Tiny Home Inspo That Will Make You Want to Downsize
The chances that you or someone you know have thought about tiny home living are high – it’s 2018, after all. Tiny home living is one of the largest trends of the year, and rightly so. There’re millions of Pinterest and Instagram posts dedicated to tiny home inspo. The home buying outlook has been bleak for some time. Home prices are constantly increasing, though, at best, in a slower pace than prior years. Starter homes are a scarcity. Mortgage rates on the rise. Not to mention, while millennials have been struggling to make the transition from dorms to skyrocketing rent, Gen Z is now on its way to the housing market.
Enter tiny home living (also known as the “small house movement”).The Tiny Life defines it as a social movement that many Americans have decided to put their faith in for a multitude of benefits. The average home in the U.S. is about 2,600 square feet, while the average size for a tiny home is between 100 to 400 square feet. Benefits of tiny home living include cheaper costs to build homes, which are only limited to a buyer’s imagination, a life without debt and, ultimately, freedom.
There is only one way to find out if you can join the small house movement. No, you won’t have to invest any savings for a tiny home. Keep reading to see some of the best tiny home inspo we’ve compiled for your viewing pleasure.
8.) Jessica Helgerson’s Tiny House
Jessica Helgerson Interior Design
Jessica Helgerson Interior Design
7.) The Tiny Tack House
ChrisandMalissa.com
Wow! Talk about letting the light in. Since tiny homes are … well, tiny. Design is crucial to ensuring living spaces do not feel cramped. Chris and Malissa’s Tiny Tack House feels open and bright while managing to maintain a cabin-like feeling.
The couple built the house in 2011 in just over seven months. It comes with a bench over 6 feet long, two folding desks for work or meals, a large closest for storage, a bathroom with a wine barrel shower and composting toilet, and a queen-sized sleeping loft. Immersed in nature, the home is surrounded by evergreens in Everett, Wash.
If you happen to be in the neighborhood, don’t forget to check out Tiny Tack Home. The room is available for rent at a modest price on Airbnb. If you do fall in love with the tiny home (by the looks of it, there’s a chance) Chris and Malissa also sell identical house plans on their website.
ChrisandMalissa.com
6.) Transforming A-Frame Cabin
Alla Ponomareva
Designed by Derek “Deek” Diedricksen (try saying that 3 times) was built around one concept everyone can get behind. Deek’s idea was to create a tiny house that was easy, quick and affordable for anyone to build. How affordable, you ask? This retractable cabin costs less than a used car. For a mere $1,200, you can be the builder and homeowner of the small cabin.
The Transforming A-Frame Cabin has a main base that is 80 square feet but can easily expand to 110 square feet when its roof and legs are opened for a cozy porch. The porch has detachable nets for those pesky mosquitoes in the woods (or wherever you’d like to settle down with this budget-friendly tiny cabin).
The cabin’s blueprints can be purchased on Relax Shack with several options to include a bathroom, larger loft and extra room to your heart’s desire.
5.) Tiny Fern House
Harrison/Airbnb
Children have the biggest, brightest imaginations, and there is nothing like a tree house to bring that imagination out. What if adults could relive some of their best memories? We introduce you to the Tiny Fern House. The tree house your childhood yearned for and the perfect medicine to rekindle that spark again.
The small house is located in the woods of Lincoln, Vermont, and sits above ferns and maple trees. The tiny tree house is 96 square feet, but don’t let that stop you from visiting (reserve through Airbnb). The space is efficiently designed as to not exclude the basic amenities, including a fridge, heating and electricity.
We don’t know about you, but we’re ready for fairy-tale adventures.
Harrison/Airbnb
4.) The Pequod Tiny House
Not all tiny houses are created equally. Some are whimsical, while others focus on sustainability, but few are large enough to hold a family. This is the Pequod’s strength. Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses built the elegant home for a family of four because, yes, tiny home inspo doesn’t have to be exclusive to one or two people.
The house currently resides in Indiana and sold for $80,000 – a higher cost than usual tiny homes, but the Pequod is worth it. It is 26 feet long, almost 9 feet wide and 13.5 feet tall. Some of its features include French doors, insulated walls, solid brass antique porthole windows, and a washer and dryer.
The high cost is still a bargain compared to the average housing costs of regular-sized homes. The money saved on this family-friendly home could mean the financial freedom every family desires.
3.) The Tricycle House
People’s Architecture Office and People’s Industrial Design Office
We assure you, this tiny portable home is 100 percent livable. And, yes, you can really ride it around via tricycle. Why would this not be possible? As we get through this list of tiny home inspo, it’s become clearer and clearer the small house movementloves whimsy.
This Chinese tiny house is fully functional with a handful of room arrangements. It’s up to the homeowner. Perhaps it’s time to transform The Tricycle House into a kitchen, bathroom or a living room with transforming furniture, too. The house can be enlarged, theoretically, with another cyclist pulling another Tricycle House.
People’s Architecture Office and People’s Industrial Design Office
2.) The Toybox Home
Mieke Zuiderweg
Nicknamed the Tiny Toybox Home, the colorful home stands at only 140 square feet. The concept of “a home is a place of peace, simplicity, happiness and recreation” started after Frank Henderson and Paul Schultz met at a reclaimed materials store – as all good love stories begin. The duo designed and built a home where Henderson, a music student, could thrive and even be inspired by his surroundings.
With just one look at the Tiny Box Tiny Home, that concept is clear. The colors, reminiscent of modern art, remain active throughout the interior design as well. Henderson’s home has a living room that can be reconfigured for variety and storage, kitchen with food cubbies, fold-down table for meals, a mini home office and sleeping loft.
Mieke Zuiderweg
1) Escape Vista
Escape
Lo and behold, our No. 1 tiny home inspiration, the Escape Vista. Forbes calls it “The World’s Most Beautiful Tiny House.” It’s not hard to see why. Escape has been building award-winning tiny homes for the past 25 years. The company designs homes that are hand-crafted for openness and space, and their privately owned homes can be found all over the U.S.
Escape has 10 different designs that anyone can purchase. Our favorite is the Vista model. It’s quoted at as little as $48,600, or $307 a month, less than a car payment. The Vista measures 20 x 8.5 x 9.6 feet, with an interior space that takes up 160 square feet. Buyers can enjoy a glass door entrance and one level space that holds a living room, kitchen, dining room and bedroom. The home can rest on a trailer for portability and is easily upgrade-able for a more “off the grid” lifestyle.
With its large windows, it’sa no-brainer for us. Just imagine how lovely it’d feel to wake up in a snow wonderland all around.
Escape
How do you feel about the Tiny House Movement? Leave us your thoughts in the comments. If this is something that’s calling your name, read our post on what to consider when buying a tiny home so you can make the most informed decision.
