What happens when your dream home just doesn’t fit your lifestyle anymore? You move on to something bigger and better. A New Orleans couple who spent four years raising their two children in a 560-square-foot tiny home they built themselves are now putting up a larger house across the street. Brielle Matranga, 25, and Carson Matranga, 26, told People they always treated their tiny home as a stepping stone. Leaving it has turned out to be harder than they expected.
Carson said the decision came from watching his daughter play. Every time the child went into her shared bedroom, he found himself picturing a room she could call her own. Seeing the children grow made the couple realize the next house needed to give the kids space of their own, and so they wanted to do something about it. Obviously, you don’t have much room to do that with a tiny house, so sacrifices needed to be made.
The house was originally meant to hold the couple and just one child. After their daughter arrived, the couple started thinking about what might come next. Brielle said finding out that she was pregnant with their son turned those conversations into a plan. She knew at that point they’d have to figure something out because one bedroom just wouldn’t cut it anymore.
Moving wasn’t as simple as packing up, though. The couple wanted to stay near Carson’s family, because their support made the tiny home possible in the first place. They also still help care for the children. That requirement narrowed the search considerably for the pair.
Why They Built the Tiny Home in the First Place
This Couple Raised Their Family of 4 in a Tiny Home. Here’s Why They’re Finally Ready to Leave It Behind (Exclusive) https://t.co/XSBZTqEVSd
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The Matrangas built the house as newlyweds, when rising housing costs made buying a traditional home feel plenty out of reach. Carson’s parents offered them an extra lot in their backyard. That’s when the couple took it and built the place themselves. The goal was, of course, to save as much money as possible while making a space that belonged to them.
The house ended up holding more than they planned for. Both of their children came home from the hospital to it, and the couple learned how to be parents with just 560 square feet. Brielle said the size pushed the family into spending intentional time together, which is the part of tiny-home living they valued most.
What They’re Building Across the Street
The new house is another hands-on build. It’ll have two bedrooms as well, which is one for each child. Staying on the same block also keeps the family close to the grandparents, who end up watching the kids.
The couple are designing the larger house to hold onto what the small one gave them. They want open spaces where conversations carry from the kitchen into the living room. The tiny home is likely to stay in the family, since the Matrangas have hoped Carson’s siblings would move in. Brielle has said it will still feel strange to see someone else living there, though. Carson said what he sees when he walks through it now is everything they built: “It’s the story.” Now their story is going to evolve into something new, but it’s still all theirs.