Guest post by Ryan Mitchell of TheTinyLife.com
In a Tiny House, space matters. Your choices about what you put in that space matters even more. One of the bulkier items, that we often find we simply can’t live without is seating. While we spend 8 hours of our day sleeping, we fill the rest of our day with work, leisure and socializing, a lot of which, we do sitting down. As humans, we are by nature social creatures, which mean that not only do we need seating for ourselves, but others too. Having a dinner party, meetings or game night in a Tiny House can be interesting when it comes to providing chairs for everyone. Here are a few ideas of how to balance the need for seating, while conserving space.
This chair was designed by Marina Bautier, with an integrated stool/table. While not in use it is able to be stowed within the foot print of the other. With a natural wood finish, it blends well with a Tiny House interior and one is able to double your capacity with no extra square footage.
Source: http://www.lamaisondemarina.com/
This is an interesting concept where a chair can also be a coat hanger. Designed to fold flat, you can actually hang jackets on it in the closet or just store on the hanger bar for future use. Though an interesting idea, I have yet to figure out what you do with all of your jackets when you need to use the chairs, but I might be over thinking it. It is a very simple design that can easily be done as a DIY with the right skills. http://www.philippemalouin.com/
This concept isn’t very new, but one way to make a seat count more is to have it be a double duty item. Ottomans can be used for seats, tables, footrest, and storage all in one package. They are easy to make or can be purchased in all shapes, colors and sizes.
Finally this concept is also a double duty item. With a quick flip, it changes from a chair to a table depending on your needs. Designer Aissa Logerot came up with the design to meet the needs of those living in smaller spaces. Wood finish and a sturdy, stainless steel frame make for a nice piece.
http://www.aissalogerot.com/#/projects/xy/
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Hang the jacket overt the back of the chair?
They don’t look at all comfortable to me. Certainly anybody with a bad back should look elsewhere. Good design = form + function.
I agree, none of these look that comfortable.
Probably the cheapest/more confortable option would be foldable sling-style camp-chairs, and/or a simple murphy-style table (easy to build, but you can also buy a kit-one at Ikea for a little over $20.00- I used their model in my VT cabin years back, and it still holds up well enough). You could also, naturally, make murphy-style seats, although you wouldn’t be able to move them around the cabin for more-versatile use.
One last idea…in my VT cabin, I built an extra wide, seat-level tread on the lowest step of a boat-galley-style, steep stairway to my loft, which doubles as right-height seat, positioned next to that Ikea Murphy-table.
Those chairs you posted ARE nice looking though, but I have to imagine those aesthetics come with a hefty price.
LOVE the constant updates and readin’ material though Kent- it keeps me from doin’ REAL work (not a bad thing)
-Deek
http://www.relaxshacks.com
Author of “Humble Homes…”
For guests, try a folding lawn chair – store it in the trunk of your car. Tables are not really needed.