The tiny house is framed on a 24 foot long, 8-1/2″ feet wide trailer. It is built between the wheel wells and ends up being just under 13 feet tall. With the added siding, lights, and exhaust pipes for venting, the tiny house becomes oversized in Alaska. This is not an issue for this client because he plans to move it seldom.
The fuel tank was custom made by the client’s brother, and mounted on the front. The siding is standing seam roofing, with a cedar accent panel at the front. All windows are triple glazed for energy efficiency.
Open Concept Tiny House
The big goal with this tiny house was a wide open spacious feeling. The rug in the center is a full sized rug. There is at least 100 square feet of open space in the center of this tiny house. It is so roomy and open!
To achieve this, we had to do away with a bedroom. A loft bed would have required stairs, consuming much space. So we elevated the bed using garage door sliding hardware and a garage storage lift system (sources below). The rails have pins in them, securing the bed, so the lift system is only used to move the bed, not support it while in use. In addition, safety pins are installed for when the bed is in the highest position.
With a push of a button, the bed lowers to the bottom pins.
The coffee table cubes can be used as a step up into bed if needed.
It’s really not that high (and the bed could be set even lower, but might require some couch pillow rearranging every night).
The sectional below is of course DIY, using a foam mattress cut into pieces. When the pieces are put back together, it forms a guest bed.
The upper bed can be set to “bunk mode” at about half height, allowing easy access to both beds. Instead of a ladder, the upper bunk can be accessed by the storage cube, with a step up on the console.
The beds offer amazing views of the front window and allow sleeping privacy for guests and the homeowner.
I wanted to keep the middle space open, but it did need some function. So I built a storage piece that is sized over the wheel well.
Adding doors help hide less attractive objects and the doors slide from side to side on a DIY pipe rail.
The doors also fold up with hidden legs that pop out to become desks, and can even convert to a table-sized piece.
The desks can be used in a his/hers mode as well, with the storage cube tops flipping over to become comfortable seating.
Moving back toward the kitchen, the entryway features a space heater and an organization system
Cup hooks were attached to scrap plywood to make key rings,
Iron pipe used to create a coat rack.
There is also a shoe bench (that is actually part of the occassional use guest bed) and drawers under the lofted kitchen floor for additional storage.
The cabinet above the pipe hooks features three cubbies, but the storage above the cubbies is too high to easily access from the living room side.
So the cabinet is mounted on drawer slides and slides over the kitchen walkway.
This creates pantry storage for the kitchen that is very easy to access from the lofted kitchen area. The shelving is sized for cereal boxes.
There is additional open storage in the framing of the bathroom wall. A barn door seperates the kitchen from the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom, a closet slides out from the shower for hanging clothes. When the shower is in use, the closet easily slides over the toilet. When the closet is in the shower, the shower curtain clips over the shower head to protect clothing.
The kitchen is simple. The client will add a microwave and induction burners. But we were able to add a space for a washer dryer combo unit.
The cabinet under the window is on caster wheels, and can easily side into the bathroom, creating access to the corner (which is otherwise very difficult to use space).
The cabinet fits perfectly under the sliding closet allowing laundry to be put away easily. And if the laundry basket is stored under the closet in the shower, the closet can move over the toilet to reach the laundry basket.