Price list
| Campervan consulting | €90/h |
| Tiny house consulting | €90/h |
| Initial consultation | 30 min, donation-based |
| Hands-on work, per hour | on request |
| Travel to and from site | by arrangement |
Tiny House PRO | Tiny House knowledge
Layout
1, 2 or 3 rooms?
When planning the rooms and the layout of a Tiny House, the first thing to be clear about is what you want to do in it. Living area, kitchenette, shower room, sleeping space, dining and working nook – depending on how it is used, you need different places in the house. The standard set-up for someone who wants to move into their Tiny House permanently differs considerably from what is needed if the house is to be used as an office or seminar room.
It pays to take a second look at the layout while changes still cost nothing. During the Tiny House consulting we go through your floor plan together.
Even a small space offers more design options than you might think at first. Openings and doors can separate areas, steps and platforms can divide the space without making it feel cramped, and lofts create additional room on a second level. The possibilities are varied.
Even in a small space you can fit in a great deal of functionality. And of course it should feel homely too!
Topics:
Shaping the space: Layout | Doors & openings | Multifunctionality
Levels: Lofts | Platforms | Steps
Shaping the space
A Tiny House is, to begin with, an empty space. What you need inside depends on what you want to use it for. Do you need a bathroom and a kitchen? Do you want a separate sleeping area? Where could a dining area or the sleeping area go? Where would the bathroom and kitchen be? Where are the walls and doors? Dividing it into individual rooms is an entirely personal decision.
Layout: dividing the space sensibly
Once again the central question is: what do I need? What matters to me? With limited space you have to set priorities: a large kitchen, for example, automatically means less living space. Here are a few ideas on how the interior of a Tiny House could be divided up. Planning the kitchen and the bathroom next to each other makes sense because of the water connections. But there are solutions too if you want to arrange it differently.
Doors & openings: closing off areas
Doors and openings divide and structure the living space. Even though a fairly open living area suggests itself in a Tiny House, you may well want to separate certain areas clearly and be able to close the door behind you in the bathroom or bedroom, for example.
Where space is limited, open doors sticking out into the room can be impractical. Sliding doors are therefore a good alternative to the classic doors found in almost every flat. They can be fitted in almost any size.
Multifunctionality
The living area in a Tiny House is often a multifunctional space. Separating living, sleeping, eating, working and so on frequently makes little sense given the limited space. Lots of walls reduce the visual volume of the room: you may have several rooms, but everything feels more cramped and smaller. It is more productive to think about what you will actually be doing in your Tiny House. Which activities can take place in the same spot? Do I need a dining table and a desk, or can one table serve both purposes?
Taking basic needs seriously
The fewer walls and levels a Tiny House has, the less work is involved and the lower the costs. Even so – a cheap house is no use to anyone if it does not actually match their personal needs. That would be saving in the wrong place.
How are the rooms laid out? How much space do I need in the bathroom, for example? Here too you can use tape or chalk to try out layouts at full size, indoors or outdoors. On a small scale, Lego is just as easy a way to test different variants.
Levels
Different ceiling heights are a further way of dividing the space. They also allow different uses, such as living and sleeping, to be separated from one another. It is worth creating variety with different heights; this has functional advantages as well as benefits for how the space is perceived.
Not all areas need the same ceiling height. Where you mainly sit or lie down, the ceiling does not have to be high at all, and a lower ceiling can even feel very cosy. In small Tiny Houses in particular, though, it is very pleasant to have areas with a high ceiling as well. That makes the space feel larger.
The levels have a considerable effect on the height of your house. Make sure the maximum height is not exceeded.
Lofts
Many clients opt for a sleeping loft. That means they have a second level with the bed on it. You reach the loft by stairs or a ladder. A sleeping space on a second level has the drawback that very little headroom is left. As an adult you cannot stand up there. Space on the bed also becomes tight. Mattresses should not be laid directly on the floor, and on a proper bed you may not even be able to sit upright.
Platforms
Platforms create raised areas, for example for a cosy seating corner or the sleeping area. From here you have a pleasant overview of the room, which makes the Tiny House feel larger straight away. Platforms can also be very practical: they potentially offer a lot of space for storing things. Additional storage can also be created with a storage staircase, which is essentially stairs and a cupboard in one.
Steps
Sometimes a single small step is enough to make it feel as though you are in a different room, because even slight differences in height create the impression of a second space. With an open-plan kitchen, for example, this separates the living and cooking areas more clearly. Another advantage: the cavity created is a good place to house the building services.
What would your Tiny House look like if the front wall were removed? It is best to sketch out a few ideas. Does your Tiny House have a second level or a platform? Where are the stairs? You might find a way to try out different ceiling heights. How does it feel to sit under a raised bed? What is it like to sleep in a bed in which you cannot sit upright?
Worth knowing: Pitch | Size & shape | The roof | Fittings & furniture