This garden shed would make a perfect tiny house. It was recently featured on the Fine Homebuilding website and I thought you would enjoy it too. The downstairs is designed as a working garden shed and the upstairs has a little retreat with two beds. I could see this design easily transferred into a tiny house. David Edrington used Google SketchUp to design the garden shed and than had a contractor build it.
Read the full article and see more photos at the Fine Homebuilding site.
Photo by Kent Peterson
It doesn’t appear to have any insulation.
It’s not a house, it’s a wooden tent. Add a couple inches of insulation and it will feel a lot smaller inside.
If you read the article, it is already insulated with 1.5″ foil-faced rigid foam all around.
My mistake, R-12 is better than nothing at least.
You are correct! It’s not a house. It’s a garden shed and was designed as such. But it is ever so charming and a wonderful starting point for a tiny home. I love it!
No reason it couldn’t be made larger.
Very cute design. I’m glad to see the inside of it and the windows next to the cots. Thanks,
Very nice. I like it.
This is a wonderfully creative structure in that it is compact yet has a timeless design that could fit in anywhere. I don’t see how this is any smaller than some of the homes featured on this site. A little revision here and there and I’d gladly move into this space.
Thanks for adding to the collection of great tiny home ideas!
I look forward to this blog every day. This particular project is certainly a labor of love… perhaps more than a tiny house. The design taps into something deep within us… summer camp and sleepovers and doing nothing on the porch but watching the rain come down. Like the owner of this garden shed, I’m an architect. I hope to someday fill a corner of the garden in my backyard with something so wonderfully blissful. While this example doesn’t solve housing problems, or offer a greener, more responsible way to tighten our budgets, it does show us several really thoughtful ways to build a little wonder into our daily lives. Thanks. Mb
The owner built this to store stuff spilling out of their garage. Rather amazing that we are talking of houses this size and someone is building this behind their existing house so they can “pretend” they live in a tiny house and store more junk. Lots of lessons to be learned here! LIke the dormers buying more real estate in loft. Careful on that first step out of bed in the morning though, might not like the tumble down those stairs!
This is very good at showing how traditional design aesthetics and methods look in smaller scale. It would take very little to tweak this into a full use tiny house and you wouldn’t need to make it much bigger either. You can make a wee little four square Craftsman/Victorian as an alternative to the country rustic cabin or modernist block and it would look great. And it’s great to see how the framing goes together from the inside.
They need the tools and supplies to maintain the yard, not just to have stuff lying around for the sake of owning stuff. This location is likely more convenient than the garage and also provides other pleasures besides just not being in a stinky garage. But really, the purposes they put the building to are secondary to it’s aesthetic and/or inspirational value to someone wanting a tiny house of similar design. It’s so darned cute!
Why wouldn’t the garden tools fit in the garage? Were they getting crowded out by the 3 different panini machines or did the lawnmower keep mom’s suburban from fitting in there? Maintaining a yard is a slippery slope. A lawnmower and weed wacker are about all I need to maintain my yard and it all fits in my 1 car garage along w/ my car. Besides grass doesn’t feed anyone and gets a lot of good water wasted on it where I live. Dismissing the logical path that gets one to this point is foolhardy and then to applaud the aesthetic of such a lie proves a deliberate choice to ignore reality.
BTW: Good luck getting by the codes people, trying to build this as a stand alone. They all live like the person you borrowed the plans from.
A garden shed is about more than just storing a few tools. It’s a workspace (note the sink)where you can also dream about the garden or whatever strikes your fancy. It’s a “garden shed” not a “lawn maintenance garage” There is more to life than strict utility. If their formal garden gives them pleasure it also provides habitat for a lot of bug and animal life. If they like spontaneously hanging out in their little cottage in the garden isn’t that better than buying a chunk of land somewhere they have to drive to and which removes more land from the wild instead of using already existing urban real estate? The article didn’t say they had a kitchen garden but it’s hard to imagine avid gardeners not having one. Speculating on what may or may not be in their garage is pointless. Is it “fair” that some people are able to do this and others can’t find a home? No. Does that make these people scandalous villains? This place would be no harder or easier than any other building it’s size to get approval on.
Kent does such a fine job sharing these little gems with the rest of us. I appreciate and look forward to the daily updates; they truly perk up my day.
However, it is so annoying to come to the comments section and find people judging what others do. You, sir, have a yard, a one-car garage and a car. Are you ready to be judged by the person who has a car but no garage or yard? How about being judged for having a yard by the person with just a car and garage? How many meals do you have per day, three? You could possibly be judged by the person who has only two?Are you open to being judged for your extravagance by the person who lives in a tent?
I say enjoy the pictures for what they’re worth and the spirit in which they were shared or go spew your vitriol elsewhere. Hopefully, you get the message: Live and let live.
The one thing I’d correct: the ladder hatch in the floor between the beds upstairs. I’d add an external staircase to save room, and avoid “unnecessary death or paralysis”.
That said, when the issue of Fine Homebuilding came out with this one last year (a very decent issue, although some of the “Small Houses” in it are 2000 square feet) I showed it to my brother who was looking to add a shed/workshop and guest sleeping space to his yard- instantly, he said “THAT’S THE ONE”. We’ll see if he gets to it, but I love the look of this little place. And if Dustin ever builds it, you can bet we’ll film it.
-Deek
Thank you Joan and Alice. Your words are far more reserved than mine would have been.
Looking for a writing studio/guest house design and this may be it!