Tiny House Floor Plans
If you are just finding this blog you should know that I live in a pretty amazing minimalist apartment. It is perfect for me. VERY reasonable rent. A bit of a backyard space where I can garden. And it is super close to my new work place, so I can walk to work in about 20 minutes.
IF there is a downside it is that it is on a busy street.
And I am LOVING some of the tiny home floor plans and designs that I have been seeing on various websites.
Just having your own wonderful space that is eco friendly is very appealing. Many of the these tiny house designs are also “off the grid homes”. They are set up for solar power, wind power and rain water collection.
Most tiny house floor plans incorporate an open concept, which I prefer.
The interesting thing about these prefab tiny houses is that they can be a bit pricey. I have seen prices of over 50000.00 dollars. Plus land and set up.
So here is a question. Could a person purchase a used mobile home, gut it and come up with your own tiny house floor plan? Yes you would still need land and specialized set up if you want it to be an off the grid tiny house.
But I can’t help but think that it would be cheaper than purchasing a prefab tiny house. And it would have a flat roof that could be retrofitted to have a living greenroof.
Yes, my minimalist lifestyle is awesome right now. But knowing that even a small one bedroom apartment has a large carbon footprint is a bit disconcerting. Tiny house floor plans and designs that are eco friendly seem to make so much more sense.
How big is your curent place and could you live in less space?
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I have to live in a place big enough that I don’t have to listen to my husband talk on the phone. He’s worked from home for 20 years and it could get a bit old hearing the conversation 24/7! I love the open concept floor plans too, but figuring out the logistics of where to put a tiny house mystifies me.
We seem to be conditioned to always be on the move. Moving MUST equal productivity right?? Never mind that less may end up getting done.
Thanks for comment Wendy:)
Yes you need the space to allow for that. I am with you on the question of where to put a tiny home.
Thanks for the comment Diane.
Tiny houses off the grid are great in theory, but a lot of the success will depend on access to things one needs: water, septic/sewer, power, internet, phone service, food, medical, transportation. Other things to consider are taxes and insurance, and access for emergency care. I know of people with simple cabins in the woods in Michigan and they’re screwed if the least little thing goes wrong, like a forest fire, a blizzard, a heart attack, etc. Also, I’m not sure what the advantages are over a camper van at the local Jellystone park, other than aesthetics.
The aesthetics, however, are a BIG plus. I do love the designs and the challenges of laying out the perfect space in the least square footage. It will be interesting to see how all the tiny-house people work things out. My mind is open, way open 🙂
Yes it depends on what level of living a person is comfortable with. Maybe it is the aesthetics I am in love with! I have a good thing going on right now so why mess with it?
Saying I live in a tiny house is much cooler than saying I live in a mobile home in a trailer park, but aren’t they kinda the same thing? With the mobile home the things like sewage/water/electricity/gas, etc are already figured out. Plus you can get financing on a mobile home but I don’t think you can on a tiny house. I’m eager to hear of people successfully tiny house living and how they manage.
The thing I don’t understand is that in a mobile home park you buy the place, PLUS pay a lot fee AND pay your own property taxes.
I was thinking of my own place on my own land somewhere.
I’m thinking of getting a tiny house after I get my new dream job under way! Although they are rather pricey, normal homes cost a lot more, and there are no apartments near me.
So it sounds like the way to go for me! 😀
Gosh I hope it works out for you. If you are in the UK have you checked out the Dwelle prefab tiny houses. They rock! Not sure how much they cost though.
Please keep us posted on how it all goes for you.
Mark
tiny houses may be more ecologically constructed than apartmenthouses, but they clutter the landscape, no matter how tiny they are. one family houses in general are greatly inefficient. they sprawl, they use up landscape, they won’t let you live centrally enough to walk to the supermarket so you will probably need a car and so on. (you’ll have to agree that being car-free in a (small) town/city is a huge amount easier than someplace full of detached houses.)
i can’t understand why people in general are so crazy about houses of their own. americans as well as us europeans.
the most efficient and ecological entity for living would be a small/tiny flat in a zero-energy apartment house (ecologically built) in a town with very good infrastructure (no car!).
my two cents as a grad student of social ecology.
But if everyone lived as you said, where is your food produced? I would prefer to live in a small home and use my acreage to raise my own food…including meat, veggies and dairy. Right now I live on 2 acres and have 14 hens, 5 turkeys, 3 American Guinea Hogs and 4 dairy goats. Also have raised beds for gardening and fruit trees. I make goat milk soap and lotion to sell. I am across the street from the agricultural/feed store, 1 mile to the grocery store, 2 miles to my Dr and dentist, 3 miles to hardware. ANd if it is a MUST…5 miles to Walmart. The only thing I don’t have is my “tiny” home…we purchased this property with existing 1600 sq ft home, but I would much rather have the tiny home and be more effectiant.
You have it in many respects. I suspect that a major psychological
reason for these homes is the fact you are not packed in like sardines. If a person thought this out in all aspects one could make it as a freedom. I would imagine that one would have at least an acre of land so as not to have everyone dotting the land like a crowed flat.
My 2 daughters and I live in a 16×20 house (320 sq ft) off-grid on our 4 acre homestead. Living in a small space is not an issue for us, because we pretty much live outside. We use the house to eat and sleep, otherwise we are outside. Where we live, we have harsh winters (8 feet of snow in 2-3 days), but we still spend much of our time outside during the short winter days, and sleep well in our easily warmed cottage. I love it!!
Well done!! I am envious. Well maybe not in regards to the snow!! 🙂
Thanks so much for the comment.
These little houses look great. Great idea too…. BUT I’d have to rent space somewhere to keep my stuff. Winter clothes, luggage, bike, scooter, fishing gear, tax receipts, sporting gear, shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, vacuum cleaner, cleaning stuff, ladder, gardening stuff, shoes, shoes, shoes, shoes, hats.
Maybe I could just leave all of my stuff in the house and sleep in the backyard in a tent. Hmmmm. There’s s thought.
I’m kind of thinking that’s the point:) To maybe realize that we MAY have too much STUFF. Could we do with less? Thanks so much for the comment.
I plan to build a house in a seaside town in Cape Town. I am going to try and make this house as “off the grid” as possible. At this stage I can foresee that the house will consist of three levels since the plot is extremely steep. Each level will however only consist of one large room. Thick curtains will provide privacy when needed. I aim to use solar and sun power since teh envrionment is known for its strong sunshine and strong winds. I only now discovered that one could use a proper system to utilise your recycled grey water as well. I will install rainwater tanks as well as user friendly flower boxes to supply me with sufficient vegetables. The big challenge I know will be to reduce 32 years of clutter to the really needed “stuff”. Even regarding this process I have to figure out a way to allow maiximum recycling. All of this is really exciting and a worthy challenge.
Certainly sounds like an ambitious plan and I commend you for it.
I would love to build an off grid tiny house or modular home.
Good luck to you and thanks for commenting.
We recently moved into a larger place. Honestly, our house has been increasing in size over the last several years. Not much by choice, but because we had some things going on. Our smallest home was 1200 square feet. Not super small but small when you have 5 people living in it. We are now in over 3000 square feet. We were happiest in the small house. Honestly, I have a harder time living in the moment and enjoying the quiet than I did before. Now, it seems like everyone is always in a different room. I love where we are at but I find we are constantly busy rather than sitting home interacting. It’s a trade off. Perhaps it is just adjustment but so far a very small house may be in our future.
650SqFt and we LOVE it. A huge backyard where we garden and try to grow our fruits and veggies from spring to fall. Id love to have solar panels when I have the finances to get them done. We live smack in the middle of a big city but I chose the house based on the house size to land size ratio. Most poeple I know are envious of our reduced costs over all but like most they cant get [ast where they would put their ‘things’. lol
I live in a 624 sq ft. house. It’s about the same size as the apartment I lived in before I was married and now I share it with a husband and quickly growing toddler. I feel like I’m suffocating most of the time, but that’s mainly because it’s crammed full of “stuff.” I’m glad I stumbled onto your blog and I’m trying to make changes. Thanks for the inspiration!
Would love to see photos of the house.
Surely re-using something that already exists is the best way to go here. Development of any kind on a natural untouched resouce doesn’t make sense. So lets go back to the gutted trailer idea, or restore an old cottage etc..
I have been grasping the idea of a tiny house for years… I think a wooden storage shed would be a perfect idea the lofts as a sleeping area and another as storage for clothes. The down stairs could be seperated into 3 room by 2 thick curtians one which could contain a small lounging area on one side and on the other side a small kitchen with a mini fridge and small microwave.
the only reason I’ve heard for choosing to build a tiny house over a renovated trailer is for insulation and condensation factors. if you live in a cold climate, you just can’t heat a trailer warm enough, but you can insulate a trailer to be similar to a stick built home