#Trending TINY HOUSES

In a move towards sustainability, this housing trend is about keeping things minimal

- GABRIELLA DEL GRANDE

So we’ve all heard of Marie Kondo, right? She’s the Japanese organising consultant who teaches people to cut down on any belongings that don’t ‘spark joy’, and live a more minimalist life. Well, now it’s not just about cutting back on belongings – it’s also about minimising the space in which you keep it – your home! Cue the ‘tiny house’ trend…

LIVE WITH LESS

‘Tiny houses are part of an international trend of simplifying lives by reducing the size – and therefore the resource consumption – of homes, without sacrificing quality of life,’ explains Adrian Chia, co-founder of tiny house company Big Tiny (bigtiny.com.sg).

So, how big (or should we say, how small?!) is a tiny house?

‘Currently, there are no definite measurements that qualify a tiny house – however, any residential structure under 40 square metres is generally accepted to be a tiny house,’ Adrian adds.

Keep in mind you can actually build a double storey or loft-style tiny house if you do need a touch more space.

You can build a tiny house fixed on the land or on top of a trailer – the latter are known as tiny houses on wheels (THOW). These can all be built with sustainable materials, too, to add to the environmental friendliness.