Friday, February 21, 2020
Minimalist Tiny House Design in France: Dream Come True. It is so exciting for me to write the tiny-house movement, grow as all across the globe people are seeking out smaller and simpler spaces in which to live here in France. That is no different and today we've traveled to not where we're about to visit a young couple who have built their dream tiny house.
Hi Celia how are you nice to meet here how are you?
I'm very well thank you
It's lovely to be here and oh my gosh your house is just so charming!
Thank you very much
Well, we've been waiting for this tiny house for almost two years now. So it was really like a dream right and for me, it was really for ecological reasons and because I was minimalist and I was decluttering a lot and we had previously we had a like pretty big house and we were like using half of it now it was just getting on my nerves and for you, it was a bit different yeah it was very simple I don't like to move you know with a lot of luggage and everything so in case we are moving another time we've got a house with us and it's like a snail you know which is little house on the back and that's perfect for me
And this is the very first tiny house that I've seen in France yeah so could you tell me a little bit about the tiny house movement and France are they becoming quite popular or is it still quite an unusual thing to do?
Well it's quite rare for the moment that we didn't build the tiny house ourselves we called builder which is a value shop and they have like a really big orders a big order list so it's getting popular but still, it's quite hard in France because there is no regulation around tiny houses so we are not allowed to just buy a property and put our tiny house on it's not possible in France so it was quite difficult for us to find a good parking spot but we are lucky enough to have my mother who has a great property here and she was like a big garden so we are lucky to be able to park our tiny house here but we like illegal so we don't have the content of the city and the mayor to be here so that way okay yeah yeah that's the main reason why it's great
And there is just the common story. And that is exactly how it started in America and New Zealand and Australia, it was people who just said this is something we want to do and they did it without asking for permission, and that is how a movement starts so congratulations! And talking about the parking space you are in a really beautiful location here isn't here?
We are very lucky to have this parking spot, it's just surrounded by nature and it's very convenient to have my mother's house just next to two minutes because we have like a laundry room over there.
I think there's something to be said about multi-generational living, and sort of reclaiming that, and tiny houses are so good at giving young couples independence and space. But still allowing them to remain connected to their family which I think is so nice.
Yeah, it's so amazing to have my mother human we can still be on our own, just in the garden being impotent.
What size is the tiny house how big is it?
It's six meters fifty long and two meters 15 large. That's another thing, that if you want to go on the road this is the maximum length. You can have also the weight has to be less than three tons to be able to go on the road. So yeah you cannot do everything you want as you do for example in the USA working, you can be like the house wheels under it.
Very true and in New Zealand we work under quite similar constraints so I can empathize with you on that one.
Well, I love the look of the house from the outside, and I'm excited to see what's inside. Can we take a look?. yes this is beautiful, walking into this space it just feels incredibly welcoming, doesn't it?
We tried to have something very welcoming, and also very bright we wanted to have the light even in winter, and we love it because volitional made I wish truth.
They certainly did and especially down this end where you've got this lovely workstation and just look at that view you have out the window. yeah we love it it just gives the impression that you are always outside, always surrounded by nature, and that was one of our dreams to have like a lot of windows in our tiny house. So that a lot of light could come in and we just live with nature and it's so amazing to be connected with nature like that.
I do yes, so that's why it's what's important for me to have a big desk with my computer. Because I work about two or three times a week in the tiny house, so yeah it was really important for my own business to be able to work from home, and it's nice I'm so glad each time I work from home because like look at you it's amazing. Yeah, it is a spectacular office.
And can you tell me about your business and what you do?
Yeah I launched my own business last year it's an online spiritual shop it's called the woman so it's the contraction between women and moon so yeah and we do Sage and crystals and candles and I also write little books about menstrual cycle which is important to meet you I took about that form for women and about also moon rituals and yeah well
Congratulations on the launch of the new business I wish you all the success with that!
And then behind you, we have your kitchen!
Yes, we wanted to have, I wanted to have a big kitchen because I use it every day a lot, so I need is a huge space to put everything in.
Long before your dreams of living in a tiny house can ever come true, you need to actually plan the thing.
And it's great to say that you've got both the oven as well as the countertop elements.
Yes, I sometimes love to use the oven and only the oven and the stuff I wanted a gas stove also the only electronic device. We didn't want was a fridge, yeah so it's bit more space for us we can store a lot more
So how do you get on without having a fridge then?
There are many things that you don't need to put in the fridge, like eggs, like your vegetables, the only parts where we could be a bit struggling would be cream butter meat, but we don't. yes yes, I wanted to say it's that we are vegetarian, So that's really yeah it's convenient and easier for us to be able to not have a fridge and during winter it's pretty simple because we just put our stuff on the outside, and just it's perfectly cold and during summer. It was a bit of a challenge but we plan on building, like a little outside fridge next year so yeah I think we figured out.
It is important to consider the foundations when designing a tiny house.
What a good idea!
Yeah not having a fridge was important because there is not much storage in the house so well it's easier like that.
So how do you get by do you have enough space for your things?
Yes, we do the struggling part was because it was for the clothes, but we figured it out. Yeah and we are quite minimalist, so we just have the basics we need and we love. So that's also why when you live in a tiny house - just declutter a lot of things and I was quite surprised because when we moved in we were like okay but do we put all of this stuff and it fits perfectly in the tiny house so yeah it's good.
Okay, can we take a look in the bathroom then?
Yes, we have two baskets for the meal, and two for me and one for our underwear. And we can store everything in here, we also have this where we can hang our clothes so our coats and jumpers for example and yeah we don't need any more space.
That's perfect enough and then you've managed to build in quite a nice sized shower as well.
Yeah it's a regular size for this shower, and well it's very convenient for us because we're not so tall and I think, you are but yeah it's pretty convenient.
Yeah nice and in the composting toilet as well. The plan of any building is important, but this is especially true in regards to tiny houses, where every square centimeter of space matters. Yeah, so we have a composting toilet, which was important for us for ecological reasons. So we have the compost in the garden, and we empty it about like one time, one once a week, once-twice a week, and yeah it works perfectly.
Fantastic and then above us we have your sleeping loft yes this is nice I love this indirect lighting feature that you have on the wall.
Yeah I was so I just really wanted like little fairy lights, and Daniel doesn't really like paradise so Venetian did this there oh yeah construction here with the light and it's so quiet night when you just have these light on and these - it's so cozy!.
I bet and it looks like you've got another room behind that wall as well.
Yes we have a little bedroom for the future kid, and the moment it's just like who relaxes at night, he reads a lot in this little bedroom. It is cooking and yeah a very nice place to be at night. We don't sleep at the same moment, so I can read just behind and it's easier to go to bed.
That's nice to have that option, isn't it? yes and I love that you've future-proofed the spaces well and considered room for a child.
Yeah, it was really important for us to be able to imagine the future because we didn't want to buy a tiny house and just two years later Sally because we have two kids, and we can not anymore, so that was important and we imagine living here with two kids. So that's probably absolutely I think it'll be lovely.
Well, no doubt I think this is gonna be a cozy space in the winter.
Yeah I love it when it's raining, I was saying just laying in the bed it's so cozy and yeah really love it. Because in summer it was nice too because it was really like all the windows were open all the time but it was hot like on the very hot days, it was yeah it was like gonna be oven in this - yeah we're kind of struggling at night to fall asleep, but yeah the problem with a tiny house is not cold it's about hot.
Well, we didn't face any problems like we are so so happy. It's so cozy and yeah I just love it yeah well it's just three months, we'll talk about it in a year okay I think.
And what was the cost of building this home?
It was 75 thousand euros it was quite an investment for us. But what was important to us is, that we didn't have to borrow money, Trebek and we were lucky enough to have the money to be able to buy the tiny house and just let be owners yes.
Absolutely, and 75 thousand euro how would that compare to the cost of buying an average house in this area?
Seventy-five thousand euros it's a huge sum here, we could have a lot more space buying an apartment or a small house outside of a big city, but it was important for us to have a huge garden to be surrounded by nature and also it's still okay because of all the materials good materials. The durability of the house is high and we will have this house for a lot of years. Well, this is quite a good investment I still don't realize that it's my house when I look at it. I'm like oh it's so beautiful and so perfect how yeah this is just like how I imagined it in my dreams.
And yeah it's my safe place it's so calm so peaceful here. I'm living here now and I don't imagine living in some normal house no it's kind of strange because when I'm thinking about this place I don't think I've lived in another space before. no, it's like what I was I doing before, why did I need so much space and I don't need it now? I'm happy, not happier but I'm happy and I think it's the most important thing is this place is my happy place.
Well, I think your home here is just so beautiful you can see how much love has gone into the construction, and I'm sure you were both gonna be very happy here for a very long time. Thank you so much for sharing it with me.
Silvia and Damian have built such a beautiful home for themselves here. It is wonderful to see just how much care and attention that they've poured into the home, and one of the things that I especially like about it is, the way that they have future-proofed they know that they want to have kids, and they've designed a home that can accommodate their future wishes over the next year's this space will grow and evolve with them. And I am so excited to see what happens and what their future will bring.
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 1 |
I'm very well thank you
It's lovely to be here and oh my gosh your house is just so charming!
Thank you very much
This is some really good information about building designs for a tiny house.
How did you both come to be living in a tiny house?
Well, we've been waiting for this tiny house for almost two years now. So it was really like a dream right and for me, it was really for ecological reasons and because I was minimalist and I was decluttering a lot and we had previously we had a like pretty big house and we were like using half of it now it was just getting on my nerves and for you, it was a bit different yeah it was very simple I don't like to move you know with a lot of luggage and everything so in case we are moving another time we've got a house with us and it's like a snail you know which is little house on the back and that's perfect for me
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 2 |
Well it's quite rare for the moment that we didn't build the tiny house ourselves we called builder which is a value shop and they have like a really big orders a big order list so it's getting popular but still, it's quite hard in France because there is no regulation around tiny houses so we are not allowed to just buy a property and put our tiny house on it's not possible in France so it was quite difficult for us to find a good parking spot but we are lucky enough to have my mother who has a great property here and she was like a big garden so we are lucky to be able to park our tiny house here but we like illegal so we don't have the content of the city and the mayor to be here so that way okay yeah yeah that's the main reason why it's great
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 3 |
We are very lucky to have this parking spot, it's just surrounded by nature and it's very convenient to have my mother's house just next to two minutes because we have like a laundry room over there.
I think there's something to be said about multi-generational living, and sort of reclaiming that, and tiny houses are so good at giving young couples independence and space. But still allowing them to remain connected to their family which I think is so nice.
Yeah, it's so amazing to have my mother human we can still be on our own, just in the garden being impotent.
And now, talk to me about the design of your tiny house!?.
We chose red cedar for the outside, we chose the green color, but we didn't choose the design it's balisong Leticia design it. And we were like okay, we love it the biggest spot for us was the inside, not the outside fair enough.
The roof design becomes even more important if you live in a part of the world with snowfall and have to consider snow weights—and if your tiny house is transportable, you may wish to consider the entire range of environments it's likely to encounter.
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 4 |
It's six meters fifty long and two meters 15 large. That's another thing, that if you want to go on the road this is the maximum length. You can have also the weight has to be less than three tons to be able to go on the road. So yeah you cannot do everything you want as you do for example in the USA working, you can be like the house wheels under it.
Very true and in New Zealand we work under quite similar constraints so I can empathize with you on that one.
Well, I love the look of the house from the outside, and I'm excited to see what's inside. Can we take a look?. yes this is beautiful, walking into this space it just feels incredibly welcoming, doesn't it?
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 5 |
While many people may do it for “green” reasons, it makes a lot of sense for those living in tiny houses.
They certainly did and especially down this end where you've got this lovely workstation and just look at that view you have out the window. yeah we love it it just gives the impression that you are always outside, always surrounded by nature, and that was one of our dreams to have like a lot of windows in our tiny house. So that a lot of light could come in and we just live with nature and it's so amazing to be connected with nature like that.
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 6 |
And silly the office space is quite important for you, as well because you run your business part-time from here don't you?
I do yes, so that's why it's what's important for me to have a big desk with my computer. Because I work about two or three times a week in the tiny house, so yeah it was really important for my own business to be able to work from home, and it's nice I'm so glad each time I work from home because like look at you it's amazing. Yeah, it is a spectacular office.
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 12 |
Yeah I launched my own business last year it's an online spiritual shop it's called the woman so it's the contraction between women and moon so yeah and we do Sage and crystals and candles and I also write little books about menstrual cycle which is important to meet you I took about that form for women and about also moon rituals and yeah well
Congratulations on the launch of the new business I wish you all the success with that!
And then behind you, we have your kitchen!
Yes, we wanted to have, I wanted to have a big kitchen because I use it every day a lot, so I need is a huge space to put everything in.
Long before your dreams of living in a tiny house can ever come true, you need to actually plan the thing.
And it's great to say that you've got both the oven as well as the countertop elements.
Yes, I sometimes love to use the oven and only the oven and the stuff I wanted a gas stove also the only electronic device. We didn't want was a fridge, yeah so it's bit more space for us we can store a lot more
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 9 |
So how do you get on without having a fridge then?
There are many things that you don't need to put in the fridge, like eggs, like your vegetables, the only parts where we could be a bit struggling would be cream butter meat, but we don't. yes yes, I wanted to say it's that we are vegetarian, So that's really yeah it's convenient and easier for us to be able to not have a fridge and during winter it's pretty simple because we just put our stuff on the outside, and just it's perfectly cold and during summer. It was a bit of a challenge but we plan on building, like a little outside fridge next year so yeah I think we figured out.
It is important to consider the foundations when designing a tiny house.
What a good idea!
Saving money isn't the only positive about living in a tiny house though, tiny homes are also more environmentally friendly.
Yeah not having a fridge was important because there is not much storage in the house so well it's easier like that.
You'll find a variety of tiny house plan layouts below including 1- and 2-story tiny homes in a variety of sizes from the very small to as large as you can get to be considered a tiny home.
Absolutely, and you're right looking around there is not a tremendous amount of storage space in here. |
| minimalist tiny house design in france 10 |
Yes, we do the struggling part was because it was for the clothes, but we figured it out. Yeah and we are quite minimalist, so we just have the basics we need and we love. So that's also why when you live in a tiny house - just declutter a lot of things and I was quite surprised because when we moved in we were like okay but do we put all of this stuff and it fits perfectly in the tiny house so yeah it's good.
So where do you store all of your clothes?
They're only in the bathroom. The free tiny house plans below include everything you need to build your small home. I love the photo of the interior of a tiny house with the clean, opening-looking white walls and the light wood staircase matching the wood of the bathroom cupboard doors.
Okay, can we take a look in the bathroom then?
Ladders, however, might be more suitable for extremely small Tiny Houses that need to save more floor space.
Yeah again, this is a really lovely space there is all of your storage I can see!.
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 15 |
The couple's quaint bedroom is only 4 feet high, which is just big enough to fit a king-size bed.
Yes, we have two baskets for the meal, and two for me and one for our underwear. And we can store everything in here, we also have this where we can hang our clothes so our coats and jumpers for example and yeah we don't need any more space.
That's perfect enough and then you've managed to build in quite a nice sized shower as well.
Yeah it's a regular size for this shower, and well it's very convenient for us because we're not so tall and I think, you are but yeah it's pretty convenient.
Yeah nice and in the composting toilet as well. The plan of any building is important, but this is especially true in regards to tiny houses, where every square centimeter of space matters. Yeah, so we have a composting toilet, which was important for us for ecological reasons. So we have the compost in the garden, and we empty it about like one time, one once a week, once-twice a week, and yeah it works perfectly.
Fantastic and then above us we have your sleeping loft yes this is nice I love this indirect lighting feature that you have on the wall.
Yeah I was so I just really wanted like little fairy lights, and Daniel doesn't really like paradise so Venetian did this there oh yeah construction here with the light and it's so quiet night when you just have these light on and these - it's so cozy!.
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 16 |
Yes we have a little bedroom for the future kid, and the moment it's just like who relaxes at night, he reads a lot in this little bedroom. It is cooking and yeah a very nice place to be at night. We don't sleep at the same moment, so I can read just behind and it's easier to go to bed.
That's nice to have that option, isn't it? yes and I love that you've future-proofed the spaces well and considered room for a child.
Yeah, it was really important for us to be able to imagine the future because we didn't want to buy a tiny house and just two years later Sally because we have two kids, and we can not anymore, so that was important and we imagine living here with two kids. So that's probably absolutely I think it'll be lovely.
And so how long have you been living in the house now?
It's very short for three months. Right so just getting started, just about to come into your first winter. Yes, so we've moved in, in July. So it's been three months only, and yeah it's going to be the office we interest so we have to get organized - Yeah for the wet clothes and the wait shoes and so on so we kind of figure out.Well, no doubt I think this is gonna be a cozy space in the winter.
Yeah I love it when it's raining, I was saying just laying in the bed it's so cozy and yeah really love it. Because in summer it was nice too because it was really like all the windows were open all the time but it was hot like on the very hot days, it was yeah it was like gonna be oven in this - yeah we're kind of struggling at night to fall asleep, but yeah the problem with a tiny house is not cold it's about hot.
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 13 |
So you've been living in the tiny house now for three months how are you adapting to tiny house life?
Well, we didn't face any problems like we are so so happy. It's so cozy and yeah I just love it yeah well it's just three months, we'll talk about it in a year okay I think.
And what was the cost of building this home?
It was 75 thousand euros it was quite an investment for us. But what was important to us is, that we didn't have to borrow money, Trebek and we were lucky enough to have the money to be able to buy the tiny house and just let be owners yes.
Absolutely, and 75 thousand euro how would that compare to the cost of buying an average house in this area?
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| minimalist tiny house design in france 17 |
Seventy-five thousand euros it's a huge sum here, we could have a lot more space buying an apartment or a small house outside of a big city, but it was important for us to have a huge garden to be surrounded by nature and also it's still okay because of all the materials good materials. The durability of the house is high and we will have this house for a lot of years. Well, this is quite a good investment I still don't realize that it's my house when I look at it. I'm like oh it's so beautiful and so perfect how yeah this is just like how I imagined it in my dreams.
And yeah it's my safe place it's so calm so peaceful here. I'm living here now and I don't imagine living in some normal house no it's kind of strange because when I'm thinking about this place I don't think I've lived in another space before. no, it's like what I was I doing before, why did I need so much space and I don't need it now? I'm happy, not happier but I'm happy and I think it's the most important thing is this place is my happy place.
Well, I think your home here is just so beautiful you can see how much love has gone into the construction, and I'm sure you were both gonna be very happy here for a very long time. Thank you so much for sharing it with me.
Silvia and Damian have built such a beautiful home for themselves here. It is wonderful to see just how much care and attention that they've poured into the home, and one of the things that I especially like about it is, the way that they have future-proofed they know that they want to have kids, and they've designed a home that can accommodate their future wishes over the next year's this space will grow and evolve with them. And I am so excited to see what happens and what their future will bring.