Tiny houses
Thermador dubbed this vignette at its IBShow 2020 booth a “cloffice” — a combination of closet and office. It featured an under-counter wine cooler, refrigerator and freezer drawers for high-end cosmetics, a coffee station and sparkly taupe cabinets. Design by Michele Youell of Natural Domain Interiors in Henderson, Nevada. Photo from Thermador
4. Storage walls. This storage wall, which acts as a closet in the same house, can be accessed when the retractable bed is hoisted up. When the doors are closed, you would barely know the wall contains a closet. While it may be handier to have your clothes in the bedroom, there’s nothing stopping you from using other walls to house them.
3. Retractable bed. If you have limited floor space but relatively high ceilings, a retractable bed can be a smart solution. In this clever tiny house, the bed is raised and lowered remotely so the space below can be used for other purposes during the day. This option may be chosen if a ladder is impractical due to mobility issues, or if you just don’t like ladders. While retractable beds aren’t the cheapest option, they do add significant comfort and practicality to small spaces. When this bed is needed, the remote-controlled hoist and track system that’s built into a full-height storage wall lowers the bed down to rest, turning the living room into a bedroom. There’s no folding or packing away involved either.
2. What Accessibility Concerns Need to Be Addressed? As a certified aging-in-place specialist, Kiriu speaks with groups and works with clients to ensure homeowners recognize and remedy any potential home hazards or challenges for aging residents, whether it’s for their own safety or the safety of a live-in relative. When adding an in-law suite, he says, homeowners should be thinking through everything from including reinforced walls and grab bars like these in the shower to choosing mood-boosting paint colors. And it’s easiest to make these adjustments early on in the process, even if a parent doesn’t currently have mobility or cognitive problems. “You want to do it when you first do any type of construction,” he says. “When the walls are open it’s much easier to put in blocking between the studs than it is tearing everything up.” Following the principles of universal design — which Kiriu says he’s seeing more in his work — will also help incorporate pieces and structures that everyone can use now and in the future.
Plan for “aging” AHEAD OF TIME when it comes to construction! Such as wheelchair accessibility throughout house, doorways, shower...
The Murphy bed folds up to open up the floor space, perhaps for a session of yoga. The fireplace runs on ethanol. Since the space is so small — 106 square feet (10 square meters) — it doesn’t take long to heat, Buhler says. The size is actually key to the bunkie’s design. In Ontario, a structure doesn’t need a permit if it is 10 square meters or smaller and without plumbing. From a regulation standpoint, “it’s like having a soccer ball or barbecue in your backyard,” Buhler says. *3rd of 3 pics
Buhler and his former colleague Jorge Torres, together with designer Evan Bare and furniture distributor Jim Moore, created the prototype for this bunkie and started a company, The Bunkie Co., based on their design. The pictured bunkie belongs to a family that has cats and a son-in-law who is allergic to them. He can’t stay in the main cottage where the cats live, so he sleeps here instead.
Peek inside a tiny house. With the TinyHouseNC Street Festival in Pink Hill, North Carolina, and the Great American Tiny House Show in Portland, Oregon, both happening April 28 and 29, this weekend could be a good opportunity to find out what the fuss about tiny homes is all about. Tiny house festivals give you the chance to tour tiny homes, meet the owners and builders, and mingle with others interested in the tiny-house lifestyle. If there isn’t a festival near you but you’d love to get a taste of tiny-house living, consider searching for a tiny-house vacation rental for your next weekend getaway or vacation. Even if you’d never consider living in a tiny home full time, spending the night in one of these mini marvels can be a blast.
Two entrances
Q