Architect, builder, photographer, blogger Aaron Richard Maret – he hails from North Carolina – set out to build what he calls his Pocket Shelter as a prototype that would serve as a building model and as the home for his partner, himself and a two-year-old.
Building small was an adventure, he says. But it was a cake walk compared to learning to live small. That's the difference, he would be the first to say, between a project and a process.
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Still, building his home was the first challenge. It involved homemade plans, an embrace of earth-friendly materials and good old-fashioned elbow grease. In the end, he came up with a unique tiny house that is original, fun, funky and entirely homemade – a labor of love, as the cliché says.
When you look around your own house you probably see factory made floors, walls, doors, windows, and cabinets. Not so with the prototype Pocket Shelter. From the roof beam to the floor boards, this tiny home that measures under 200 square feet took patience, perseverance and manual labor – as opposed to, say, a paycheck – to put together. Let's see what he came up with.
Maret calls the semi-enclosed porch his mudroom. Every farm had one back in the day -- a place to wrestle with clay impacted footwear. Hailing from weather mild North Carolina means his mudroom doesn't have to be enclosed for the howling winter months.
A close up of the mud room. You can see some of the rustic footwear under the bench on the right. On the windowsill, a prototype birdhouse. On the hooks, some prototype outerwear.
Above is a peek at the downstairs "big room" from the loft. This is already looking like a snug abode with wide plank boards for the ceiling and plenty of light pouring in from the triangular window above the door.
Above is the master bedroom in a handsome black and white photo.
Let's head downstairs.
The downstairs living room and kitchen show how less is more in the tiny house community. If you expected every amenity you find in a large house, you're not seeing the room correctly. This is minimalism. This isn't: Wow, look at that hot tub and that three-car garage.
Above is a great photo of the downstairs room often called the "big room" in tiny house-ese. The twin sets of windows that looked pedestrian from the outside absolutely make this room from the inside -- not to mention the light and the ventilation they provide.
Maret, who has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in architecture, says he used "advanced framing construction ... salvaged and reclaimed materials ... local up-cycled hardwoods ... live-edge slab countertops, shelves and trim ... (and) bio-based icynene insulation throughout to make this diminutive domicile. Add to that common sense ... warmth ... humor and a few other humanistic extras."
One of the home's highlights is this simple, yet elegant and extremely practical couch that also serves as a storage unit. The kitchen cabinets are similar.
Here's a nice view of the kitchen counter made with a singular slab with the exposed edge left in its natural state.
And speaking of warmth, humor and common sense (see above), here's the homemade composting commode that Maret calls his "mini built-in composting toilet cabinet."
The best feature for this "mini-built-in" commode are those are sliders on the side of the box. This commode, when you're done, tucks back into the wall -- and is out of sight, out of mind.
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If you're not sold on this tiny house, this nighttime photo will take you there. Home and hearth in the country -- a sweet deal.