2017-03-13

Stripped and tiny

Tiny houses... There are so many ideas for those. But for some reason they all seem to follow the laptop train of thought. The building should be more expensive the smaller it gets. Luckily some people think differently and strive for simplicity without a price tag. Some of those ideas really stick, especially those that don't add anything. Those that instead strip things bare.

There was this bathroom, in a picture somewhere on the internet, with just one faucet. It used a bidet mixer coupled with a holder for a handheld showerhead above the basin. The hose was extra long and could be used for showers too as there was a second holder behind a curtain. The room was used in a japanese fashion so there was a small wooden stool. ...and the toilet was of the squatting type, by the way.

A kitchen somewhere else on the net was almost as minimalistic. A wooden counter with a single stainless steel sink with laundry grooves. Again with a single faucet. This time a mono-grip with a shower handle in a holder on the the front side of the sink. Everything else was hidden. Two induction hobs that stood on their sides inside a cupboard. A few knives tucked into a drawer. Washing bowls behind a curtain under the bench. Spoons were sized for measuring, bowls (regardless of size) and bottles too. Even the forks and knives had clever markings designed for that. Plates were small as the entire meal was served in helpings, usually starting with a salad. Some meals replaced the plates entirely with bowls, bigger ones for food and smaller ones for liquids.

On a raised platform, in yet another picture found on the net, there was a sofabed in front of the smartTV in the "living room". Under two layers of mattresses there was a storage bench. A bed, usually for guests, could be arranged by sliding the mattresses down onto the carpet, thus transforming the storage bench into a bedside desk. The quilts were tucked into covers to form pillows. The children of the house usually pulled the mattresses halfway down. The packed quilts then became seats for their parents on the storage bench. Meals were often served on a foldable table on the thick carpet in japanese style. The other mattresses of the house were kept folded in a large cupboard and spread on the floor in the evenings.

Simple ideas that could reduce the otherwise high cost of building tiny.