Comments on: Tiny House with Moving Walls – part 2

By: SilverO

SilverO — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:22:59 +0000

Sorry…I can’t help myself..lol! I found your site after initially looking at Gypsy Vardos, which THEN led to Tumbleweed Tiny houses site, which then led to you! One of the options for saving space in the vardo was a bed that was on pulleys, which (naturally) was pulled up during the day and let down at night(for pictures go here: http://www.enslin.com/rae/gypsy/wagon13.htm ,for the pulley diagram, go here: http://www.enslin.com/rae/gypsy/bed.html ).
While looking at the Tumbleweed houses I thought a murphy bed for the main floor was a good solution for added sleeping space, and in looking for that I came accross this: http://www.doublespacebeds.com/index.html , it wouldn’t work so much for a trailer in my opinion (I think there HAS to be alot of weight to it), but for one of your fantastic small houses it might be good…

By: SilverO

SilverO — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:03:53 +0000

You may also find this site interesting for bed solutions:
http://www.zoom-room.com/galleryNYCondo.asp
and BTW…I do LOVE the whole idea of the movable walls…I wonder if any small apartment people in big cities would love the idea as well…you could probably sell the idea to a small space ideas magazine!!

By: SilverO

SilverO — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 13:57:59 +0000

You know, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of this one on your site:
http://tinyhouseblog.com/tiny-furnishings/slide-away-bed/
The changes to it that I would make though are that it be long enough to lay on comfortably in the “couch” position so that when it’s slid out it takes up less space towards the room, AND along the “top bar” space, I’d have built in shelves to create morre storage space…

By: SilverO

SilverO — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 08:17:43 +0000

I know that you have looked at a few different pullout beds previously, but the idea that’s on this site might work out to less work and/or cost.
http://tinyhouseblog.com/stick-built/katys-don-vardo-for-sale/
I think that going more futon style with a folding foam matress rather than the pillows depicted may be a good option.

By: Small Living Journal , Archive » How To Design Small Spaces for Multiple People

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:55:12 +0000

[...] House with Moving Walls – part 1, part2, part3, [...]

By: bob

bob — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:53:41 +0000

I posted on the part 1 entry before I realized there was a part 2. Sorry.

For the bathroom you can put the sink in the corner, and use one faucet to control the sink and the shower. Doing that will let you cut the size of the bathroom down substantially. 3′ x 4′ could probably work. You just need a container to keep the paper dry.

At 144 sf this tiny house would be smaller than my popup camper, although it only has 84 sf of floor (with two king beds cantilevered off the ends). There’s plenty of space for just me on a weekend trip. For two of us for a week it still works. It’s a little more challenging for us, perhaps, due to musical instruments. With 4 people we’re in each other’s way and stuff is piled up.

People who spend a lot of time in campers have figured out how to reduce things to a minimum, although 100 things seems a bit too hard for me. I see he counts pens, and I’m sure I’ve got 100 of them Anyway, you might find it useful to meet some people at campgrounds and see how they organize their interiors. I can’t live without a coffee maker and my wife needs a tea kettle on the stove and a crock pot.

It is amazing though how much more efficient built in furniture and storage is. I made built-ins for our home-office and they work really well.

Here’s an idea you may wish to consider:

On one wall you could have a built in bench. The bench can be padded and lift up for storage (a quilt for winter perhaps). The table could drop down even with the front edge of the bench. With this arrangement you have provided seating for the table and seating for the room in one unit. Since it’s in the corner, you can wrap the back around the corner and it’s a comfy place to read a book. You can place a shallow cabinet or some shelves above the bench, or a window.

I like the sleeping loft concept. With a 6/12 roof pitch a 12′ room only has 6′ of headroom at the peak, less the depth of the loft joists, but if you build the house with 10′ studs and put the loft at 8′ you can get enough headroom to stand. For me, a tiny house would have to have a porch with a roof over it. Using the shotgun style you could extend the loft over the porch, creating much more usable space without appearing to.

By: Poncho

Poncho — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:29:32 +0000

I love the square design. It makes the most out of the space and improves heating efficiency. I would build an outhouse and recapture the space. Instead of storing folding chairs, hang them on the wall on nice pegs, like the Shakers used to do. You could hang and strap them to the bottom of the murphy bed, that way they disappear when you fold down the bed!

I would make the square 14×14. The extra two feet makes a huge difference, and still stays under 200 sq ft.

By: Michael Janzen

Michael Janzen — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:32:40 +0000

Yeah 100 things seems a bit hard to do… but I love the frame of mind it puts me in… downsize downsize downsize… why do we have/need all this junk anyway right?

By: EJ

EJ — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:20:06 +0000

Love the 100 things! I would love to do that, but living in the country I would have to make too many exclusions for tools….
Maybe for personal items without books?

By: Michael Janzen

Michael Janzen — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 22:37:14 +0000

Jason… excellent point. Looks like a pocket door is the only way to go with such a tiny bathroom.