A tiny home of one's own

Abstract

The home occupies a prominent place in our popular and material imagination. The ideal home is a powerful image because it is understood to be a haven from the ills of the world and a material expression of our true selves. This article considers how home, as a tiny home, is framed through two YouTube channels, Living Big in Tiny Homes and Kirstin Dirksen. Extending Sara Ahmed's work on affect, we present this framing as twofold: first, through a sense of ‘with-ness’ where YouTube facilitates an intimate storytelling with materiality; and second, a sense of ‘against-ness’ where both channels facilitate the notion of the materiality of home as separate and bounded. The study draws on detailed analysis of 42 video episodes and accompanying written comments to consider how materialities, affects, and experiences of tiny homes are intersected with the constraints of the ideal of a stand-alone home.