{"id":10857,"date":"2022-09-25T19:39:24","date_gmt":"2022-09-25T19:39:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/?p=10857"},"modified":"2024-05-31T11:28:25","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T11:28:25","slug":"how-to-design-your-tiny-house-floor-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.projectsmallhouse.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/how-to-design-your-tiny-house-floor-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Design Your Tiny House Floor Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most common request I get is for specific sized small house floor plans. It can be hard to find house plans for something small, especially something only 12-feet wide. Whether you are starting from scratch or converting a shed or container into a house, here are some tips to customize floor plans to work for you and the way you want to live.<\/p>\n

Buy Tiny House Plans<\/h2>\n

If you want to build a tiny house from scratch and want professional plans, you can\u2019t do better than the ones on Etsy. They aren\u2019t very expensive and they are complete.<\/p>\n

You can also buy small house plans from houseplans.com. They have the original Katrina Cottage plans and a lot of newer practical small house plans.<\/p>\n

There was a Spiral-bound book of house plans, Katrina Cottages Collection<\/strong> by Stephen and Wanda Mouzon. It is out of print, but you can sometimes find it on eBay or Amazon.<\/p>\n

The Katrina Cottages Collection<\/a>
\nGulf Coast Emergency House Plans: The First Book of Katrina Cottages<\/a>
\nThe St. Augustine Collection<\/a>
\nThe Outbuildings Collection<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

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Sketch on graph paper for 16×16 2-story shed converted to tiny house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Design Your Own Plans<\/h2>\n

You can design your plans yourself. Get some graph paper and a pencil and start sketching out ideas. Pencil in where the doors and windows are, if you are working with an existing structure.<\/p>\n

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Factory Select Homes 12×32 Ft Single Wide Redland
378 Square Feet \u00b7 1 Bed \u00b7 1 Bath,Champion Homes Sunrise Series<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you want ideas, see how they have laid out some of the single wide trailers. Most of them are 14 or 16 feet wide, but some are 12 feet wide if you look. factoryselectmh.com\/single-wide-floorplans<\/a><\/p>\n

If you are starting with a shell, you can arrange the interior any way that works best for you. No interior walls means you can put walls wherever you want. In a regular house, you have to be careful if you move walls. They might be holding the roof up, load bearing walls. They might have power or water in them. If you are starting without walls, you can put them wherever you want them.<\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t bought the shell you are going to use, you can plan your interior first so that the windows will be where you want them, rather than working around the windows that are already there.<\/p>\n

\"The
This storage building has a front porch with storage over it: Tiny Cottage \u2013 She-Shed<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some storage buildings come with a little porch. These look great, but make sure that the space you lose is worth it.<\/p>\n

The first step is to decide how you plan to use your home.<\/p>\n

Kitchen<\/h2>\n

You can save space by putting in specialized smaller kitchen appliances, but using standard sizes will save money now and in the future if you ever need to replace them. The smaller ones aren\u2019t usually that much smaller anyway.<\/p>\n

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Standard freestanding stoves come 20″ or 30″ wide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Standard free standing stoves are 30\u201d wide. You can easily find 20\u201d wide ranges, too. They may cost more, but it may be worth it if 10\u201d makes a difference to you.<\/p>\n

\"MICROWAVE
Tiny Towable Kitchen with a microwave convection oven and an induction 2 burner cook top: Tiny Towable for Sale<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you don\u2019t plan to really cook, you can get by with just a microwave and maybe a hotplate or cooktop. They don\u2019t have to take up much space at all. They make microwave ovens that can also bake like a conventional oven.<\/p>\n

\"The
The kitchen in this tiny house, dishwasher, fridge, stove and plenty of cabinet space: Tiny House Neighborhood<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fridges come in a variety of sizes too. And the same size fridge can have more of the space used for the freezer. So think about how you will use the space. Smaller fridges may not have an icemaker option, another thing to consider. Most single door fridges can have the door convert to open the opposite way, but not always. If you plan your kitchen to work with a standard opening refrigerator door, it will make life simpler. As you lay out your kitchen, also consider how much space you will need to open the refrigerator. A double door fridge may be wider, but needs less clearance to open the doors. Don\u2019t forget to consider how much space you will need to open the freezer. A pull out freezer drawer needs enough room to pull it out and still be able to reach in.<\/p>\n

You will want enough counter space, especially on either side of the stove. Using standard cabinets and countertops is often actually less expensive than putting something together yourself. Standard cabinets give you workspace and storage and come in a lot of sizes. You can stuff more into a pantry with a door than you can balance on shelves without a door.  If you are left with an awkward space at an end, rather than just cover it with a blank, look at some of the pull out shelves. They are available in a lot of sizes and prices.<\/p>\n

What about a dishwasher? If it is important to you, see if you can fit it into your plan. They are only 24″ wide. They make smaller ones, even really small ones, but again, they cost more to buy, cost more to replace. And they hold way fewer dishes.<\/p>\n

I wrote an entire post on designing the smallest practical kitchen: Planning a Small Efficient Kitchen<\/a><\/p>\n

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Sketch on graph paper for 16×16 2-story shed converted to tiny house – upstairs bedroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bedroom<\/h2>\n

Start with the size bed you want. Even if you intend to build a storage base, it is a lot easier to work with standard sized mattresses than to hunt down custom sizes. Here in the US, the standard sizes are:<\/p>\n