Don't discount the importance of floor plan and optimized space...
I live in a pretty tiny house (not by the OP definition) but I'm going mad, not due to the sq. footage (650sq ft) but the layout. I live in a type of original tiny house, a Philadelphia trinity. Also called a "Father, Son, Holy Ghost" house or a "bandbox" house. They are all over central Philadelphia (and its old Manyunk neighborhoods in the west), mostly mass produced in the very late 1700s through the 1800s as servant homes.
They are literal vertical houses, one room to a floor connected by a small winding pie-wedge staircase and have a square footprint - ranging usually from 10x10 to 16x16 at their largest, most 3 or 4 stories, some 5 if you count a roofdeck. Most of the ones still standing are in the central part of the city and back on small alleyways or courtyards. I live on a 5 foot wide Belgian Block alley and the street, paving and my house are all on protected on the historic register.
Fortunately my house was expanded circa 1967 from 12x12 to 12x20 and the spiral stair was replaced with one that is mostly straight turning only at the bottom and tops. I always wanted to live in one of these houses and when I finally had the means to purchase one I did - they aren't too expensive and they are in the central part of the city making the need for a car obsolete - I walk to work - and utility bills are miniscule. They are by many standards very Mustachian.
But after 7 years, I'm going nuts with the stairs (I can't imagine if I did have the scary winding pie-wedges), my main bedroom and only bathroom not being located on the same floor and just the sheer claustrophobia from the tiny rooms. I absolutely could and would love to live in even less, but I want it
open concept and on one floor. After living in this house, a Tumbleweed house is basically my first floor (total claustrophobia) with a loft (bed/bath not on same floor again!) and that would drive me STIR CRAZY.
What's a Philadelphia trinity?
Here's one on AirBNB
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1287949Here's one on Zillow in need of updating
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/317-S-Iseminger-St-Philadelphia-PA-19107/10197517_zpid/Here's a spacious one on Zillow with the pie-wedge column smartly replaced by an open floating staircase
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1220-Panama-St-Philadelphia-PA-19107/10196772_zpid/My dream these days is much more along these lines -
http://smallhousebliss.com/2014/01/23/sarah-house-an-affordable-green-container-home/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/garden/freedom-in-704-square-feet.htmlOne floor, big windows, open space, some land around it... I'd be way happier in even in 400 sq. ft home that is optimized, has minimal walls, floor-to-ceiling windows with some kind of view rather than the bandbox in an alley with tiny rooms and a view that is predominately of other brick walls. So no Tumbleweeds for me, but yes, my post-FIRE plans are all about getting out of the city when I no longer need a big, fat corporate salary, moving west and making this a reality!