'tricks' haven't actually worked out as intended," they said.

Courtesy of Bela, thisxlife

"It's easy to think that conveniences (like lots of storage) make life easier," they said. "But we've found the things that make our short-term easier, often make our long-term harder (like accumulating tons of things we don't need). "

For example, the entire space underneath their kitchen hides two full-sized tables, three sliding benches, four stools, and one hundred cubic feet of storage — but they hardly use any of it because it isn't convenient, they added.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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SEE ALSO: Here's what living in a tiny house is really like, according to people who traded their homes for minimalism

DON'T MISS: I've been writing about tiny homes for a year and finally spent 2 nights in a 300-foot home to see what it's all about — here's how it went

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