Tiny Home Furnishings
The simplest, most effective way to reduce a home's energy usage is to reduce its size. If you want to go green, go small! When you go small, the need for fewer building materials, less land, and less maintenance goes beyond a lower energy bill.
The biggest concern most have about tiny houses is there won't be enough room for family and friends on holiday visits or that it just will seem cramped. With careful design and planning, a small house can feel larger than its dimensions.
You'll want to incorporate these suggestions into your tiny house and you'll never feel it is "too small". It will be "just right".
Bring in the Outdoors
What is outside, can expand your inside space - especially if it's like another room and is connected to the house. Your house should flow outdoors and then be defined by a railing, fence, greenery, deck railing or other structures. Keep materials consistent and use floor pattern, overhanging's, plants and windows to bring the outside in. Keep your outdoor "room" no bigger than the biggest room in the house. And keep it private - hedges, fencing, etc. will make it more interesting to explore and more likely to be used.
Use transitions
In a really tiny house, it's better to be consistent throughout - if you use wood on the walls, do it everywhere. Use similar colors and materials throughout. It will make your tiny house seem larger. But if it's a larger tiny house, you can use color or materials to create distinct areas. Use design elements to create natural divisions of use. This is why lofts work well for sleeping...they typically are not used for other purposes. If you want to use your loft for more than sleeping, consider a folding bed that converts to a low couch. Hide clothes in cabinets and add as many windows as you can get away with. Lofts can be used as music rooms, reading areas, craft spaces, and more and still be useable as a sleeping area if you can get your furniture to do dual-duty.
Keep your entry and main areas large. Avoid tiny hallways and incorporate them as part of the living area. It will give the illusion you are living in a bigger house. One of the best uses I've seen is storage cubes that are stairs to the loft. Win win.
Actual FurnitureObviously your use of individual furniture pieces will be limited in a tiny house. Anything you can build-in you should. Tables that hinge off walls and fold away. Seating that stores under tables. Everything can store something. Storage will be your greatest limitation in a small home so take advantage of furnitue such as end tables and even chairs that can store items in them. One of the items I love is the dog crate end table....which can come apart and become a gate to keep children or pets out of the kitchen or off the loft ladder. Meanwhile you can store items in it, even if you don't have a pet because it doubles as an end table. How great is that? You'll want to think in terms of "what else can I do with this if it's going to take up valuable space?".
Use Light & Color
Bright light in the foreground with slightly darker areas in the background creates a perspective that increases the perceived depth of a space. Light at each end of the room (windows, lighting), draws the eye back making the room seem bigger. Windows at the end of a hall, or skylights at the top of a loft ladder expands the distance.
Natural light enlarges space. Use large windows, skylights, and clerestories. Interior spaces that are isolated from the exterior can use elements such as roof monitors and light tunnels, or can borrow light from other areas via transoms and interior windows. Don't be afraid to use large windows in a tiny house.
Lighting that is though out and put in appropriate places gives definition to elements and edges, and creates a sense that the space is larger than it actually is.
It's best to use light colors on ceilings and walls. Warm colors seem to advance toward us, while cool colors tend to recede. Creatively using color can open up small spaces.
Scale
Avoid downsizing everything in a small house; doing so just makes it seem even smaller. Instead, vary the scale of objects. If you use elements larger or smaller than normal it gives the home grandeur. For example, a tiny window placed next to a big piece of furniture makes the area seem larger. It's all about illusion.
Using unexpected items can have a large effect. A big fireplace, an oversized window, a formal garden all seem to belong to a bigger house and gives the illusion of richness. Combining large pieces of furniture with area rugs can have the same effect. And in a small house, you just need a few outstanding pieces. Raising the ceiling height from the standard 8 ft. to 9 ft. in the main living areas also can make a huge difference.
Tapered and curved architectural features can make a room seem larger. Mirrors set on closet and bathroom doors are both practical, but can enlarge space. Even paintings and photos can draw your eye to a distant wall and create the illusion of more space. Don't forget to put those paintings on thin cabinets that can be opened for storage!
Multipurpose
This is the number one solution to tiny house living. Everything in your tiny house needs to be multi-purpose. The best way is to combine different activities that don't occur at the same times for the same space. In a tiny house 'activities' can include storage. You'll want storage options in every nook and cranny. Buying furniture, or built-ins that can have multiple purposes or be folded away are big space savers. A desk that can be a kitchen table, an ottoman that conceals storage, a dresser that doubles as stairs are all examples of this. Fold down tables, fold down desks, hidden storage that has a mirror or artwork on the front.
Sight lines
Keeping sight lines clear is important. Limit the number of furniture pieces and eliminate clutter. The eye will look farther, and the room will feel bigger. No clutter should be the rule...if it's too busy, it will seem small. Clutter is the bane of small home living. Everything must have a place - out of sight! While the occasional pan rack in the kitchen is fine...you don't want to see every canned good, every spice, every bit of this or that. Hide them in cabinets, or between the walls with clever covers.
Zoning
You don't have to have a one room house for it to feel spacious. You'll want to create "zones" - public areas, private areas, areas separating competing functions (such as a bathroom that walls off a sleeping area that doubles as an office for example). Make distinctions between quiet and noisy areas. This is one reason many tiny houses use lofts - they are open and yet, are an obviously a separate space. Contrast areas by making some of them intimate and snug, and others open and airy. A sheltered desk in a bay window off an open living area is a good example of this tactic.
Pets
Yes, you can have pets in a tiny home!!! Like everything else, it's all about the creative use of space. Make sure everything does dual duty - crates become tables, litter boxes are hidden and a vacuum is a must.
The design of your tiny home is one way to achieve these goals is with unique multifunction furniture (murphy beds, stairways, ladders, room dividers). We've tried to find small scale, as well as functional furniture and accessories that work well in a tiny home to share with you.
Adaptive Furniture is the key to making it work
