How To Design A Tiny House – Part 1

Things to consider:

• What size house would you like?
• What style house would you like?
• What layout works best?
• What are your 10 things?

What size is right?

Most tiny houses are on wheels to bypass building codes.  If you go this route your house will never be viewed as a permanent structure and thus permitting skips the building department and goes through a different agency (DMV) for inspection and permitting.

When going through the transportation department you are limited on width (by state) to about 8′-6″ max width and 13′-6″ in height (length varies) before having to get special permitting to tow your home.  For this reason MOST tiny houses are confined to the 8′-6″ width and vary in length.  The most common trailer sizes that you see tiny houses on is between 16′-0″ and 24′-0″.  There are plenty of shorter and longer examples out there but in general they lay in that range.

In order to start to understand the what length would work best for you I would suggest looking up other examples of  tiny houses and see which look the most appealing and the most feasible to you and then find out the length.  That will give you a good starting point to go from.   I would recommend sticking with something on a 4′-0″ increment (16′, 20′ or 24′) as it will save you time in construction because sheet goods (plywood, OSB, Drywall, etc.) typically come in 4’x8′ sizes and so it will make for less cuts and easier assembly to stay on a 4′ increment overall and will produce less waste.

What Style Do You Like?

Craftsman

Natural materials, lower pitched roofs, built in furnishings, high detail, comfy, cozy grandpas porch in the city.

Log Home/Cabin

Simple, comfortable, cozy, warm, inviting, rustic.

Victorian

Ornate, detailed, whimsical, asymmetrical, complex and beautiful.

Modern/Contemporary

Clean lines, flat planes, interesting materials, intersecting geometries, clean, crisp and enlightening.

rockymountaintinyhouses.com/plans/boulder/

Colonial

Formal, proportionate, symmetrical, detailed, strict, strong.

Cottage/Ranch

Practical, inviting, functional, varied.

Something completely different!

While there are ‘styles’ there are no limits!

What Layout Works Best?

Again, I would encourage you to look at as many other examples as you can from others and just think of how YOU would use the space.  If you see a kitchen that seems hard to work in it is probably not the best layout for you.  Think about adjacencies and how you would feel if the kitchen were next to the bathroom, would that bother you?  What if the bedroom was in the loft only?  Would it work better with a ground floor bedroom?  Or maybe just stairs instead of a ladder is a good compromise?  Look at as many houses as you can and keep notes of what would work best for you, start a Pinterest board of your favorite tiny house features, or just keep a little book around for all your favorite tidbits.

What are your 10 things?

There is NOTHING that can’t be included in a tiny house, nothing.  It’s just a matter of how.  The goal of a tiny house is not to limit your lifestyle or possessions, quite the opposite, it is to limit the things that have no meaning so that those with meaning can become more active influences in your life.  Once someone gets serious about choosing to go smaller with their lifestyle I always encourage them to think of at least ten things that are a ‘must have’ in their house.

What ten things would make your house a home?  Do you need wall space to hang all of those family photos?  Do you have a pet with special requirements?  Do you need a double basin sink?  A flush toilet?  Room to sew and hold your supplies?  Maybe you have a kayak that needs a place to call home too?  Whatever it is you can fit it in, but only if you identify those things that are most important first!

In the comments I would love it if you could leave your list of ten things that YOU need your tiny house to accommodate so that you may inspire others!