Barred Owl Tiny Home: Smart Single-Story Design

Small Single-Story Home Design

Climbing a lofted bed quickly loses its appeal, especially when half-asleep late at night. The Barred Owl home design addresses this issue practically by organizing all activities on a single level. This design avoids complex vertical transitions, offering a comfortable and straightforward living experience reminiscent of traditional apartments.

Dimensions and Spatial Perception

The distinction begins with the home’s size. While most tiny homes in North America are 8.5 feet wide, the Barred Owl stretches to 10 feet. This slight difference on paper creates a significant impact on the living experience. Every extra foot in width provides more breathing room, making the interior feel less cramped and more spacious, thereby enhancing comfort and harmony with the design.

Mobility and Flexibility

Despite the increased width, the structure remains easily transportable thanks to its three-axle trailer design. This combination of expanded space and mobility offers a balanced solution for those seeking the benefits of tiny homes without compromising the needs of permanent living.

Interior view of Barred Owl tiny house showing a blue velvet sofa, white kitchen cabinets, and light wood walls. — An open-plan layout in the Barred Owl house maximizes every inch, blending the living area seamlessly with a functional kitchen. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

Compact workspace with a wooden desk, electric fireplace, and large windows in a tiny home. — A multifunctional workspace featuring an integrated electric fireplace for a cozy yet productive environment. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

Apartment-Style Flowing Interior Layout

The home follows a longitudinal apartment-style layout, where rooms connect directly to each other, enhancing flow and making movement between spaces natural and seamless. The entrance opens into a bright living room, adorned with white-stained pine wood installed in a Tong-and-Groove pattern, adding both warmth and a sense of spaciousness.

Kitchen as a Multi-Functional Space

The narrow kitchen is highly efficient, featuring Butcherblock countertops that extend into a breakfast bar, which can also serve as a home office. This design caters to the growing number of remote workers while maintaining essential cooking functions. Additionally, the kitchen accommodates a full-size refrigerator, a four-burner propane stove, and an oven, eliminating the typical compromises of tiny homes while providing a comfortable dining area for two.

Bathroom: Efficiency and Space

Barn-style sliding doors lead to a practical and relatively spacious bathroom compared to typical tiny homes. The bathroom includes a walk-in shower, a suitably sized sink, and a water-efficient toilet. Furthermore, storage areas and a washer-dryer unit meet daily needs without creating a sense of crowding or clutter.

Bedroom and Ground-Level Comfort

The bathroom connects to the ground-floor bedroom, where ceiling height allows full standing comfort—a level of ease rarely found in lofted tiny homes. This luxury enhances the sense of open space and achieves a balance between practical use and personal comfort.

Modern bathroom in a tiny house with a glass shower cabin, white vanity, and wooden countertop. — The bathroom doesn’t compromise on luxury, featuring a full-sized glass shower and high-end finishes. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

Integrated laundry area in a tiny house bathroom with a white washing machine and vessel sink. — Smart space management includes a laundry station tucked under a spacious bathroom vanity. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

The Tiny Home as a Permanent Solution for Downsizing

The Barred Owl design targets individuals seeking a permanent reduction in living space, rather than just a temporary weekend retreat. Its single-story layout addresses aging-in-place challenges often overlooked by most tiny homes, such as mobility limitations, balance issues, and the desire to avoid climbing stairs at night.

Advantages of a Single-Level Design

The apartment-style, single-level design offers multiple benefits:

Maintains the logic of traditional space distribution without sacrificing comfort.
Ensures easy access to all areas of the home for people with varying mobility needs.
Combines the economic benefits of a tiny home and reduced environmental impact while preserving a functional living space.

Exterior and Architectural Details

The exterior reflects the use of durable and aesthetically pleasing materials, featuring dark metal siding accented with cedar, topped by a standing seam metal roof. The front entrance, equipped with concealed lighting, adds a sense of security and comfort, making the home practical for daily life while enhancing the living experience. For more on building materials, visit our detailed material datasheets.

A Practical Approach to Downsizing

The Barred Owl demonstrates that living in a tiny home does not mean sacrificing comfort or essential amenities. It serves as a practical example that downsizing can be sustainable and long-term, without feeling cramped or compromising daily life. It offers a clear answer to the question: Can a tiny home be suitable for permanent living? Learn more about design strategies for tiny homes.

Minimalist bedroom in a tiny house with white wood walls, large egress window, and a sliding barn door for privacy. — A main-floor bedroom offers convenience and comfort, separated by a space-saving sliding barn door. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

Linear kitchen layout in the Barred Owl tiny house featuring a white gas range, butcher block countertops, and a barn door. — The linear kitchen design ensures a clear pathway while providing ample prep space and modern appliances. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

Bright tiny house kitchen with white appliances, wooden countertops, and a sliding barn door. — A full-featured kitchen with ample counter space and a classic sliding barn door leading to the bedroom. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

Long interior view of a tiny house showing the transition from living area to kitchen and bedroom. — The linear layout of the Barred Owl creates a clear visual path, making the 34-foot home feel much larger. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

Minimalist bedroom in a tiny house with white wood walls, a large window, and cozy bedding. — The bedroom is a serene sanctuary, flooded with natural light and surrounded by warm wood textures. (Courtesy of Rewild Homes)

✦ ArchUp Editorial Insight

The Barred Owl project presents a practical model of the single-story tiny home concept, offering clear advantages such as sequential space distribution in an apartment-style layout and easy access to all areas. It demonstrates how a tiny home can be designed to meet daily needs without the use of stairs. Additionally, its mobility and maintenance of adequate living space provide a clear benefit for designers interested in sustainability and minimizing spatial footprint.

However, the project raises some questions when considering holistic architectural sustainability. Expanding the width to 10 feet and the size of the kitchen and bathroom may be practical on paper, yet it remains limited compared to conventional homes in terms of long-term comfort, especially for families or multi-generational use. Moreover, the reliance on a longitudinal apartment-style layout reduces vertical expansion options, making it challenging to rearrange spaces as future needs change. Furthermore, the project is confined to a relatively standardized form, which may limit its adaptability to different sites and diverse climatic conditions.

Despite these reservations, the project provides an architectural framework that architects and designers can study as a model for efficient space distribution. It allows for analyzing the relationship between minimal space and daily living requirements, with the potential to develop solutions inspired by it that suit broader and more diverse contexts. For more examples, see our archive and projects.

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