How to design the interior of a small house?
The process to interior design a tiny house starts when the blue prints of the house are being drawn out. It helps to have a basic concept in your head of what the interior will look like before you start construction. You can refine your rough idea later. In my case I started finishing out the interior after I had installed siding to the outside of the house.
What is the best interior wall for a tiny house?
I chose open stud bays to give a rustic and minimalistic vibe in the house. This would allow the framing structure of the house to be visible and act as a part of the aesthetic design. Interior designs that include the beauty of the structure itself allow the interior design of the house to be more impactful and purpose driven.
What are common interior features of a tiny house?
When you interior design a tiny house you want to incorporate lots of built-ins. Built-in shelves, built-in desk, and built in storage. Efficiency of space is extremely important. From my initial rough concept I drafted a sketch of what the interior walls and ceiling would look like. From this initial concept I could add different design layers as I added the floors, kitchen, bathroom and built-ins.
Whats the first step to interior design a tiny house?
The first step to interior design a tiny house is figure out what colors you want to use. My favorite colors are green and blue so I wanted to incorporate those into the design. I also had blue electrical conduit running in the visible ceiling so I knew I had to play off that color. Tiny houses are small spaces so it is very important to incorporate white to give the impression of a larger space. Painting a space a darker color always makes it feel smaller.
Interior design a tiny house: Incorporate surroundings
The house is located in a woody area so I wanted to continue the nature vibe by incorporating raw wood touches. The tiny house was located in a backyard of another house so the colors of the tiny house also had to synchronize with the other house. The front house had similar color patterns of blue and green.
How do I choose colors in a tiny house?
Given the variables of a smaller space, natural location, front house I chose to use blue, green, white and wood as my colors. The walls and ceiling were going to be white colored to create lighter, bigger airier vibe. The ceiling had blue conduit wiring running through it so I thought it would be cool to match that blue on the flooring.
Main colors for interior design of a tiny house
The cabinets and curtains were going to be green to play off the green light that was coming through the nature set window. I chose a teal green and mint green that played well off each other. I chose to make the trim a natural wood color. The pieces came as raw wood so I sanded them and sealed then to capture the homey wood feel.
Pop Colors
After this there are tertiary “pop” colors. These are dashes of a different color to grab the eye. I used pop colors of red and yellow that sparsely interspersed between the tiling, lighting and stained glass. Its important to to be sparing with pop colors to avoid the space becoming too busy. I had a strong base of white in the house so I had the leeway with more fun colors.
How do I paint the interior of a tiny house?
The best option is to use an airless paint sprayer to spray the walls and ceiling. My house had external insulation allowing the possibility for having open stud bays that can be painted. I also added 2-3 inches of closed cell foam into the stud bays of the roof joists. For painting a large square footage of uneven surface the paint sprayer is the best bet.
Spraying paint must come before installation of the floor, electrical, or any other mechanicals. Cover the windows prior to spraying to protect them. The sprayer will paint quickly and effectively but will make a mess in its wake.
How to choose flooring for interior design a tiny house?
I chose to build wood floors out of nothing but pallet wood. The wood floors would add a comfortable touch to walk on and look at. This also allowed me to stain the wood floors blue so I could continue the color scheme of the house. Most importantly pallet wood is free and abundant so sourcing wasn’t that hard. The hard part was disassembling the palates and processing the boards for installation.
How did I interior design a tiny house kitchen?
The tiny house had an 8 foot width so I knew what shape of kitchen I could fit in the allotted space. It made sense to run the cabinets, fridge and stove on the lengthwise 24 foot wall of the house. I put a mobile island table in the kitchen on the opposite wall of the cabinets. This creates a galley style kitchen that is space efficient.
How did I use a mobile island in my kitchen tiny home?
The mobile island is countertop space that can be moved around the house when needed. This mobile island will be the main area for preparing food on the chopping board. I was able to get this island for free because it needed to be repaired. I sanded and sealed the chopping block and painted the legs and shelves.
How did I build the cabinets?
The bottom and top cabinets are open shelf style. The wood of the open shelves is stained with dark walnut and then sealed. The dark walnut looks really nice next to the blue stain of the floor. The bottom cabinets have a curtain to cover the shelves from dust and to add a mint green color into the mix. The top cabinets are a mix between open shelf and closed cabinets.
Bottom Cabinets
The bottom cabinet’s held space to hold the water heater, plumbing, mechanicals and a place to store cutlery, and cleaning supplies. These cabinets are covered by the green curtain. There is a curtain rod with chrome finish that matches the chrome finish from the hardware in the door, stove top sink and faucet. The green from the curtain fits well with the chrome and reddish countertop.
How do I interior design a tiny house top cabinets?
There two types of top cabinets in my kitchen, closed cabinets and open shelving. The closed cabinets are painted green as well but more of a teal green which plays off the mint green and the green light from outside very well. I chose to store food goods in these closed cabinets so it acts as my pantry.
Open shelving
The other top open shelves are near the sink and window and hold plates, cups, spices and other kitchenwares. These open shelves are very simple pieces of wood from a 2×10 that were cut to length, sanded, covered with sealer and screwed up with brackets to the wall. The natural wood color of the open shelves plays off the natural wood color from the trim.
How do I build a countertop in a tiny house?
The countertop is laid on top of the open shelf bottom cabinets and really puts an exclamation point on the space. The best option for a countertop in a tiny house is an epoxy resin counter top. You can build an epoxy resin counter top by pouring different layers of resin on a plywood sheet. If the tiny house needs to be mobile you want to keep weight down.
Interior design a tiny house: Use epoxy resin
Stone countertops are too heavy to be an option for a tiny house. However you can get the same durability and look of stone by using epoxy resin but without the addition weight added to the house.
My epoxy resin countertop was created by dripping multiple layers of resin with colors added in. It created a surface that is multicolored and psychadelic looking. The overall color of the countertop is pinkish with many other colors worked in. The pink multicolor counter is a great pop color to stand out and attract attention. Pop colors are great when used sparingly.
How did I design the sink and stove outlets into the countertop?
The countertop has a sink, stove, and outlets built into the epoxy resin counter. The sink is an undermount sink built into the counter top. The stove is a top mount that slides into a cut in the countertop. I made holes at the back of the countertop where wires can pass through and create access for outlets just above to counter surface.
How do I add trim to a countertop in a tiny house?
I finished my countertops off with granite trim pieces to cover the cracks. The granite I had was leftover from a previous project and was gray in color and speckled black. There was a gap between the counter and the wall so I used leftover granite to create granite peices to fill the gaps. The trim peices were cut in half inch thicknesses and glued into place and finished with gray caulk.
How do I interior design a tiny house bathroom?
I designed my bathroom in a space efficient manner to take advantage of the 3 foot by 6 foot space. To complete this I needed the shower area to be walk through so it could function as open space for the toilet when not being used. The floor of the shower would be a tile mosaic with various colors that would drain the water from the shower.
Water proof the shower area
The walls were painted white and polyurethane was applied to the walls that would be in proximity of the shower. I also had tile that came up the wall to contain the water splashing off the ground. The shower faucet and pex are visible in the wall. The pex is red colored for hot and blue color for cold. These bright colors of the pex pop off of the white walls of the bathroom.
Interior design a tiny house: Use tile mosaics
The bright colors of red and green also match the shades integrated into the shower mosaic. I also have 2×4 pieces that hold the shower head and faucet are painted the same orange as the stairway railing.
The tiling under the toilet is solid pieces as it doesn’t need to drain off. This area of the bathroom is protected with a shower curtain that contains the water into the tile mosaic drain. These tiles under the toilet were left overs from previous projects in white, gray, blue, yellow.
How do I build a shower curtain for a tiny home?
The shower curtain was a colorful southwest theme that played off the colors of the mosaic tile flooring. The southwest curtain was hung off a bronze pipe curtain rod connected to the walls by an iron flange. The curtain wasn’t long enough so I used metal dog tag chain to extend the curtain to the ground and attached it to the copper pipe.
The colors in the bathroom are strong but they work conceptually because there is so much else painted white and light from the window to dilute.
How do I add trim to a tiny house?
Adding trim to a tiny house is very easy. I needed to add trim to cover any gaps to make the house look aesthetically pleasing. All of the trim I used was sanded and sealed to add a natural wood look to the house. Wood is a very homey and neutral color so it is good to add to compliment strong pop colors.
I added 1×2 wood as trim between the floors and walls. For windows and doors I used 1×4 wood as trim. I used 1×2 trim for the gaps that needed to be filled between the ceiling, walls and bathroom.
How do I add seating to interior design a tiny house?
Adding built in seating is a good choice in a tiny house especially if the seat can fold away or offer storage capabilities. Built in seating will be permanently built into the framing of the house. I designed and built a bench that has the dual capacity of pulling out into a twin bed or lifting up and offering storage space.
How do I interior design a tiny house bench seat?
This multi use bench was stained the same dark walnut as the lower cabinets. The bench matched the lower cabinets and looked good next to the blue stained floors. I put cushions and pillows on the bench to offer a nice area to sit and lounge. The bench is right next to the countertop too so it can offer a place to sit and eat.
In the storage of the seat I have another cushion that will lay on the pull out of the bench. When the bench is fulled pulled out and the pillow is laying on top this offers a twin bed of space that can be a sleeping space or a place to sit in the kitchen.
How do I add auxiliary seating in a tiny house?
Auxiliary seating in the house should also be mobile and have abilities to fold away to save space. I prefer stools as a seating option in a tiny house. I have one stool that stashes under the overhang of my desk and the other folds and I can stash it against the wall in the stud bay.
Including both stools and the bench pulled out there is enough seating for 4 which is plenty for a space that is 100 square feet. The key to seating in a tiny house is allowing it to be removed when the hiuse is being used for a single person. Adding options can make the interior of the tiny house more versatile for comfortable living with the option of entertaining.
How do I build a closet in a tiny house?
The best way to build a closet in a tiny house is to build it under a bed loft. This will save space and still give you a nice place to sleep at night. My bed loft was 4 feet by 8 feet in size and included space for my clothes, book shelf, space to hang clothes and a desk as well. The loft must be at least 5 foot 10 inch tall to avoid bumping your head. However you can build it to specification depending on your height.
Interior design a tiny house built-ins
I was able to fit all of these items in the house by creating built in storage to maximize space saving. All of built ins are connected to the studs of the walls with wood supports. The closet area and bed loft area are installed with LED strip lights that are programmable. These LED lights add great diversity of lights and colors to an area allowing changing colors if preferences arise.
I finished off the space with a shag rug and a small clothes organizer that sits on the ground under the hangers. The space looks organized and makes order of clothes and other items but offers more color options to the space.
How do I build a desk in a tiny house?
Building a built in desk is a good choice if you want to utilize the space of a tiny house. The desk will be attached to the studs of the house and extend out a work surface. The desk I built was a bit different than a normal desk. I only needed enough space for a laptop so I built a small desk that only hung out from the wall 12”.
This small desk was made of a sheet of thin plywood sanded and sealed to completion. I created wood pieces to support the small desk. The desk was also built high enough to hold a stool underneath.
How do I add shelving to a tiny house?
I was able to add an additional shelf onto the open studs of the tiny house. The shelf I used was a reclaimed Ikea shelf that was painted orange. The orange color matched other dashes of orange in the house. I used orange as pop color in the bathroom and for the railing in the bedroom. I used this shelf for book and documents storage.
How do I build shelves for clothes?
The process for building shelving for clothes is the same as building the desk. The difference is that my shelves were 14” deep to hold space for clothes. I painted the shelves multicolor of left over green and blue paint I had. The back closet area that is under my lofted bed didn’t have too many colors so it made sense to add some in.
How much does it cost to build the interior of a tiny home?
| Paint | Flooring | Interior Walls | Tile | Countertop | Faucet and sink | Cabinets | Trim | Total |
| 2 five gallon buckets | Free pallet wood! Stain and sealer | 2x4s and sheets of plywood | Free tile!, cement, tile adhesive, | Plywood, epoxy | 1 Faucet and sink | Free upper cabinets! Plywood, beams | 1×2 pieces | |
| $160 | $60 | $50 | $30 | $80 | $80 | $60 | $40 | $640 |
Conclusion: Interior design a tiny house easily
The most important aspect to interior design a tiny house is managing the color palette so everything balances. As discussed much of the interior designing for a tiny house is based on building built ins. Building built in seating, storage, hangers, desks, countertops, shelving and clothes storage. There is very little furniture in the house as most of the amenities are part of the structure. I would urge you when interior designing your tiny house make sure to create built-ins. Which brings us to the next step which is building the loft bed and closet.
Next step: Building a Loft Bed and Walk-In Closet
More resources: https://www.homedit.com/20-smart-micro-house-design-ideas-that-maximize-space/