Even in the tiny houses community, the Lucky Penny, a delightful, caravan-shaped abode in Portland, Ore., is a departure from the norm. Let alone providing very stylish housing for designer, builder and tiny house owner Lina Menard and her pet cat, this diminutive home has many unusual features that make it a wonder to behold.
A small storage loft above the door, says Menard, makes the 100.3 square-feet home appear very small as you enter. But a few steps in opens up to a 10.5-feet high arched ceiling that appears all the bigger because of a special feature: An eight feet long, two feet wide skylight that allows the interior to include a view of the sky, clouds, rain and trees that Menard enjoys. What else? It has no bedroom loft. This allows for a more roomy feel to the downstairs that also features an amazing six-step storage chest that Menard found on Craigslist. There is also room for above-your-head cabinets that circle the living room. With all those handy cabinets, the place is neat as a pin -- clutter being one of the things that can make tiny house living quickly uncomfortable. Aside from all that, Menard's attention to design details is stunning.
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The front door is quite a find. Menard says the design of the house began with the back window, which will appear in the second next photo. But the door matches that window well. Once she started on the project, the copper color theme just seemed to come to her on its own, which lent itself to the "Lucky Penny" motif, seen in these shingles. Those circles are made by using a shingle with a round edge and covering the top half with two pointy "arrow" shingles that complete the upper half of the circle.
Here's a closer look at the beautiful use of shingles to create a design pattern for the exterior.
The splendid interior design started with the back window. The lack of a bedroom loft and the skylight above gives this 100.3-square-feet beauty a very open feeling even with the overhead cabinets on two sides. The graces of Mother Nature up above makes this a delightful space in every kind of weather.
On the bottom left in this picture is a chest freezer, which happens to be the same height as the kitchen counter. That's no accident. The bed can slide out, using the freezer and the counter to hold it up. At that point, the mattress can be unfolded, making a handy double bed.
The kitchen sink is also a novelty with its rounded corners, which fits perfectly the arched ceiling and the copper and lavender color theme.
Looking towards the front door, you see the unique storage cabinet on the right and the storage loft. What you don't see is on the other side of the left-side wall (behind the cutting board and the dish towel). Behind that wall is the shower, which isn't completed yet. Behind the door on the right is a nook that holds two matching dressers, one on top of the other.
Menard explains that she cut a hole in the side of the bottom dresser and placed in the empty drawer the kitty liter box. Her cat squeezes into the dresser to go to the bathroom and the litter box is neatly out of sight until it is time to clean it.
A nice view of the kitchen and the cabinets above. The cutting board leaning alongside the small oven is made to fit right on top of the open drawer next to the sink. That extends the counter space, but the cutting board also doubles as a kitchen table. If you noticed the two, light-blue stacking stools in the photo above, you can see that one next to the bed and another next to the sink means two people can enjoy a meal seated at the make-do dining room.
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This cat is suited to tiny house living, says Menard.
