The Mini House is a prefab home that comes flat packed, like your Ikea furniture, and assembles (perhaps with an impossibly small Allen wrench) in just two days. The house is incredibly compact, with a small kitchen, bathroom, living area, and even a real bedroom (!) all packed into 15 square meters, or 161 square feet. The attached porch, which connects to the interior of the house via a sliding glass door, effectively doubles the amount of living space without adding any square footage. Because of its tiny footprint, the Mini House can be built anywhere in Scandinavia, where the design was developed, without a building permit.
I suspect that the difficulty of permitting one in the States would be just the opposite, since many U.S. cities have minimum requirements for the size of a primary structure on a residential lot. Unfortunately, the Mini House, which will be available to ship throughout Scandinavia later this year, isn't sold in the U.S.. But color me inspired. A tiny, freestanding house like this one could have all the benefits of living in a small space (the coziness, the ease of cleaning, the wonderful simplicity of freeing yourself from piles of stuff) AND many of the advantages of a detached suburban home (privacy, immediate access to the outdoors). What do you think? I think if I could have a little house like this, maybe with a lap pool nearby, I would pretty much be in heaven.
Read more about the Mini House on Gizmag.
(Images: Andy Liffner via Gizmag)
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I would love to have one of these on a lake for a weekend getaway place. Or for my hermit retirement house. How many cats do you think I could fit in there?
I find this much more livable than any of the tiny houses I've seen before.
all it needs is solar panels and water filtration system!
I think it would be great for just a weekend retreat, since most hotel rooms aren't much bigger. But given that I enjoy staying home when I am home (versus being constantly out of the hotel when I'm traveling), I wouldn't consider this to be very livable on a permanent basis.
I long for this...
In Tokyo, my apartment above a single garage was 9' x 15', so 141 sq'. I had very few belongings so it worked out ok, though I didn't relish having to go to the public baths (I guess it's ok if you're Japanese, but everyone would stare at me, which got so old so fast... especially once I gained 30 pounds from subsisting on ramen...)
It was two 6 x 9 rooms, with the in-between 3 x 9 space consisting of three 3x3 squares: a closet (futon goes there during the day), toilet (too small!) and hallway. It would've been smarter to put the two big rooms adjacent to each other, and the 3x9 strip at one end, so that hallway wasn't wasted space. But one nice thing about that place was that it feels noticeably better to have another room to go to at times.
When I go backpacking and have to travel super-light, I find that the amount of time I spend arranging stuff each day actually gets burdensome (like when heading out on a day hike from base camp) . Paring down can create a lot more work than having ample, extra space and convenient duplicates of various utilitarian objects..
this would be great for a mother-in-law's apartment in the back yard.
I'd also love something like this out on an of-the-grid woodlot or cabin-site.
No way for permanent residence, I like my "horders" - level (at least according to my husband) of books and craft supplies but as a vacation spot - Amazing! I would love to buy a plot of land somewhere near the beach and put this there and maybe build a bigger better dream house later on. When the US copycat version pops up, I'll be in line to buy.
I have been wanting something exactly like this as a guest house/studio on my rural property. The problem I run into is cost. By the time transportation is added -- even with semi-local companies -- the cost climbs to the level of having the thing built on site. I couldn't live in something so tiny full-time, but to have as an escape, a workspace, or as a place to stash house guests...it's perfect.
I'd love a tiny house. However, I'd have to find someplace warmer than Michigan so I could screen in the porch for my feline family of six. My requirements for a tiny home are: modern plumbing, no ladder and lots of natural light.
Can it be printed?
I'm currently living in 170 square foot apartment with my boyfriend - we and all our stuff fit in fairly comfortably. Previously we were living somewhere smaller. We plan to stay in this place for the foreseeable future.
Surprisingly, I don't live in America, but in the UK. Although I love this site, it doesn't half cater to the American idea of space - and it always makes me feel rather ill when people comment about "tiny" 400 square foot apartments - I would have to get a significant pay rise before I could afford anything that big!
The only reason why I wouldn't want to live in this house has to do with safety. I imagine (again, no research here) that it cannot be to sturdy in extreme weather, like really strong winds or rain leading to flooding.
My husband and I live in similar sized space and are perfectly comfortable. Our inside space is basically our bedroom, bathroom and kitchen and the entire rest of the country is our living room. I guess it is all about perspective.
LOVE IT! And FYI, often people get around the minimum size requirements by making it movable; add wheels and those minimum square feet requirements go away.
What is the "box" behind the shower? Storage? Washer dryer? Water-heater?
I like the basic, simple designs. As a middle aged adult, I'm not so sure about hopping over my honey to get to the bathroom (all the beds are shoved against the walls) 2-3 times a night. We might have to resort to bunk beds.
Yeah, there's not much room for "stuff" - games, books, tools, farm gear. I could see building a shed for stuff storage if this was the full time home. But: if the price is right it's a good basic idea. Especially if someone without special skills can put it together with an adjustable wrench.
In terms of modern building codes - you might be able to get a provisional approval if you say it is a temporary home, and you plan to add on. It may be more of a planning issue if you are building a 200 sq. ft. house in a neighborhood of 2000 sq. ft. mini mansions.
A lot of the "standards" for room sizes come from the lender and not from the government. For instance, HUD housing has "minimum property standards" for room sizes, which governs their projects. Anyone lending you money has a say in what they would be getting if you default on the loan.
This is perfect for the childless, workable for a couple, but absolutely impossible once you start a family. I live in a two bedroom "starter cottage" type house, and with one child it gets crowded FAST! Where do you keep all the games and stuffed animals? What do you do when it's freezing outside and your kid gets cabin fever?
You can't craft or work from home, either. No room for art supplies or a home office. I need room to spread out!
In my younger years, my boyfriend and I lived on a farm in I guess about 150 sq ft of cottage. It had a mini bathroom and kitchen and one room. We put the wardrobe in front of bathroom door to create a "hallway" so you weren't always looking at the toilet! It had room for the bed and table against opposite walls and an armchair at the bedhead beside the fireplace. The "laundry" was a concrete tub on the outside wall. We had amazing views over a valley and small river. The rent was $20 a week. We had spring water and grew all our own vegies. We were both artists so art supplies had priority over other possessions. We loved it!
As an American I consider the square footage of this more than adequate to handle my needs as far as a home.