How can less than 400 SF be so hard to design?

I’m an engineer, so I know there’s a lot of work that goes into designing spaces. I’m working on a 500,000 SF project (that I did not design) and, oh man, KUDOS to our architects cause I would have been overwhelmed.

When I sat down a few months ago with my iPad to start some simple designs of the tiny house, I didn’t expect something so small to feel so immensely overwhelming. How can less than 400 SF feel as complicated as 500,000? But this is my future home, I want it to be perfect, and I want to plan for everything.

Should the kitchen be below the office or the bedroom? What are the acoustics going to be like in the house? How do I fit a washer in the bathroom without the bathroom being huge? Why are stairs so hard to design? These are all exciting yet overpowering decisions to make to design this home exactly as we want.

There is a rough scale using basic dimensions I’ve found for appliances, cabinets, and such. I’ve even started 3D modeling the house to visualize it better. I had no service this weekend so I spent a few hours on my iPad modeling out my ideas. I can’t wait to watch these two pieces come to life more and more to truly build out our tiny house. I still think my favorite spot is going to be the gaming loft, which I have yet to hash out. What is your favorite spot in your home (tiny or otherwise)?